A Prototype of Solar-Powered Automatic Ablution Tap

• Published in: IOP conference series. Materials Science and Engineering Vol. 486; no. 1; pp. 12078 - 12084
• Main Authors: Adriansyah Hulukati, Stephan, Pratiwi Handayani, Tri, Jaya, Risman, Abdussamad, Syahrir
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.06.2019
• Subjects: Arduino and Proximity; Automatic control systems; Fresh water; Microcontrollers; Mosques; Prototypes; Selenoide valve; Solar energy; Solenoid valves; Ultrasonic testing; Water consumption; Water flow
• ISSN: 1757-8981; 1757-899X
• DOI: 10.1088/1757-899X/486/1/012078

Muslims are required to perform ablution before praying. This activity uses water, and can consume a huge amount of it when there are a lot of people who perform ablution at the same time. Conventional ablution taps are unable to control the usage of water. Usually, the tap is left running during this action. Therefore, a lot of fresh water unnecessarily flows to the drain. In order to reduce the usage of ablution water, this research developed a prototype of solar-powered, automatic water ablution tap. The system uses ultrasonic sensors to detect human presence and employs an Arduino microcontroller. It sends the "on" and "off" instructions to the relay to activate the solenoid valve to allow water flow. Water flow from the ablution tap can be more efficient with this system. The sensor detects the presence of human and works only when needed. So, the user does not need to touch the valve to activate water flow. This automatic control system can reduce the excessive water consumption when performing ablution. The testing of the system was conducted in a mosque in Indonesia. The experiment shows that the system is effective for detecting the presence of human in the range of maximum 50 cm above the tap. The used of ablution water is reduced significantly approximately 1900 cc compared to manual tap.