Automated Design Tool
The AguaClara Automated Design Tool (ADT) is the key to AguaClara's continuing scalability. The designs generated by the design tool, in conjunction with professional engineering review, enable the construction of new plants with little to no overhead cost from engineering firms. Since the designs are used by engineers in Honduras, the ADT is bilingual (Spanish and English), and will support additional languages in the future.
Using a large set of equations that depend on pipe and tank dimensions (among other parameters), the ADT produces a spreadsheet of all variables relevant to the plant design, and the values assigned to each of them. These include pipe diameters, wall dimensions, and baffle dimensions and placement, to name a few. The ADT also produces text-based code of AutoCAD commands to create a complete, three dimensional design of the entire plant and its subcomponents. This code is imported into AutoCAD, which produces a drawing of the plant. For an interesting visual summary, see the demonstration of the Automated Design Tool in the video at the bottom of this page.
The AguaClara ADT is written by students using engineering calculations in MathCAD. The MathCAD software produces the commands that are sent to AutoCAD, and a plant is created! Experience with these pieces of software, and the integration of theoretical and empirical engineering equations with design software has proved incredibly valuable to the students on the Design team—it provides realistic professional experience and an effective connection between coursework and actual engineering design.
One of AguaClara's ultimate goals is provide communities around the world access to free, effective water treatment plant designs. We encourage communities in need, as well as interested readers, to download the AguaClara design tool. Instructions and download links are available on the Download Design Tool page. See the design tool in action in our YouTube video here. Skip to the end to see the complete water treatment plant design.
Engineering Review Process
The Engineering Review process is an important safeguard to minimize the risk of facility failures due to faulty design guidelines. As the AguaClara team begins working with multiple partner organizations it becomes increasingly important that steps are taken to ensure that the design tool and any customized design recommendations are carefully reviewed.
For this reason, AguaClara is developing a design validation process to test new releases of the online design tool. The validation process involves independent calculations of flow passage dimensions, reactor dimensions, and water surface elevations. New releases of the design tool will be tested by creating and validating a large number of different designs. In the future, the validation process will be automated and included in the Automated Design Tool package, as a safeguard against errors in the automated system.