Water Level Monitoring System Using Internet Of Things

Alimamy Lewis Seray Conteh

ID: 35719

B.Eng in Mechanical Engineering

Fourah Bay College

University of Sierra Leone

December 2021

A project submitted to the Department of Mechanical and Maintenance

Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Fourah Bay
College, University of Sierra Leone, impartial fulfillment of the
requirement for the Award of the degree of Bachelor of Engineering.
 DECLARATION
This is to certify that I, Alimamy Lewis Seray Conteh, with Registration
Number 35719, has successfully completed this Dissertation under the
supervision of my supervisor Dr. Moinina David Sengeh, and I hereby certify
that the content of this dissertation is original and where other sources have
been used as part of the work credit has been given to the author (s), editor and
proper referencing has been done. I, therefore, approve of its submission to the
Department of Mechanical & Maintenance, Fourah Bay College, University of
Sierra Leone.
 DEDICATION

Due to the difficulties endured, I dedicate my work to my community to the

stars and beyond with suffering and determination.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I'd like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my parents Mr. Abdulai Conteh and
my late mum Mrs. Mariama Conteh, who possesses both the attitude and the
content of a genius: they consistently and convincingly communicated a sense
of adventure in my study, as well as excitement in teaching. Much love to my
younger brother Mohamed Lamin Conteh and Abubakarr Conteh.

In addition, I'd want to express my gratitude to family and friends, who

supported me throughout my university studies and to be specific to my uncle
and aunty Mr. Alimamy Kamara and Mrs. Fatmata Ndomahina respectively.

I'd want to express my gratitude to the University of Sierra Leone's Fourah Bay
College for enrolling me into the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture's
graduate program. I appreciate the STEAD Society's invaluable professional
development support throughout my academic career. In addition, I am grateful
to the Space Generation Advisory Council for providing me with a global
platform to develop and contribute to global concerns, as well as for enabling
me to attend scientific conferences.

I'm particularly grateful to Augustus Batilo Jibba, Isaac Johnson, Mohamed

Amara, and Moses Lappia from the university for their unwavering support and
assistance. This dissertation would not have been possible without your
direction and constant assistance.

I will like to thank my departmental lecturers and my thesis supervisor who

gave me the fantastic opportunity to do this wonderful project which also
assisted me in completing a lot of research and allowing me to learn about a lot
of new things, for which I am extremely grateful.

Finally, last but by no means least; also to everyone in the class of 2021, it was
great sharing premises with all of you during the last five years.

Thanks for all your encouragement!

ABSTRACT
Water scarcity is a major challenge in the world which is caused by wastages
during transmission and storage. This research is motivated to provide
technological solutions by addressing these challenges faced in many societies
around the globe. This solution will deploy computing techniques in creating a
barrier to wastage in order to not only provide more financial gains but also help
the environment as well as the water cycle which in turn ensures that we save
water for our future. IoT-based Water Level Monitoring system is an innovative
system that will inform the users about the level of liquid and will prevent it
from overflowing. This system will be demonstrated using containers as a
storage tank, where ultrasonic sensors will be placed at the top and bottom of
the container to detect the liquid level and compare it with the container’s depth
at a set maximum and minimum values. The IoT-based system makes use of a
Mega 2560 microcontroller for processing the system, a communication system
for inter and intra lump communication, and several sensors. Ultrasonic
sensors, android based mobile application, and a GSM module for sending data,
and a buzzer for alarm. A 12 V transformer is used for the power supply in this
system. The mobile application will collect real-time data access by using
remote monitoring and Internet of Things (IoT) technology. Data collected will
be displayed on an android device to communicate the sensed level of water in
the container. If the acquired value is above and below the threshold value, an
automated warning SMS alert will be sent to the person in control of the system.
The buzzer starts ringing when the set limit of the liquid is crossed. Thus, this
system helps to prevent the wastage of water by informing about the liquid
levels of the containers.

Chapter One (1)

Introduction
Background

With the rapid evolution in technology, it is highly recommended for us to

automate our industrial activities to meet the increasing demand of the market.
Increasingly, organizations in a variety of industries are using the Internet of
Things (IoT) to operate more efficiently, better understand customers to deliver
enhanced customer service, improve decision-making and increase the value of
the business.

The internet of things, or IoT, is a system of interrelated computing devices,

mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals, or people that are provided
with unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer data over a network
without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. An IoT
ecosystem consists of web-enabled smart devices that use embedded systems,
such as processors, sensors, and communication hardware, to collect, send and
act on data they acquire from their environments.

