The late-summer OPEnSampler is shipping! We’ve come a long way from the foam puck concept with several iterations throughout the process. The team at Zurich will provide us with much needed field and user testing as we add more members to the team working on the firmware and companion software. Packed into the 80QT Pelican Rolling Cooler is the OPEnSampler, batteries and power supplies, spare tubing and bags, and lots of foam and bubblewrap. The sampler we are sending uses silicone tubing and the June 22 board, but samples effectively and reliably. The serial command interface allows the operator to plug in a laptop and tell the sampler when and how to sample, and the operator interface makes initiating the sampling process quite simple.

There is still much more development to be done! The next batch of samplers include many more features described in previous posts, such as GSM communication capabilities, power decoupling and filtering, and additional sensors to control the sampling process. The hard Teflon tubing will increase the quality of the sampled water and the new pumps, once integrated, will allow large-particle suspended sediments to be sampled with ease.

The next step is to update documentation. This has been a weak point in the design process and the changes and timing of one iteration to the next were not always transparent. Considering the purpose of the device is to be shared with the community of water sampling, you can expect more frequent and detailed updates on the designs following this milestone. I will be updating the GitHub page shortly with the latest and greatest .STL part files for our printed parts, documentation, and the new PCB board files. Later on I will be adding assembly instructions and new code will be posted. In the coming weeks there will be two of the new samplers on our lab tables: the bottle sampler and the bag sampler.Stay tuned!