Ultrasonic Bug Repelling Floating Waterlily

This is a floating waterlily that uses ultrasound in the 38-40kHz frequency range to repel mosquitoes and other unwanted insects from your pool or standing water, to reduce how much you have to skim and insect breeding.

Anyone who has a pool knows how much fun it can be, but also how bad it is to skim when the insects are bad. If you have a pond or standing water nearby where you like to relax, you also know how annoying insects are, and how itchy their bites can be.

So, take on the problem at the source, and reduce the number of insects that are attracted to you your pool to begin with. This also goes for ponds and standing water. Insects are repelled by higher ultrasonic frequencies, that people cannot hear, so harness this knowledge to start printing your way to a more peaceful and less itchy summer.

A single iteration was necessary to add the stabilizing ledge that drops down from the lilypad. I am still working on the design when I can, to make it better, test how well it repels insects and see how long it will last with a 9V batter to power it.

I printed both top and bottom components using the standard print settings on the Replicator 5th Gen. After printing, I sprayed both printed components with a clear water sealant to prevent water seeping through to the electronics. The assembly is designed such that the lilypad will sit just below the water surface, with the flower pedals emerging from the water.

Happy printing, and I hope this helps keep the insects away.

The Arduino nano circuit simply involves tying an ultrasonic 40kHz speaker between D3 pin and ground, then powering the circuit using a 9V battery. Please be careful using electronics around water.

Arduino Code: (Adapted from Arduino example available online)

int Hz[] = {38000, 39000, 40000};

void setup() {

}

void loop() {

for (int thisNote = 0; thisNote < 4; thisNote++) {

tone(3, Hz[thisNote],1000);  

int pauseBetweenNotes = 1000 * 1.30;  
delay(pauseBetweenNotes);  
// stop the tone playing:  
noTone(3);  

}

}