Design and Implementation of An Automate
Design and Implementation of An Automate
Abstract—Traditional clothes drying lines are unable to save their clothes from the touch of rainfall. Others have also
protect clothes from rainfall, theft, strong winds, dust, stains, suffered injuries in their quest to rush down the stairs to pick
birds dropping and insects. This makes life unbearable. This their clothes from the drying lines. Those who forget their
paper seeks to design a system that will not only help dry clothes on the drying lines sometimes find them either stolen
clothes but also offer protection of clothes from rainfall, theft, or stained with bird’s droppings. There have also been
strong winds, dust and stains. The designed system has a tube instances where people pick their clothes from the drying
that directs sun rays from outside into a box-like container lines with dangerous insects hidden in them. Thus, if there
within the room which contains the hung clothes. The tube exists a smarter drying line that can solve the aforementioned
with its converging lens direct sun rays onto a reflecting plane
problems, life will be made more comfortable.
which in turn direct the rays into the box uniformly with the
help of a diverging lens. The interior surfaces of the box are This paper seeks to build a drying line system that is
coated black to retain heat. The system has a humidity sensor capable of protecting clothes from rainfall, theft, strong wind
to measure the dryness of clothes and notify the user via an and dust. The already existing systems reviewed so far can
LED blink and the sound of a buzzer. The system has a fan protect clothes from rainfall. However, when it comes to
that can be turned on to expedite the drying process of clothes protection from dust, strong winds and thefts, these systems
within the system. It goes off automatically when clothes are do not provide the optimum solution. Hence, the motivation
dried thereby conserving energy. The system receives
to embark on this paper.
instructions from Arduino Uno. All codes were written with
Arduino IDE. The system shall have two main components. Videlicet a
tube that shall convey sun rays into the system and a box-like
Keywords— Serial Arduino, Arduino Nano, Arduino Uno, structure that shall keep the clothes.
Arduino 101, LED.
A. Types of Automation
I. INTRODUCTION There are two branches of automation. These are:
Automation is now common place in recent years mainly
because of it ubiquitous nature. It cuts across almost all 1) Feedback Control: It is a constant process that
spheres of life, be it education, industry, health and includes recording dimensions with sensors and also
agriculture. In fact, contemporary life is unconceivable calculating adjustments through a controller to an output
devoid of highly proficient computer systems. device. This helps to keep the measured variable within a
fixed range. (e.g. water heater). It could be a closed loop or
The development of automated system is on the
ascendency and this can be traced back to origination of the opened looped.
microprocessor chip in the 1960s. Automation in recent 2) Sequence Control: It executes diverse actions based
years is not only restricted to information provided or on different system states. It may be either a fixed sequence
performing of actions, however, it also comprises analyzing or a logical one. (e.g. elevator) [1].
information and selecting the right actions.
The types of automation include:
Automation as a word emanates from two Greek words,
namely, “Auto” which means self and “Matos” which means ▪ Fixed automation;
moving. Thus, it is the mechanism for devices that moves on ▪ Programmable automation; and
their own. Automation, therefore, can be defined as, “A set ▪ Flexible automation
of technologies that results in the operation of machines and
systems without significant human intervention and achieves B. Importance of Automation
performance superior to manual operation” [8]. The benefits of automation as stated by [1] are:
▪ It decreases the amount of labor;
Existing traditional drying lines are not able to protect
clothes against rainfall, dust, strong wing, theft and others. ▪ Conserves energy through efficiency gains;
This causes a lot of problems for individuals. ▪ Reduces the number of materials needed;
▪ Improves accuracy, quality, precision and
In most organisations and educational institutions, for predictability; and
instance, people lose concentration either at work or class ▪ Ensures safety by removing humans from unsafe or
when the weather becomes cloudy whiles their clothes are on dangerous conditions.
the drying lines. Some people resort to neighbours just to
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powering it with a computer, it can also be powered by a When the DHT11 sensor is made to work beyond the range
battery or an ac-to-dc adapter. Uno does not use an FTDI specified in its datasheet, it can lead to a signal shift of three per
USB-to-serial driver chip. This feature makes it different cent RH. It can get back to the calibrated mark progressively when
from other boards. It comes along with ATmega16U2 it is used again in the normal operating state and made to function
programmed as a USB-to-serial converter. within its stipulated range.
