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Technology Today Bureau
The innovative IoT and
magnetisation-based water treatment solution by college students promises
greater yields minus fertilizer costs for farmers.
Recognising the importance of water
in agriculture, a group of students has developed farm-friendly system that
reduces water usage and minimises dependency on fertiliser. The team from Sona
College of Technology, Salem, has secured first place in the Smart India
Hackathon 2020, in the Hardware category, for their solution that uses the
principles of Internet of Things (IoT) and magnetisation.
Of the 343 problem statements
released for all participants, across 40 nodal centres, solutions from four
teams from across India were recognised in the finals.
The team consisted of six students –
Manimoliselvan C: Dinesh Kumar B, Manikandan S, Lokeshwar S, all pursuing final
year Civil Engineering and Kungumaswetha A, final year, Computer Science
Engineering and Suvetha S, final year (Electronics and Communications
Engineering).
Dr R Malathy, Dean (R&D) and
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Sona College of Technology, who
mentored the team shared, “Our project aims to help farmers by purifying their
available borewell water significantly, with zero waste.”
While borewell water is used for
almost all farm applications, the nature of such water causes scaling. This in
turn leads to non-uniform water supply to plants and poor mineral absorption.
The limescale deposition also damages soil structure. Such hard water is
absorbed by the plant cells with difficulty.
If through intervention, the water’s
minerals are broken down into smaller particles, they become more bio-available
to these plant cells.
Sona College’s solution achieves this
by using a designated permanent rare earth magnet. The water is passed through
a magnetic field and undergoes electrolysis and magnetisation. This breaks the
larger water clusters into smaller, hexagonal-shaped clusters. Such magnetically
treated, hexagonal-structured water molecules not only stop scaling, but also
remove existing scaling.
The magnetic structuring breaks all
minerals into smaller particles, and in the process, the salt in the soil is
also broken down. As a result, the salt sinks deep into the soil and can be
washed away easily. The desalinisation happens quickly over a season, creating
much healthier plants and greater yields, and a better final product.
For even better effectiveness and
easy monitoring, the inlet and outlet of the water pumping system developed by
Sona College has been fitted with sensors that can measure water levels,
weather and optical transducers to monitor nutrient absorption.
As per tests run by the team, the
overall results in terms of plant growth proved to be dramatic. With minimal
usage of water, the plants were hydrated well, were able to absorb maximum
minerals. This resulted in greater yields, larger and better end product,
earlier maturation, longer shelf life and healthier plants.
Such a system allows a reduction in
the water needs, as well as dependency on fertilizer and pesticides and can be
a boon for farmers.
“This helps carry sufficient minerals
in the standard composure, with water free from hardness for their
transpiration and respiration, with zero maintenance cost. The IoT-enabled,
user-friendly system makes our project unique,” said Dr Malathy.
“This solution was developed in
around six months, starting with selection of the right magnet that can be used
for borewell water at all places, visual observation on potted plants and then
moving to a peanut field for research,” added Dr Malathy.
She shared that the team is also
working on applying for a patent for their IoT-based solution.
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