Flowol: The Water Chute

1. Water Chutes

This mimic extends the use of inputs to monitor a water slide in a swimming pool. The input sensors are on the top of the slide, the middle of the slide, the splash pool and the mat.

It should not be possible to use the slide when any of the inputs lower down it are active. When these inputs are active the red light should be on. Only when the inputs are not active should the green light be turned on. If someone leaves the top of the slide while another person is using it the alarm should sound.

The mimic should count the number of people that use the slide.

Experiment with the inputs and outputs and then write a suitable flowchart/program to implement a control system for the water chute. Note that this problem is quite complex and it requires a lot of thought and planning before you can solve it in Flowol. Read the notes below carefully and plan your solutions before you use Flowol.

Modules

Once again it may be easier to write a number of programs or flowcharts to run in parallel rather than a single flowchart. Is there a pattern in the way the number of programs relates to the number of inputs and/or outputs?

To solve this problem you should write down all possible combinations of the inputs of the chute and evaluate the effects of these combinations on the outputs. The outputs are the lights (green and red), the warning and the counter.

Complete the table and pick out the lines that you can use to create code blocks for the model.

You can create a separate module for this situation.

Counter

The counter requires the introduction of a variable to record the number of people who come down the chute. A box at the top should record something like 'Let n=0'. Monitor the input in the pool and add 1 to the counter when it is activated - 'let n=n+1'.

Testing

Write out a list of inputs that you think will test the model you have made. Use a table like this:

Test until you are sure that your model works.