There are three variations of sedimentation tanks that the demo plant team can use. The purpose of these experiments were to find which sedimentation tank produced the lowest effluent turbidity when run at a number of flow rates. The preferre d tank will be used in the production of additional demo plants. The tanks are displayed below.
Mary John, Caroline Caglioni, Savannah Wing
The purpose of the team this semester was to create professional, consistent material that can be used to explain the AguaClara technology to other engineers, using photographs, diagrams and concise descriptions. By the end of the semester the team has produced documentation that can be taken to any conference or seminar, sent anywhere to any engineer, that presents AguaClara as a professional organization. The team has created “white papers” for the general AguaClara technology, the Chemical Dose Controller, the Foam Filter and the Educational/Organizational model. In addition, the AguaClara logo was revised, templates were created for consistent future white papers and the website was redesigned.
Patrick Farnham
The Residuals Management sub-team is solving the problem of solids disposal in AguaClara treatment plants. Currently, settled solids from the sedimentation and entrance tanks are drained and routed directly onto the nearby landscape. The newly created stacked rapid sand filtration system will produce backwash water in need of disposal, and spikes of highly turbid influent water bypass the plant by being discharged down the surrounding slope. The research goal is to determine inexpensive and responsible disposal methods for these outflows as well as for precipitate matter removed from the chemical stock tanks. Flow rates and concentrations of all residual flows have been estimated with the help of AguaClara engineers in Honduras, and designs have been created for pipe outlet protection structures which should reduce the erosive power of AguaClara residual flows. The team goal is to identify promising methods and eventually code them into the AguaClara design tool for use in the future and also for possible use in retrofitting current plants.
Primary Author: Daniel Cohen
Secondary Author: Travis Hartway
The fabrication team developed fabrication methods and designs to be used at AguaClara construction sites that are feasible and economical. We worked to improve hole cutting/drilling methods, designed entrance tank components such as trash racks and an adjustable overflow weir, investigated methods to attach pipes to the inlet manifold, and sought a longer lasting on-site power source. We developed a much better understanding of the AguaClara project and made several valuable contributions to implement in future construction sites.
The Fabrication team focused on three main goals for the Summer 2011 semester. Firstly, we worked on developing a system to recharge a cordless power drill without using an electrical wall socket. Our solution was to connect the battery charger directly to a car battery, which may be easily brought to the site. Secondly, we researched more effective ways to remove plugs from hole saws. We determined that the commercially available Lenox speed-slot hole saws would best resolve this problem. Thirdly, we developed, tested, and improved a jig to help facilitate the assembly of plate settler modules.
Breann Liebermann, Sahana Balaji, Muhammed Abdul-Shakoor
The technology behind the AguaClara water filtration process features filtration through coagulation, flocculation, and sedimentation and flow/chemical dose control using gravity. Currently, an LFOM has been fabricated and tests have been done to see if a linear relationship exists between flow rate and height of water. Final touches will be put on the chemical doser. Currently, we are in the middle of fabrication of the sedimentation tank and tests will be done shortly to see if a floc blanket can in fact form.
An open-source, low-cost turbidity meter.
The high cost of equipment to monitor water quality often puts valuable health tools out of reach for many communities in developing countries. Our low-cost device measures the turbidity, or "cloudiness", of water due to suspended particles, and can detect potentially dangerous concentrations of dirt in water -- even when they are invisible to the human eye! Our device integrates with a remote data-acquisition system to enable record keeping and real-time observation of water quality in rivers, wells, and treatment plant
Sahana Balaji, Muhammed Abdul-Shakoor, Thalia Aoki, Miree Eun, Diana Kelterborn
The AguaClara water treatment process consists of coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, and filtration, with flow/chemical dose control using gravity. The Demonstration Plant (Demo Plant) is an important educational tool to explain and publicize AguaClara technologies. Currently, a new Demo Plant has been constructed, tested, and documented. This version of the Demo Plant includes a sedimentation tank and a Stacked Rapid Sand Filter (SRSF) as well as a chemical doser and flocculator. The sedimentation tank design is based on the design from the ENGRI 1131 course and includes the formation of a floc blanket. The SRSF shows the new filtration method recently developed by AguaClara. There has also been emphasis on the systematic documentation of both theoretical calculations behind the design and operation of the Demo Plant.
