Respiring Reflections
First Experiments
In the beginning of our semester, we were given some seeds to be grown at home. This was our first experiments for this class. I was growing Chia seeds (and also apple seeds that didn't really grow into anything) on a piece of cotton and inside a plastic bag. I have not done this since school time, so it was interesting and fun. During our first experiments in growing seeds, we documented our plants' progress. I documented it in form of pictures and diary entries.
//add pics + examples of diary entries
Motivation
After attending a few sessions of this class, I started brainstorming what could my topic of interest be. Honestly it was a bit confusing and challenging to try combining/connecting plants and electronics somehow. Before this bubble machine idea came up, I had some more ideas and sketched them in my notebook. In the end, I was interested in the respiration process of my plants and decided to make a bubble machine which can visualize the respiration process/cycle of my plants.
//add initial sketches
Initial project mood board: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVLBm7F8w=/?share_link_id=117991010729
Are my plants breathing? They seem fine, their leaves are green... but are they really okay? To observe my houseplants' respiration, a prototype of soap bubble maker machine is being developed. The quantity of soap bubbles will be in accordance to the CO2 level of the plants' (closed) environment, divided into three categories: Low, Medium and High CO2 level.
Materials
- ESP32
- CO2 sensor MH-Z19C
- Stepper motor 28BYJ-48
- Stepper motor driver module ULN2003
- PWM fan AMD Ryzen 7 1700
- 10kΩ resistor
- Power supply 12 volts
- Switch
- Buck converter 12 volts to 5 volts
- Acrylic sheets
- Lots of cables...
First Prototype
first prototype
Final Prototype (Winterwerkschau)
final prototype
Wiring Diagram
wiring diagram
Code
Self-reflection
Future Work
Gallery
The Plant Plant Gallery (Nextcloud Bauhaus Uni), Password: theplantplant (CO2 sensor first trial pictures are inside)
References
CO2 sensor MH-Z19C
- https://www.neumueller.com/datenblatt/neumueller/MH-Z19C.pdf (Datasheet)
- https://randomnerdtutorials.com/esp32-uart-communication-serial-arduino/ (Concept, wiring, code)
PWM fan AMD Ryzen 7 1700
- Arduino Fan Control using High Frequency 25kHz PWM // 4-Wire CPU Fans - YouTube (Concept, wiring, code); adapted to ESP32
Stepper motor 28BYJ-48 and stepper motor driver module ULN2003
- https://randomnerdtutorials.com/esp8266-nodemcu-stepper-motor-28byj-48-uln2003/ (Concept, wiring, code); adapted to own implementation