The Uno board works when supplied with an external The various specifications of the DHT11 sensor is shown in Table
supply of 6 to 20 volts. If less than 7V, is supplied to it, the II.
5V pin may produce less than 5 volts. This makes the board
unstable. When more than 12V is used, the voltage regulator TABLE II. SPECIFICATIONS OF DHT11 HUMIDITY SENSOR
will become overheated which damages the board. It is
ITEM VALUE
therefore recommended that 7 to 12 volts are used. Figure 2
shows an Arduino Uno circuit board. Temperature Range 0-50/+2 or -2 degree Celsius
Humidity Range 20-80%/ + or – 5%
Sampling Rate 1Hz tone reading every seconds
Body size 15.5mm * 12mm*5.5mm
Operational Voltage 3-5v
Max Current During Measuring 2.5mA
Pin number 4
A. Hardware Architecture
DHT11 is part of the DHTXX family. It is used to measure
humidity and temperature. It has four pins namely VCC, Data out,
Fig. 4. A DC Motor
Not connected and Ground. The not connected pin has no usage.
This sensor includes a resistive-type humidity measurement A LED as shown in Figure 5 is a semiconductor device that
component and an NTC temperature measurement component. It produces visible light of a specified colour. It is essentially
connects to a high-performance 8-bit microcontroller. DHT11 different from conventional light sources such as fluorescent and
offers a fast response, cost-effectiveness and anti-interference incandescent. Its advantages include; does not produce infrared
ability. radiation and ultraviolet rays. It is mercury-free and can endure
The power supply of DHT11 is 3V to 5.5V DC. Instruction is not impact and vibrations.
directed to the sensor within a second so that the unstable status is
passed when power is sent to the sensor. To achieve power
filtering, a capacitor whose value is 100nF can be placed between
VDD and GND. Figure 3 shows a DHT11 sensor.
Fig. 5. A LED
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TABLE III. SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES OF ARDUINO UNO D. Hardware Design Description
Microcontroller ATmega328 The designed system has two main components namely, a tube that
Operating Voltage 5V
direct sun rays into the system and a box-like structure that keep
clothes. The tube has an inlet that is covered with a converging
Input Voltage (recommended) 7-9V lens to direct sun rays onto a reflecting surface inclined at an angle
Input Voltage (limits) 6-20V of 45 degrees. The reflecting surface, in turn, focuses the sun rays
onto the outlet of the tube which is covered with a diverging lens.
Digital I/O Pins 14 (of which 6 provide PWM output) The diverging lens ensures that the sun rays are evenly distributed
Analog Input Pins 6 within the system. The second component of the system is a box-
like structure that accommodates the washed clothes. It has vent
DC Current per I/O Pin 40 mA
holes to allow vapour to escape whiles the clothes dry. It also has
DC Current for 3.3V Pin 50 mA an orifice to allow drops of water from clothes to be collected. The
Flash Memory 32 KB (ATmega328) (0.5 KB used by interior surfaces of the box are coated black to retain heat from the
sunrays to expedite the drying process of the clothes. Figure 8
bootloader) shows a pictorial view of the designed system.
SRAM 2 KB (ATmega328)
EEPROM 1 KB (ATmega328)
Clock Speed 16 MHz
B. Block Diagram
Figure 6 shows the block diagram of the automated drying line
system. The hardware design entails two main components which
are the connections between Arduino UNO and the DHT11 sensors
and Arduino Uno and servo motto. When the system is in
operation, the DHT11 senses the humidity and sends a signal to the
Arduino Uno. If the humidity is high, the fun is turned on and
together with the heat from the sunshine, the clothes are dried. If
the humidity, falls below the threshold, the fun goes off and the
LED and buzzer are turned on to inform the user that the clothes
are dried.