Susan Chen, Owen Guldner, Diana Kelterborn
Abstract
The Demonstration Plant (Demo Plant) is an important educational tool to explain and publicize AguaClara technologies. In the Spring of 2012, a new Demo Plant was constructed, tested, and documented which included the two latest AguaClara technologies, a chemical doser and a stacked rapid sand flter (SRSF), as well as the older flocculator and sedimentation tank. However there were still problems with the overall plant layout, the chemical doser, and the SRSF, all of which were dealt with this summer. We completely revised the demo plant structure and system; the SRSF now can completely backwash all four layers, the chemical doser is labeled to include coagulant concentrations, and the overall plant is streamlined for transport and assembly.
Bryan Melara Sosa & Michael Stella
The goal of this research was to create a spectrophotometer that would efficiently detect red dye concentration in water. Creating a low cost, inline design that would be implemented at each lab station in the AguaClara lab was a priority. Red dye concentration was measured by fabricating a photo sensitive sensor that measured the voltage of different standards of red dye concentration. Then, various red dye standards were tested to calibrate the sensor of the system. The goal of calibration was to check in real-time the efficacy of the AguaClara system (or part of the system under study) by integrating the spectrophotometer with the team’s Process Controller software.
Ed Cheng and Jenny (Ruoyu) Yin
The Small Scale Plant Model Team of Spring 2015 worked to design a clear and portable model of the AguaClara water treatment plant. The current small scale plant model is cumbersome to travel with and difficult to understand for those unfamiliar with AguaClara technologies. After repairing the previous model, the team identified promoting education and awareness the primary purposes of the new model. Representing the water treatment plant in a clear and critical way will be the main objective of the Small Scale Model Team. After a semester of material testing and prototypes, the new small scale model will be completed over summer and fall 2015.
Owen Guldner and Diana Kelterborn
The Demonstration Plant (Demo Plant) is an important educational tool to explain and publicize AguaClara technologies. In the Spring of 2012, a new Demo Plant was constructed, tested, and documented which included the two latest AguaClara technologies, a chemical doser and a stacked rapid sand flter (SRSF), as well as the older flocculator and sedimentation tank. In the summer of 2012 the demo plant structure and system was completely revised; the SRSF was fixed so that it can completely backwash all four layers, the chemical doser was labeled to include coagulant concentrations, and the overall plant was streamlined for transport and assembly. This semester we finalized construction materials and methods and built four more demo plants to be used at Cornell and abroad.
Lauren Frazier, Yu Jin Hur, Disha Mendhekar
The scope of the semester was to analyze the feasibility and need for an AguaClara plant in India. The team decided to focus on India asa country of potential implementation as India already has AguaClara LLC workers on the ground building connections. The team approached the analysis through large-scale research, gathering data on India’s water sources, demographics, geography, and economy. There are ten ideal characteristics that would suggest a potential site. The team conducted research on India to determine locations with these characteristics. The team also created an optimization model using Matlab to visually display the deliverable in the form of a color-coded map.
Felix Yang, Lilly Mendoza, Ken Rivero-Rivera
The 1 Liter per Second (LPS) Plant testing team is continuing the work done by previous semester's Pre-Fabrication team by attaching the ESTaRS to the 1LPS plant and flocculator. By doing this AguaClara will have a complete 1 LPS Plant running in the lab so that experimental data can be gathered. This data will be used to optimize and improve current designs as well as further iterations of the technology.
Sidney Lok, Sung Min Kim, Sean King
The Spring 2017 semester 1 L/s Plant Testing subteam's objectives were to improve upon the previous work done on the design of the 1 L/s pilot plant in Honduras. This semester, the primary goals of the 1 L/s Plant Testing subteam were to complete the 1 L/s plant and to design and fabricate a tapered flocculator. This tapered flocculator design would be used to decide whether tapered flocculation would improve overall water treatment in the 1 L/s plant.
