Michael Skyler Erickson's Individual Contribution Page

Subteam: Foam Filtration

Fall 2013 End of Semester Contributions

As the semester draws to a close, I think it's fair to say the foam team has taken big strides.  We have adapted our system to provide a 1 L/s flow rate.  The system is now a single 55 gallon drum 23" in diameter with 12" of 90 ppi and 12" of 30 ppi.  The biggest challenge that we worked on towards the end of the semester was how to compress this 23" diameter stack of foam.  Because it is so large, it is unfeasible for a single person to do it by hand, thus a system had to be developed to provide somewhere between 500 and 1,000 pounds of force for compression.  The resulting system consists of a an outer telescoping pipe that is supported above the drum by four triangular steel units.  An inner (plunging pipe) runs through the outer pipe and down into the system where it has a steel disk on the bottom.  We then use a "come-along" to tighten a cable that pushes the inner pipe through the outer pipe and down into the foam for compression.  In addition, we have a complete chemical dosing system that is strapped to the outer pipe.  This is the system that will be deployed in Honduras, and we are excited for the feedback we will receive upon its construction!

Fall 2013 Mid Semester Contributions

Thus far this semester, we have determined that the foam is economically feasible from a mechanical perspective.  The foam did not fail after repetitive plunging, and it is safe to say that the foam ripping or failing to produce clean water will not be there reason that foam filtration is not feasible.  We still need to investigate what the best size of foam is going to be, and what the best way to house and clean this system will be.

Fall 2013 Contributions

Our goal this semester is to improve the design of the Foam Filtration system so that it can be implemented on a larger scale for small communities. We plan to develop a method for a plant operator to easily sponge clean the foam, to research the lifetime of the foam and understand how the foam's lifetime will correlate with different water turbidities, and also to add a chemical doser to the current system for the coagulent and chlorine.