Dirt or Dust Sensor

Do you mean dirt or dust in the air or on the surface of something? If on something, then what?

More information, please.

basically i wanna make an project of an automatic vacuum cleaner robo so that i was searching for its circuit and to add a sensor which sences the dirt on sirface of earth while moving so that when it searches the dirt the vacuum sucker should turn on just like http://www.itouchless.com/share/cgi-bin/site.cgi?site_id=itouchless&page_id=roboticvacuum

Looked at your link - couldn't see and evidence of dirt/dust sensors. I think it just motors itself around, making sure it covers the whole floor.

Since the sort of stuff such a robot would be expected to pick up could be anything animal, vegetable or mineral in origin, I can't imagine any single kind of sensor that would do the job. The best you could do would be some kind of vision system, programmed to identify dirt/dust. Problem would be getting it to stop trying to suck the knots out of polished wood floors (and any other kinds of permanent marks on surfaces).

basically bro.. i was searching 4 the project..i got that. on that as u told about that is an drobag of that product,.... for further improvement in the same project help me out so that i could make an improved version out of that of mine ideas... it only switches on when it detects the durt or dust that was an idea but i wanted to make the modifications in that project can u help me and advice an another technical idea

Reading or sensing dust from multiple surfaces will be something tough to design about. You can sense dust by optical reading/ sensing, or by intermittent operation of pure air ejection on surfaces, which probably raises the dust, which can be sensed by the optical sensor based on some preset values like turbidity, spm density etc. That can activate the vacuum cleaning in case of presence of dusts on surfaces. It gives a better cleaning also.

You can conduct tests on this basis and proceed further.

Just a spontaneous idea flashed to my mind.

Many years ago, I sold Kirby vacuum cleaners. I used an attachment in place of the bag. This allowed the captured dirt to be deposited on a filter pad so I could hold it up to the victim potential customer to show how much dirt I was extracting from their carpet. Unless it was newly laid carpet, there was ALWAYS dirt that I could vacuum up. I could even go over and over the same area and continue to get amazing amounts of dirt.

My point being that, unless your product is purchased by a consumer owning a brand new house, if you try using a dust/dirt sensor (I would think some kind of optical sensor across the incoming suction stream), the vacuum robot may have to be on much longer than its battery life.

I am not aware of any small plug in sensor that is able to detect dust or particles.

Utility Companies use an Ultra Violet camera (similar to Infrared Thermography) that is able to identify dust collection on overhead HT power cables. I think this would be the most rleliable method, these cameras are not cheap!

It may be possible to construct an electronic circuit that monitors static / capacitance build up and interpret that to some extent as dust build up but I have not seen this done reliably yet and it may prove difficult to apply in a home or workshop environment.

IMHO if sensors are installed that are able to detect, decide and then activate, the cost will be so high no one will be willing to pay for this model. The KISS principle is much better (Keep It Simple Stupid). No disrespect to you. A model that senses light (as some already have) or set for a specific time to activate is a much better idea. Would you really want it to go off just as your trying to go to sleep and have your spouse make you get up to see what that noise is downstairs!.

basically i have to make this project in my collage and should be not so coastly as u told and other the sensor's r too coastly. i m typing like this way because i have been searching for the same project for long hours likely to be 5-6hours and at the last i could not make the data for mine project ......... pls read mine earlier poasts i poasted this is project relaited to automatic dust cleaner robo Or automatic robo vacuum cleaner and pls help me out in the circuit layout for the same i havent got any suitable circuit for the same...... and thankx for replying me

basically i have to make this project in my collage and should be not so coastly as u told and other the sensor's r too coastly. i m typing like this way because i have been searching for the same project for long hours likely to be 5-6hours and at the last i could not make the data for mine project ......... pls read mine earlier poasts i poasted this is project relaited to automatic dust cleaner robo Or automatic robo vacuum cleaner and pls help me out in the circuit layout for the same i havent got any suitable circuit for the same...... and thankx for replying me

While I agree with most of the other advice already put forward (especially with Mikerho in #5), I have something that may do as you ask. I see s.udhayamarthandan has given similar advice in #7.

A smoke detector using the optical sensing of particles may work for you. You can scavenge one (you can purchase entire unit for $20.00 USD or so), or make your own circuit... opto-isolator relay with a comparator is the backbone of it.

This will, of course, only detect airborne dust, not dust already settled on the carpet. Any housekeeper will complain that the work is never done; I agree with the others, your robot will get quite a workout!

Is this a worthwhile experiment? Sure, why not. Construction not too difficult, not very expensive... Try something new... ya never know until you try.

Doorman,

Greetings and nice of meeting you in CR4. Thank you for the support comments about my posting on the forum thread subject. Cheers and regards