Samenvatting

Waterschap Scheldestromen is curious about a 4-electrode conductivity sensor from Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre(imec), which provides a larger working range than Waterschap’s commercial 2-electrode sensor. The project aims to test the performance of this imec sensor, and couple it with Arduino for direct observation of conductivity as preparation of future online measurement under the premise of controlling the cost of coupling part within €100.
The project conducted under the guidance of V-model approach. It broke the design into small pieces to achieve the final work. To adapt the methodology to the condition of this project, V-model was used once in performance investigation and once in coupling design.
The results indicate that the obtained imec sensor can give out good measurement values in a solution of 270-13000μS/cm with an accuracy of 10%-30% and stability of less than 5%. The solutions other than 50-13000μS/cm are unable to measure. It does not match the performance provided by imec. It implies that the obtained sensor is damaged to some extent. Further development and more tests are needed to confirm the usability in the future. The results also show a great success in coupling system design, which can show conductivity and temperature directly via LCD and show all the outputs given by the sensor in the serial monitor of Arduino IDE.
These results suggest that imec new generation conductivity sensor needs to be further optimized to improve its robustness and reliability. In addition, the sensor will have the opportunity to be integrated into the Multiflexmeter system in the future for continuous online measurement.