Subhani Katugampala, Neelesh Bagga
This is the final research report of the Water Treatment Technology Selection Guide Team for Spring 2014. Our goal this semester was to design a selection guide that provides a clear rubric for evaluating and comparing water treatment technologies. A major part of this involved developing the framework and decision-making methodology for such a decision-support system. Current technology selection guides tend to focus on providing information on treatment technologies based on contaminant removal requirements, while ignoring the realities of resource-constraints and skill-constraints of communities, and without considering sustainable engineering practices. An expert guidance tool is needed to empower water supply professionals to make better decisions and to learn the constraints determine which technologies are appropriate.
Yao Lu, Larissa Sakiyama, and Sarah Sinclair
The Water Treatment Technology Selection Guide Team seeks to build an attractive and functional web application that will allow parties interested in the construction of an AguaClara plant to compare various available treatment technologies and receive an estimate of plant costs. This semester’s team was tasked with integrating plant cost calculator (PCC) and water treatment technology selection guide (WTTSG) tools, improving the regression equations which provide cost estimates to the PCC, and synthesizing and incorporating information about various treatment plants into the application. The team worked to completely overhaul previous semesters’ web development work in order to pursue a design that embodies UI/UX (User Interface/User Experience) principles. The new tool is highly interactive with a sleek, modern design, and is in the process of being deployed live as part of AguaClara’s web presence. The team has developed several regression equations useful for cost estimation, engaged in research related to plant cost and available treatment technologies, and made significant progress in the implementation of the WTTSG tool over the course of the semester.
Andrew Bales, Chris Mills, Derrik Yee
AguaClara designs low-cost water treatment facilities and desired a tool to estimate and present the capital and operational costs of an AguaClara plant. The goal of the Plant Cost Calculator team is to create such a tool to provide an accurate estimate of the costs associated with construct- ing and operating an AguaClara water treatment plant. The objective of the calculator is to allow users to easily obtain accurate design and operational cost estimates that can be compared to alternative water treatment options, and to make users better aware of the factors that contribute to the final plant cost. At the end of our first semester, the plant cost calculator team has completed the back-end for a working and easy-to-use calculator based in part on data from existing plants in Honduras. Future objectives will include developing a more attractive front-end interface, closer collaboration with WTTSG, and integrating India plant costs into the data used for prediction.
Abigail Brown, Annie Ding, Pablo Nistal, Kadambari Suri
The Fall 2014 ram pump team is working on expanding and improving upon the work of previous ram pump teams, which includes fabricating and implementing a working ram pump design in a plant in Honduras. The team has completed literature research, fabrication of the ram pump designs to be tested, basic experimentation, and data collection. The literature review has determined that while experimentation done on ram pump components like the spring check valve indicate that these parts will last for decades, the non-ideal conditions of the use of the spring valves in AguaClara plants means that more experimentation is needed to determine how long the valves will last while in use in AguaClara plants. Additionally, the team has found other points of wear within the valve during testing this semester. Ideas for potential improved designs have resulted in the fabrication of air chambers of varying sizes and drive pipes of different lengths and diameters. The most efficient pump model was determined by taking data for different models with varying numbers of weights on pressure within the system and flow rates at various head loss values. The team found that the optimal system for the ram pump is to use as few weights as possible without causing the ram pump to stop, along with either one of the two tested outlet possibilities, and as large an air chamber as desired or available. However, this system does not result in an adequate output flow rate, due to losses within the system. More work still remains to be done - the team is currently working on a vertical system alternative which may eliminate the need for a horizontal drive pipe and may reduce the number of losses within the system that is affecting the output flow for the system currently in use.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Ruben Ghijsen, Kelly Huang, Ruju Mehta
The team this semester focused mainly on rebuilding and improving the ram pump and its lab set-up. Major changes to the system from last semester include a more compact head loss system, higher overhead drive tank (to better simulate Honduras parameters), and an attempt to improve the air chamber design, In the end, the team was able to con- struct a working prototype that successfully pumped and delivered water through the entire head loss system. However, due to time constraints, the future team will have to make additional improvements to the system. They include a larger, encased recycling system, and more structural sup- ports to minimize instability. Although the initial run proved successful, additional testing could not be conducted due to computer malfunctions and again, time constraints. Had given the time, experimentation would be conducted regarding the ow rate, head loss, reliability, and scaling. Future teams can now focus on these experiments since the prototype is basically complete.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.