Contactless control of sanitary water flow and temperature

Abstract

An innovative embedded computer system for contactless control of sanitary water flow and temperature is described in this paper. The innovative component of this embedded system is in its ability to control the flow and temperature of sanitary water, without the need for physical contact with a tap. In this way, the transfer of bacteria from the surface of the tap to a user is avoided, which significantly contributes to the preservation of health and cleanliness, i.e. hygiene. A hardware and software components required for the functioning of this embedded computer system are described in this paper. A design and production of printed circuit boards (PCBs), for control of servo valves using an analog infrared proximity sensors, a digital infrared proximity sensor and signal LEDs, are included as the hardware part of the paper. The software part is consisted of description of a class for linearization characteristics of the analog infrared proximity sensor, and description of a class for noise filtering, as essential software components of the program, which ensure comfortable use of the system for the end user.