David Buck's Individual Contribution Page

Fall 2012 Contributions

I worked on the Chemical Dose Controller (CDC) team with Rudy Koul and Andrea Castro. Together we created, refined, and tested a prototype of the chemical dose controller with the latest technologies. The new design for the lever arm assembly included a two sided lever, dual dosing system, and aesthetically pleasing counter weight. Also, we had the lever anodized and engraved with a scale and AguaClara logo to add a polished look to the CDC design. We also tested this system for linearity and verified that the new design does in fact provide a linear relationship between coagulant flow and driving head in the system. The AguaClara design now has a sleek piece of equipment to include in new plants that will not only function well without electricity but look good too.

Winter 2013

I am looking forward to traveling to Honduras in January of 2013 to see the treatment plants in action, practice Spanish, and help with the knowledge transfer of the chemical dosing system.

Spring 2013

This semester I will be working with the full scale floc break up team. In the Fall of 2012, we did some experiments and got preliminary data to support the fact that breaking flocs could actually improve the performance of a flocculator. To test this idea my team member and I will be designing and fabricating a device that can be installed in the Atima plant down in Honduras. This device will systematically break up flocs to a desired size allowing small flocs to attach again. Once we have successfully fabricated the device in Ithaca we will communicate with Agua Para el Pueblo to carry out experiments to determine if floc break up will help. These tests will be done at full scale.