Jeff Suen's Individual Contribution Page

Spring 2014 Final-Semester Contributions

Foam Filtration

All the pieces needed for a fully operation foam filtration system are finally coming together. A working compound pulley system with an ideal mechanical advantage of 14:1 has been constructed on-top of an aluminum support system that can be inserted onto a 55 gallon HDPE drum. The disk used for compression is made of HDPE. During testing of the system without water, the foam was demonstrated to compress up to 50% of its original volume with decompression taking place immediately after the completion of compression. A fitting was also successfully spin-welded onto the side of the drum to drain wash water during compression with several more planned at various heights. There is a possibility of replacing the bulk head valve with a spin-welded fitting onto the bottom side of the drum. This would give us a huge advantage in being able to set the drum on the ground instead of elevating it and building a frame to stabilize it. Several challenges remain including building a frame for stability and the stock tanks as well as attachment of the LFOM and chemical doser. Completion and testing of the system is planned in the following weeks with the goal of shipping it down to Honduras sometime this summer.

Spring 2014 Contributions

Foam Filtration

Several pulley system designs are being evaluated in terms of construction, operating difficulty and compression speeds. A prototype system consisting of of a 55 gallon drum,  a disk of high density polyethylene, and an 80/20 aluminum extension support system was constructed to test different cleaning mechanisms. 

Fall 2013 Final-Semester Contributions

The final design for the 1st iteration of the foam filtration system was completed and approved for fabrication. The design consists of a 55 gallon plastic drum filled with 30 and 90 ppi foam that is elevated above ground. The cleaning system underwent many designs that could be used for future system iterations. See the final report for these designs. The new cleaning system uses a winch and pulley system to compress a telescoping pipe attached to a disk. A steel frame on top of the drum supports both the cleaning system and the flow controller system for dispensing coagulant. Ideally the system would be easy to disassemble for transportation and packaging purposes. The Fall 2013 team has also submitted a proposal of the finalized design for the EPA P3 competition with an focus towards disaster relief and recovery.

Fall 2013 Mid-Semester Contributions

Mechanical failure testing was performed using the previous team's setup with two pieces of 30 ppi foam in series. No visible damage to the foam was observed during 200 cycles of compression with the exception of varying degrees of tearing from using a string threaded through the foam to aid decompression. We are planning a new design with a 23"x 64" PVC drum and metal support structure to simplify some of the design elements, decrease cost, and maintain a solid support structure that can handle the cleaning method used.

Fall 2013 Contributions

As part of the foam filtration team, our current goal is to design and fabricate a 1L/s gravity powered foam filtration plant that can produce clean water for small communities on the scale of <1000 people. Design challenges include but are not limited to incorporating a chemical dosing system, a low flow orifice meter, a coagulant contact chamber, 2 or more foam filters working in parallel, and an improved system of cleaning the filters. The completed foam filtration plant is to be delivered to Honduras for installation and on-site data/feedback.

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