Nico Naudé

Firmware and test system for intelligent domestic electric water heaters
Masters in Engineering Student

The goal of this Masters project is to re-design, re-construct and test the geyser control unit previously designed by Mr. Jonathan Brown. This geyser control unit allows cloud based monitoring and controlling of domestic electric water heaters. The intelligent electric water heater measures water flow rates, temperatures, energy consumption and detects geyser burst events. The measured data is sent via a cellular modem to the intelligent geyser server where data mining and processing allows for statistical data gathering to implement energy saving control schemes and provide feedback to users concerning their usage patterns. Feedback and control are provided by means of an app which allows users to implement energy saving control schemes and receive near real time feedback of the current electric water heater status.

This Masters project will include newly designed and implemented firmware for the previously designed hardware model of the geyser control unit to allow full functionality of the previously designed hardware.

A follow up design of the existing geyser control unit, hardware- and software wise, will be conducted in this project to improve the existing geyser control unit. SABS tests will be implemented to ensure the geyser control unit complies with the SABS standards.