This project relates to the field of the Internet of things (IoT) in Water Level
Monitoring Systems. It will enable industries to automate the monitoring of
water processes to reduce wastages and overflows. It will also cut down on
wastages and leakages by improving service delivery, making it less expensive
to monitor and manage liquids in a storage tank, as well as offering ease
monitoring to management or admin.

The goal of this project is to develop a tool that will be linked with any smart
device to monitor and estimate the water level in a storage tank to prevent
overflow and leakages. There is a need to control the wastage of water to save
the environment and natural resources. A water level monitoring system is one
of the techniques used to address water wastages and monitor the water level in
a storage tank or container. This will observe the level of the water and display
the information to a registered user through wireless.

In the light of this, a sensor which is an electronic device will be embedded into
the storage tank to detect the presence of water for purposes such as providing
an alert in time to allow the prevention of water leakages and wastages. A
microcontroller such as Arduino Uno, Arduino Mega, Arduino Nano, or
Arduino Leonardo is a compact integrated circuit designed to govern a specific
operation in an embedded system. The microcontroller is the main controller of
this water level monitoring system and it will be programmed in C language
with the help of Arduino Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The
microcontroller which will be interfaced with the sensor (Water Level Sensor
and Ultrasonic Sensor) and BlueTooth module sends the logic high signal or
data to a wireless modem which will serve as the mode of communication and
will be connected wireless. A smart device will be used for human interaction
which will receive information from the system with a desktop, android, or IOS
application installed in it.

A smart device application will be developed using the PyQt and will be
deployed as a desktop application. This application will show the status of the
water to the user monitoring it and will display a graphical or 3D view of the
water level. The application will be developed using Python and library PyQt 5
and Visual Studio as a code editor.

A buzzer will be used as an alarm device which will be integrated into the
system to notify the registered user when the set limit has been exceeded. This
method is to raise an alert to the user when the liquid in the storage tank will
reach its designed maximum level to prevent overflows.

For operating this system, it will be directly powered by a 6 or 9V power source

which is the most used voltages to power up electronics components. This IOT
Water level monitoring system could be installed in any storage tank which has
different quantities in level form.

Problem Statement

One of the major problems faced by most industries and homes that deal with
liquid is wastages and leakages in their processing plants or storage tanks. Many
industries hold a piece of limited information in monitoring and managing their
liquid which is very costly, flammable, and corrosive. Such chemicals once
exposed to the environment will make it unsustainable by irresponsible
consumption and if also exposed to the skin it will possibly cause skin cancer.
Albeit the fact that there are Environmental Impact Assessments policies in
place for Engineering related practices, there have been several cases of oil
leakages and other liquid wastage that have amounted to serious incidents. It is
essential to control liquid wastages to save the environment by responsible
consumption of a specific liquid and also save the company's investment. The
measurement of the liquid level in a process tank for monitoring is important as
it prevents the liquid from overflowing and leakages. The scale at which this
affects the economy, health, and the environment increases with the type of
industry and the number of leakages/wastages expelled. Hence the need to
safely monitor liquid levels in containers as efficient management systems
provides a robust countermeasure against its occurrence or limit it to the barest
minimum in the case of unexpected scenarios.

Objectives

This project aims to:

 ● Understand the liquid level variation in a storage tank.
● Monitor the liquid level and provide information to the registered user
using a wireless system.
● Link this information to the management's information system.
● Prevent wastages and overflows.

Relevance and justification of the project

This project aims to design a prototype of a liquid level monitoring system

using the internet of things that will be used by industries in Sierra Leone as a
method of reducing liquid wastages and detecting leakages in their storage
tanks. It is predicted that upon the successful completion of this project,
industries will be able to monitor their liquids for overflows and leakages. A
case study is the Fourah Bay College water management center as the wastage
of water has been one of their major problems due to poor monitoring of their
tanks. This system will be less costly, more compact, efficient, and more
reliable as compared to other liquid-level monitoring systems and will reduce
the economic losses of the industry. Upon completion and integration with a
software interface, the designed prototype will prevent wastage of liquids by
firstly monitoring its level and responding when there is a variance in
unexpected changes.

Scope and Limitation

The design will use water as the specific liquid which is very useful for some
industries and home-based applications. Thus, it will be used as a prototype at
the Fourah Bay College water management center for real-world tests and there
will be room for optimization in industries such as Guma Valley, SALWACO,
etc.

Organization of dissertation

This dissertation contains five chapters: Chapter 1 gives a background to the

research and provides an overview of the research problem and the objectives
for which the study is conducted. Chapter 2 provides a review of the existing
literature relevant to the area of research. Chapter 3 focuses on the materials and
methodology in the framework of the study. Chapter 4 contains mathematical
calculations and block diagrams to achieve the required results. Chapter 5
contains the conclusion and recommendations from the study.