Special Level and Conductivity Sensors for Water Supply and Electricity Supply Systems in Rural Areas

Kololo Game Reserve is located in a rural area near Vaalwater, Limpopo in Africa and has a special water system. This water system consists of several wells, accumulated tanks, and a distribution system of pipes and hoses. In this type of water supply system, measuring the water level of wells and reservoirs is necessary and for this purpose, the level measuring system is designed for installation in reservoirs. The solution communicates wirelessly via a LoRa network. A LoRa network consists of three parts: a) a LoRa transmitter b) a LoRa gateway that connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi or Ethernet c) a digital sensor or gauge.

In a new system designed to measure water levels, a special type of modem acts as a LoRa transmitter. In addition, a special digital level sensor connected to the modem measures temperature and pressure. Data on air pressure, air temperature, and level are transmitted to the LoRa gate. This data is used in a special app to measure the content of the tanks, print it, and convert it to other units.

After launching this system, measurements are performed every hour.

Special Level and Conductivity Sensors for Water Supply and Electricity Supply Systems in Rural Areas

Emergency power generators:

The power system of areas such as Kololo Game Reserve is equipped with diesel generators to help supply electricity. Sometimes the thieves steal the diesel and fill the diesel tanks with water instead. The LoRa system cannot measure faster than once every 15 minutes. As a result, it is not possible to efficiently measure the difference in the level of diesel that occurs as a result of theft. For this reason, new sensors have been designed that detect the presence of water in diesel tanks based on level and conductivity.

These new sensors can be applied to IoT applications. Such a system saves a lot of costs and is used in various industries – agriculture, boreholes, petrochemical, game reserves, etc.