Measuring Produced Biogas Using Kinect Device

This article deals with automated measurements of produced biogas. In the National reference laboratory of biogas transformations, values are recorded manually into dairies, which are then archived and manually transcribed into a digital form. MS EXCEL, from which necessary charts are generated, is among the most widely used programs for that. The main objective of this paper is to develop automation solutions to this problem. The MS Kinect motion sensor was used for research and creating this application. This device was originally designed for applications that are controlled by motion. However, they can also be used just for taking individual pictures. Using this device, a picture of small biogas reactor is taken and then it is automatically processed using our software. The result is a digital record of the amount of the produced biogas. These values are then stored in an internal database, which can be accessed in real time using a VPN (virtual private network).