Alpha Sensor Case - 01 by on Sketchfab

Critique of v0.1

1. The model above doesn't allow for bee spacing. Currently, the top and bottom pieces pass through the side walls. It needs to be the opposite way - the side walls need to pass through the top and bottom, and the top piece needs to be wide enough to account for bee space.

2. There's a gap on the left side at the bottom for some reason. It's not wide enough.

Re: Preventing RFI
(see this thread elsewhere in the forum)

If this box is inserted at the entrance of the hive, the case's back side, which faces the brood, could be shielded, and the front face would be directed towards the wifi router. So, the front of the hive would need to face the wifi router.

Incredible Schematic

• The black box is the CTB
• The yellow area is the majority of the bee colony
• The orange box is the sensor case
• the red line is the shielding on the back of the sensor case
• the green arrows are the wifi signal
• the blue box is the wifi router

If you shield the box completely, you defeat the purpose of putting the case inside the brood with a drop in design, because you can't broadcast your wifi. We should look at antennaes that can be mounted outside the hive - this came up with my discussion with Caleb today.

This design looks great - it looks as though it could be quite easily laser cut, though that brings up questions about materials again!

As for bee space, if we place the sensor bar at the front of the hive, bee space would likely only be a consideration for the inner facing wall. The outer facing wall could probably sit right up against the front section of the CTB. Of course we need to make sure there is room under the structure for bees to enter the hive.

Apparently this TF200 Thermo is pretty good at insulating against Wifi and other signals.

READ MORE HERE

Here is a (very rough) alternative design for an in-hive sensor container.

This design uses a u-shaped wooden frame, with mesh stabled on either face to sandwich the sensors inside. Supposed benefits might be easier flow of air through the container to more accurately measure humidity and temperature, though I'm not sure if the mesh would allow for accurate readings within the sandwiched space.

In this design, the sensor hangs independently from a top bar within the frame.

Feedback encouraged for either option!

CTB Entrance Dimensions

Barcelona Warre v2.4 Entrance Dimensions

Length: 3.149" / 80 mm

Height: 0.378" / 9.61 mm

Alpha Kit - v1.0 - Case Design

Introduction

The first design will be for the Colorado Top Bar. After testing, it will be modified for the Barcelona Warre. The case will have the following features:

1. Acrylic material - probably 1/4"
2. Snap-fit design
3. Prototyped on a laser cutter
4. Follows the interior contour of the hive
5. Drops in place like a normal top bar
6. Preserves bee space on either side - 3/8"
7. Maintains space at the bottom for bee movement beneath
8. Uses cable glands to allow wires to pass through
9. Uses holes for air ventilation for temperature & humidity detection
10. Uses standoffs to mount a perfboard as seen below
11. Is mounted at the front of the hive by the entrance taking the first slot
12. Uses the TF200 Thermo insulating membrane on the brood-facing wall to minimize wifi disturbance
13. Uses an exterior-mounted wifi antenna to concentrate radio waves in one area and away from the hive core.
14. Displays the Open Source Hardware Logo and/or OSBH logo in a prominent location as an engraving

Sensor Kit Mounting

Alpha Kit - v1.0 Schematic

The IR counter is nearing the testing phase. It will have its own case.

Image of the first test of the adapted Warré hive to fit in the sensors at the basement of the hive. You can access the sensor-kit by pulling out the board in the middle. The design also fixes the problem of bees building the combs to deep (till the entrance-level of the hive), using the slatted Rack idea mentioned above (thanks for that!).

first cnc-cut version

3D-sample of the position of the sensor-kit inside the basement (red).

Thanks,
Ron

Will the sensor be affected by the bees building comb and propolis on it??
What concerns do we have about wifi in the hive?

Hey Seneca,
a lot of people are using a net around the sensor to prevent it being coated with propolis.

I'm on the CAD design for the case for the sensor-kit right now. The idea would be to build up a box, which bees won't be able to enter. Sensors and cables which would go out of this box into the hive may could need such a net to be protected. Most important the humidity and acoustic sensors. Are there other possibilities to protect sensors from coating by bees?

best,
Ron

Hey everyone!

Looking for some thoughts and feedback please!

Here is prototype one of the sensor container. It's made out of clear acrylic, with small holes to allow for air exchange. We've fabricated it using a laser cutter, which means it can be made quickly and easily (this took about 5-10 mins to cut).

Inside the container is the micro controller with a core temp/humidity sensor. Also attached are two extendable temperature sensors (for the internal areas of the hive) and one temp/humidity sensor for external hive monitoring.

There is an antenna which will be mounted externally to direct the wifi signal away from the hive.

You cans see more pictures of the sensor case here.

Hey!
Here we go: The PCB Design for the Alpha Sensor Kit.
You can plug the sensor devices and the board itself is pretty small and robust. It's also ready for I2C communication with the infrared beeCounter. You can find the files to make the board on github: https://github.com/jacobron/OSBH

and here are some pics:

Hey @ron and @jonathan,

I've been getting some queries from Langstroth users asking if the sensors can integrate with their hives. This is obviously ideal, but I wanted to ping that multi-hive integration is an ideal outcome for the sensors.

Once you guys have a solid idea of the sensor dimension, we could put a call out to the community to perhaps design a new sensor container based on the one we did for the CTB, but for Langstroth dimensions. Found some dimensions for standard frame sizes below and at this link.

Hi, I am new in the community and I was wondering why is there no Langstroth design, like the Topbar or the Warré. Are you planning one? Do you need assistance?

Hi @micdasilva,

Please see this new thread about developing a Langstroth.

We'd love you to get involved in designing this hive, but can't offer a great deal of personal support at the moment since we are a small and overworked team! I'd encourage you to do some sketches and use the thread to share your work. I can direct collaborators to this threat to help you in whatever way they can.

How does this sound?

It sounds nice and fair.
Let me make some testing and give some think about this and I will come back with some design proposals.

However in the meantime I am focus on bringing a new material to the community based in cork. This will be my first priority followed by the Langstroth
Keep up the good work!

Hello all!
@micdasilva, I am going to start working on some Langstroth "sensor frames" this spring. My idea is that the form factor will resemble a filled out frame. Different sizes could be made for different depth boxes.

As to how to prevent the bees from building on the sensor frames, a beekeeper friend suggested disguising it as capped off comb. If the bees think it's capped off comb, maybe they won't build on it.

-Jason

The option that we have gone for when recording the audio has been a quilt box that sits under the top cover. This is identical to a Warre quilt box, it is just made to Langstroth dimensions.

Here is a photo that I tweeted a while back:
https://twitter.com/jagungal1/status/544352195647266817

Nice and simple to build, and give you easy access to the sensors if you need to maintain them. You still get really nice audio using this set-up, and should still get correct readings for temperature and humidity.