Using Wireless Technology to Create

Simple Laboratory Tools: A Case-Study

of Honours Research

Dr. Shane CoxInstrument Works Pty Ltd

Lloyd Lian, Prof. Greg Leslie, Joel Tan UNESCO Centre for Membrane Science & TechnologyUNSW Australia

Introduction

• Mobile technology has progressively become more visible within higher education

• But seems to be lagging when it comes to research

• It presents as a cost-effective and portable option that can increase the efficiency of research

• Today are presenting a case study has investigated the use of a tablet-based process control software platform connected to wireless sensors

• Sydney based startup company

• Ex-researchers – building better tools for engineers and researcher

• Developing a range of wireless sensors for data collection and process control

Why is doing research slow?

• It can take up to 6 months to design and build experimental apparatus before they are ready to use

• Experiments are becoming more complex - meaning more sensors and more data

• Researchers aren’t able to manage all of these resources

• This substantially reduces the amount of research they generate and also affects its quality.

What do researchers say?

• Conducted a survey of 45 engineering researchers• Predominantly PhD and Honours Students

Build my own equipment

Adapt from existing equipment

Outsource building of my equipment< 1 month

< 3 months

< 6 months

> 6 months

How long to get data

HonoursPhD

What do researchers say?

PhD

MatlabLabviewProprietary for HardwareNone

Honours

MatlabLabviewProprietary for HardwareNone

What control system / DAQ system do you use?

PhD Vs Honours

PhD

• 3+ years to complete their research

• Have the time to invest in setting up their experiments

• Longer experiments makes manual collect infeasible

• More experienced researchers

Honours

• 10-14 weeks to complete their research

• Experiments are simpler, and have less sensors.

• Shorter experiments make manual collection possible

• Usually their first introduction to research

A Different Approach

• Common device most people already have.

• Familiar user interface that require little or no training.

• Ability to collect many types of data in one place.

• Wireless technology makes connection simple

Honours Case Study

• Project investigated the use of vacuum membrane distillation as an alternative method to recover solvents from shipping industry waste water which is currently treated through incineration.

• This projects was suited to a trial as it required• Experiments were only short term

• Required to be setup in a fume cupboard due to the volatile components making a traditional wired system problematic

• Needed to collect data from a number of sensors at once.

Honours Case Study

Honours Case Study

• Data acquisition up and running in less than an hour.

• Data recorded at regular intervals during experiment.

• Alarms were used to ensure setpointswere maintained.

• Exports as a CSV file, ready for data analysis

Outcomes

• Shorter learning curve than existing tool such as Labview

• Reduced chance of transcription errors introduced with manual data collection

• Reduced setup complexity through a lack of wiring and connection decreasing the opportunity for problems and errors

• Provided a unified collection tool for the current project.