Make a flood barrier system
Designing and making a circuit to detect an overflow from a river and raise a temporary barrier using Crumble
Because of climate change, many parts of the world are now at risk of flooding. Can you design and make a system that closes a barrier when the water level in a river gets too high?
This is one of a series of resources produced in association with Fairfield Control Systems that are designed to allow learners to use the theme of waterways to develop their knowledge and skills in Design & Technology and Engineering. This resource focusses on designing and making a programmable electronic system to control a flood barrier.
Activity: Make a flood barrier system
The teacher will first explain the task and introduce the design brief from the presentation. Learners will then produce a block diagram showing their design idea for a suitable system before making and programming the system. Learners must remember to test their sensor in the water to see if the circuit works.
This activity can be simplified (particularly for less able students) by providing a partially completed template for producing the systems block diagram; pre-download the example program onto the Crumble microcontroller boards; and/or provide a diagram to aid with system assembly.
As an extension students could design a mechanical system to convert the rotary motion from the motor to the movement of a barrier; update the program to take account of this mechanical movement (e.g. the time needed to move the barrier); and/or add light or sound outputs to the system to warn people when the barrier is moving.
This activity is designed to take between 70-110 minutes.
Tools/resources required
- Crumble controller board and USB download cable
- Three red crocodile clips and three black crocodile clips
- Three AA batteries and battery pack
- Crumble motor
- Bowl of water for testing
To make a moisture sensor:
- Copper tape
- Card
- Sticky tape
- Scissors
The engineering context
The waterways (including their protection, maintenance and control) is an excellent context to explore opportunities that working in the engineering industry presents. For example, designing and making control systems that help the waterways to work more effectively.
Electrical, electronic and control engineers need to have knowledge, understanding and skills associated with circuit design and assembly, and the programming of electronic control systems.
Suggested learning outcomes
By the end of this free resource students will be able to design and make an electronic control system for a flood barrier; understand how block diagrams are used to represent systems; and be able to use programmable components to solve a real engineering problem.
Download the free make a flood barrier system activity sheet below!
All activity sheets and supporting resources are free to download, and all the documents are fully editable, so you can tailor them to your students’ and your schools’ needs.
The activity sheet includes teacher notes, guidance, useful web links, and links (where appropriate) to the national curriculum in each of the four devolved UK nations; England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Please share your classroom learning highlights with us @IETeducation.
