ngc4

Fall 2008- Automated Chem Doser

I spent the first two or three weeks of this year helping with organizational aspects of the team than with research. I put together the first class meetings and helped Alissa transition into the team leader role by working on class schedules and assignments. I also re-organized the entire Research wing of the wiki and developed wiki organizational guidelines, as well as re-writing and organizing the Flow Controller section of the wiki to use as an example of the organizational scheme.

My research set-up was not returned to the lab until the 3rd week of the semester, which is when I learned about the actual physical apparatus. After that I wrote a MathCAD sheet for the design. I also modified the prototype (and wrote an explanation of it) from my experiences playing with it in the lab. I set up the apparatus with pressure sensors to collect precise data, and I took data with it that I have analyzed here.

From that apparatus I worked with Paul to design and build a more robust set up for use in Honduras. It is described here. I performed two more experiments with the new "robust ACD", which are both described and have data analyses here, the same page as the prototype data collection for one experiment and here for the other experiment.

Finally I analyzed the data from both set ups to produce a plot of what the driving head to outflow relationship is for the system. That analysis can be found here.

The MathCAD sheet complete with my data sets and theoretical modeling of the system is attached to the ACD Laboratory Testing page. The model is not completely working yet since Leah and I did not have time to try to fit together our systems, but I plan to finish that part of the sheet in the next 2 weeks. The data analysis sections are all working well and fully commented, though.

I also am finishing up the ACD Parts List, which will be done after one more meeting with Paul. I have been in contact with the AguaClara engineers in Honduras and with Nadia from CEE 454 to make the winter installation run smoothly.

Spring 2008

This semester I have focused mainly on organizing team class meetings, organizing and populating the wiki, and outreach. I came up with a Calendar of class and forum times, and (attempted) to make outlines for each class. Some weeks this entailed just contacting groups to give teach-ins, while other weeks it involved more thoughtful attempts to construct discussions for forums.

The wiki was new this semester, and I spent my free time trying to introduce it to the group in an efficient manner. We had to devise an entire structure for page creation, and a way to allow subteams to pass their work cleanly to the next semester. This also tied in well with my attemps to streamline assignments and grading for AguaClara. I created Assignments section in the wiki in an attempt to make it clear to students what was expected. I also spent a fair amount of time just reading through the wiki and deleting blank pages or moving pages that had been added in the wrong places, or helping team members learn how to use the wiki. The last aspect of the wiki I was heavily involved in was creating common pages for the team. I formatted the Home page, attempting to make it appear nicer, I tranferred many of the materials from the old website to the wiki, and I wrote a Technology Overview and ran an Events page.

The third aspect of my main contribution to the team this semester was through outreach. The outreach team did not have any engineers with team experience, so early in the semester they came to me with many technical questions. As the team shrank over the semester, I took on more regular outreach tasks. I have made two final posters, for the ESW conference and the EPA Science Forum, and helped edit/rewrite the hallway poster. I also took care of organizing and running numerous info sessions and demo plant demonstrations.