Fig. 8. Diagram of Designed Automated Drying Line System.
E. Software Design
The software of the paper is based on the flow chart in Figure 9.
When the system is in use, the DHT11 will measure the humidity
within the system. If it exceeds the threshold value (X). It means
clothes have been hanged in it. The fan can be turned on by the
user while clothes go through the drying process. If the humidity
falls below the threshold value (X), then the LED and buzzer are
turned on to prompt the user that the clothes are dried. The fun is
automatically turned off if it was turned on. Figure 10 shows the
pseudocode for the flow chart.
Fig. 6. Block Diagram of Automated Drying Line
C. Hardware Architecture
The hardware architecture displaying the various components and
their interconnection is shown in Figure 7.
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TABLE IV. COST ANALYSIS OF COMPONENTS TABLE V. PIN ALLOCATION OF THE ARDUINO TO THE RESPECTIVE
COMPONENTS
COMPONENT UNITS COST (GH₵)
Component Pin
Arduino Uno 1 70.00
DHT11 2
Jumper wires 10 5.00 Buzzer 5
LED 2 1.00
Bursar 1 2.00
DC motto 1 3.00
Total 158.00
B. Circuit Design
The DHT sensor, motto, and LED were connected to the various
pins on the Arduino board. The circuit was designed using Fritzing
circuit design software. Figure 11 shows the diagram of the
prototype.
Fig. 12. Breadboard with Components
D. Programming
The whole paper with its testing was done in C programming
language using the Arduino IDE. Figures 13 shows a screenshot of
the programming interface.
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F. Prototype Testing
The system was tested as shown in Figures 16, 17,18 and 19.
E. Prototype Building
The prototype for the automated drying line system was built with
a breadboard, hand lens, paper glue and cardboards. The
Fig. 17. Prototype Testing
components were connected with the help of the circuit diagrams.
Figures 14 and 15 show the prototype building and testing
respectively.
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VI. REFERENCES
[1] E. Hayden, M. Assante and T. Conway, “An abbreviated
history of automation & industrial controls systems and
cybersecurity,” [Online]: https://ics.sans.org/media/An-
Abbreviated-History-of-Automationand-ICS-
Cybersecurity.pdf, 2014
[2] K. B. Sathish, M. Selvaganapathey, I. S. Siva Siddharth and
G. Kumaresan (2017), “Design and Experimental Study on
Automated Cloth Retrieval and Drying System”, International
Journal of Advanced Research, Ideas and Innovation in
Technology, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 47-57.
Fig. 20. System Integration [3] J. Zulxilawati, H. Hasnorhafiza and J. Hajar (2017),
“Development of Arduino Smart Clothes Hanger Embedded
System for Disabled”, ARPN Journal of Engineering and
Applied Sciences, Vol. 12, No. 10, pp. 3266- 3270.
[4] A. N. Kalyankar, A. R. Kedar, P. S. Khandekar and S. D.
Jadhav (2018), “Electric Clothes dryer and dehydrator”,
International Research Journal of Engineering and
Technology, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 3813-3815.
[5] Bin Alias, M. S. (2015), “Automated Smart Hanger”,
http://eprints.etem.edu.my, Accessed: April 15, 2021.
[6] H. Y. Tee (2015). Smart Outdoor Clothing Rack And Curtain
Blade Control System, Accessed: June 13, 2021.
[7] D. Ronzani (2017), “Introduction to Arduino”,
https://www.math.unipd.it/~dronzani/docs/Introduction_to_Ar
duino.pdf. Accessed: June 13, 2021
Fig. 21. System Integration
[8] P. Hollis (2018), “Role of Actuators in Enabling Industrial
Automation Functions,” Venture Mfg. Co.,
https://www.venturemfgco.com/blog/role-of-actuators-in-
enabling-industrial-automation-functions/.
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