Michael Skyler Erickson's Individual Contribution Page
Subteam: Foam Filtration/EStaRS (Fall 2014)
Fall 2014 Contributions
This semester I am co-leading the overall team and working on the EStaRS subteam. On the EStaRS team we hope to create a recycle system that will allow us to run the filter through both filtration and backwash cycles. By the end of the semester we should have information about our filter performance and backwash efficiency across a range of turbidity and influent water conditions. I hope to work specifically on design improvements that can be made to the system as a whole.
Summer 2014 Contributions
I lead the overall team and also work on the foam filtration subteam. This summer we hope to fully install the Chemical Dose Controller, provide further improvements to the compression system, and also send a fully functioning prototype to Honduras in July. In addition, we hope to gather much needed data from Honduras about the foam's life cycle.
Spring 2014 Contributions
This semester we created a full demo system for the lab. I worked primarily on the structural part of our compression unit in order to give us a light weight and stable method to effectively clean the foam. I am excited to see the unit tested in the lab over the summer and also to see a prototype in Honduras!
Spring 2014 Mid Semester Contributions
Thus far this semester, we have designed a pulley system to compress and clean the drum and are in the process of testing it to see if it gives us an appropriate particle displacement velocity. We have just received a straight sided drum, one we hope can be the basis for the project moving forward. In addition, we have taken great steps towards developing a side valve--with the new drum we can now either use a sink drain or a welding fixture to create this valve. We look forward to working on the dosing unit and further testing different compression techniques. In addition, we are working on a test that measures the impact that compression speed has on the degree to which the foam filter is cleaned.
Spring 2014 Goals
This semester, we really want to focus on improving several aspects of the pilot project we sent to Honduras. First and foremost we want to have a full scale model of the filter up and running in the lab. This will help us to test and improve various aspects of the drum. We need to redesign an over designed plunging technique, find an appropriate plunger material, create a side valve, and come up with an LFOM and chemical dosing unit. The team wants to see the foam filter grow to be a sustainable water source for disaster relief efforts as well as a permanent fixture in rural areas, positively affecting as many people as we possibly can.
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.