Online Experiment for Investigating Landfill Gas Production
Experimental Set-up
The following schematic diagram shows the essential components and their linkage of for this online experiment for investigating methane production from food waste. An Arduino Mega board (a microcontroller) is used to (1) control the power supply to different sensors via an array of relays, (2) monitor and (3) collect data on the (relative) level of methane gas, pH value of the solution and concentration of carbon dioxide in the air above the solution as well as the environmental temperature and humidity. It is operated by an Arduino programme consisted of around a thousand lines of codes as specifically written by our research team for this experimental setup. The collected data will be uploaded through its LAN card to a server located at http://stemed.online/oe/gases/ for storage and processing (including automatic plotting of graphs and preparation of reports). There is an IP camera installed to take photos of the whole set up in each hour. All the learning activities are managed by another thousand lines of HTML and php codes which are also specifically written by our research team for this courseware. A learner with a PC or mobile device can use an ordinary web browser to access and control the Arduino system via the abovementioned server for observing and analysing data from this online experiment at anytime and anywhere.
The Production Team
This online experiment and courseware were designed, programmed, developed and refined by Professor YEUNG Yau Yuen with technical support provided by some helpers. Special thanks are due to Dr. Chris Tsang for his kind advice and assistance in the class implementation and evaluation of students' learning.
We welcome enquiries and feedback by means of sending email to yeungy@acm.org.