Flood Control SystemCapstone Project-First Proposal

ET2799 Electrical Engineering Tech. Capstone Project 6/19/2015

Flood Control System

Capstone Project

ITT Technical Institute

By: Antoine Belot, Albert Stevenson & Jermaine Williamson

ET2799 Electrical Engineering Tech. Capstone Project 6/19/2015

Flood Control System

The Idea:

We as a team will be building a scaled model with street view and the underground view of a

flood control system. The concept of our project is to demonstrate an alternative to the current

storm drain system. We will demonstrate through the use of float sensors, Electric pumps,

Relays, Arduino Mega microcontroller, LCD display, Control console, Voltage sensor, Rocker

switches, LED’s and an electrically heated model steam engine together with a voltage

generator, will show how our system works.

How it works:

In theory the flood control system that we are designing works as follows, when it rains heavily

the Catch basin will collect the rain water, when the right condition is met, that is when the float

sensors are activated by the level of the water. The sump pump for that catch basin will be

activated. The water will be sent to the main branch, the main branch is linked to a steam

powered flash turbine generator. The water from the catch basin will run the steam powered

generator. In essence the reason that floods exist is that the storm drains can’t handle the load

because the ground is saturated due to the backup of the system. With this system the rain water

is diverted to the steam power plant and the water is then turned to electric energy. The system

will not back up since the water will be turned into steam and the benefits are one the steam will

be turned into electric energy, no backup of drain system, energy produced can be redirected to

keep the power plant running and any extra energy can be put into the grid.

This system can also be used on a smaller scale. The system can be installed for

residential purposes. Through the use of a drain system around a residency, which consists of

ET2799 Electrical Engineering Tech. Capstone Project 6/19/2015

catch basins, pipes, pumps, float sensors, microcontroller, control console, and flash steam

powered turbine can be either installed in new construction or existing construction. The benefits

for this system are that the steam only needs external power at the initial stage. After the initial

stage is completed a switch will connect all the equipment to the energy from the turbine itself.

This makes this system self-sufficient in a storm situation.

Block Diagram:

Note: The Generator will have a voltage sensor in order to display on the control console the amount of voltage being produced by the turbine. This will be achieved through serial communication from the microcontroller to the LCD display.

Float Sensors Microcontroller Control Console

Sump pumpsFlash Steam

Engine Generator

ET2799 Electrical Engineering Tech. Capstone Project 6/19/2015

Current Storm drains system:

ET2799 Electrical Engineering Tech. Capstone Project 6/19/2015

Statistics on Flood damage in US

ET2799 Electrical Engineering Tech. Capstone Project 6/19/2015

The Equipment:

ET2799 Electrical Engineering Tech. Capstone Project 6/19/2015

ET2799 Electrical Engineering Tech. Capstone Project 6/19/2015

ET2799 Electrical Engineering Tech. Capstone Project 6/19/2015

Physical elements:

Catch Basin Sump pumpPipe line

Steam Engine turbine