Compost King

Inspiration

20% of landfills are composed of food-related waste. This waste could be put to good use with widespread composting, but many people are not sure how to. Many may be scared of compost starting to smell. Particularly if you live in the city, like many students, it can be intimidating to start composting. Compost King automates the process. Just add a healthy mix of greens and browns to the Compost King, and it will create a healthy environment for your compost to decompose in a smell-free way.

What it does

The Compost King work by using heated air and an agitator motor to accelerate the process of composition. The air in the compost bot is heated using a matrix of resistors. The compost is agitated using a finned shaft to ensure uniform mixing/ compost displacement

How I built it

The mechanical side of the project was supported by laser cutting for the main enclosures and also utilizing 3D printing to create hard to laser cut geometries. The electrical side of the project was build using a combination of breadboarding, soldering, and trial and error.

Challenges I ran into

The provided relay boards were not properly working so I had to use mosfets and a breadboard to do our high power switching for the motor and heaters

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

What I learned

We learned that the integration of the seperate parts of the project can end up taking as much time or more as building the individual pieces of the project. We also learned more about how to use mosfets for switching applications.

What's next for Compost King

20% of landfills is composed of food-related waste. This waste could be put to good use with widspread composting. Making the UI more user friendly, improving the heating element and heating system. Making a more robust control system

Built With

• 3dprinting
• arduino
• lasercutting