IS developing a device for determining the depth of soil freezing in buildings erected in the permafrost zone. The project received support in the amount of 1 million rubles in the framework of the Student Startup competition.
Previously, it was believed that permafrost is unchangeable, but climate change leads to the fact that frozen soils cease to be "eternal", and the boundary of their occurrence shifts towards colder (northern) territories. Early construction standards for the northern regions did not take into account climate warming, which led to the problem of deforming the foundation and sinking piles into the ground due to soil thawing. Uneven melting leads to the destruction of the structure.
According to Alexey Bizyaev, the scientific director of the development team, senior lecturer at the Department of Design and Technology of Radioelectronic Facilities at NSTU-NETI, in order to prevent damage caused by ground thawing, they are trying to freeze the foundation with special columns that sink into the ground and connect to refrigeration units. This freezing process must be monitored using thermal sensors. However, the rate of displacement of the permafrost belt to the north requires automation of monitoring the depth of freezing. If you do not respond to the melting of the ground in time, this can lead to the destruction of buildings and cause environmental disasters.
To solve this problem, students of the Faculty of Radio Engineering and Electronics at NSTU-NETI are creating a hardware and software complex that automatically collects data from thermal sensors immersed at different depths of a well with a freezing column, and in an emergency turns on the refrigeration unit. Previous research conducted by students has shown that the approach to the emergency level is unique for each building and depends on many factors. Therefore, the complex is also planned to be equipped with deformation sensors, which will allow conducting scientific research in search of this level, based on the deformation characteristics of the structure. And the very idea of equipping the system with strain sensors is planned to be patented — it will allow more efficient use of the refrigeration unit, reducing energy consumption costs.
The design and software are planned to be manufactured in such a way that the product is universal and can be used for automated heating of premises such as kindergartens, schools, hospitals, where the temperature can be set at different times of the day using settings in the software.
The prototype of the product has already been made, and now the students are planning to adapt the electronic unit to frost and are considering the possibility of connecting to renewable energy sources.
The project was among the winners of the Student Startup competition of the Foundation for the Promotion of Innovation. The project team received grant support in the amount of 1 million rubles for the implementation of its startup.