Week 10: June 5, 2015

This is the final laboratory meeting of the engineering design lab. During this laboratory period the final presentation will be shown to the other members of the course, the professor, teaching assistants, fellows, and the general public. The final deliverable will also be tested on. All three testing solutions (copper, nile red, aluminum) will all be combined into one solution. This solution will be poured through the final filter system. What is expected to be extracted through the filter is clear water that is potentially consumable. The final presentation will consist of a ten minute discussion and PowerPoint followed by approximately three minutes of questions and answers.

Figure 21. A picture of the final filter previous to final deliverables in week 10. 

Week 9-10 Pictures

Figure 18. Pouring lemon juice into the mashed charcoal. 

Figure 19. Mixing the lemon juice and charcoal.  

Figure 20. The charcoal/lemon mixture after being in the oven. 

Figure 21. The final testing of the filtration system before deliverables. 

Week 9: May 29, 2015

This is the ninth meeting of the laboratory group in class. This meeting is the final in class meeting before final deliverables and presentations the following Friday, during week 10. The group's focus during this period was to run final tests using all three materials, because there is no access to these materials again until the final deliverables presentation. During the presentation, the instructor will be combining all three materials and hoping to see completely clear water fall through the filter. This means that the copper blue color, the nile red color and the aluminum fibers would all have been filtered out. The main issue that resided was still the nile red color, as it was still coming out as a pink. The filter was tested during the laboratory period and a light pink color was still filtering through. After performing more research a possible issue was that the charcoal in the filter currently was not "activated". The group researched that activation can occur using an acid and also baking in the oven at high temperatures. Because a furnace reaching thousands of degrees was not accessible, the acid was combined with the baking process. Outside of the laboratory period, lemon juice was purchased. The charcoal was baked at the highest possible temperature of 550 degrees with lemon juice mixed within it. It was baked for thirty minutes--a time that was researched to be successful. The newly 'activated' charcoal was not tested because the group had no access to nile red dye. So, the first time the activated charcoal will be tested is during the presentation. In addition to the activated charcoal, the group also reassembled the filter. More volume of each substance within the filter was added--including more charcoal, more sand, more gravel, and more cloth.

Week 8: May 22, 2015

Week 8 consisted of further testing the prototype and researching a solution for filtering the dye. The idea of using coconut oil was abandoned due additional research. Raw aloe vera that would be readily available on a tropical island is a thick oil that should be capable of capturing the dye. The aloe vera will be obtained in the upcoming week. The filter was also tested using the same conditions as the initial testing. No major alterations had been made to the filter and similar results were expected. A copper solution was poured through the filter first. Like before, the blue tint of the solution was no longer present in the collection container. The particulate solution containing glass beads was also successfully filtered out. The final test involved the nile dye solution. As expected, the red dye was not filtered, leading to a failure for this part of the performance testing. The filter was cleaned by running clear water through it for an extended period of time to get the dye out of the cloth.

Week 7: May 15, 2015

This is the seventh laboratory period for the group. This week followed the prototype testing. The new goal is to determine the issues and failures during the testing and to figure out how to create new solutions to them. The main failure was with the Nile Red organic dye. The first step in figuring out how to filter out the dye is to research it. During this laboratory period the dye was researched and solutions were discussed. It was found that the dye binds to fats and oils due to their lipid composition. The group brainstormed to determine what fats or oils if any would be present on a deserted island. Coconut oil was chosen due to its hypothetical availability and solid nature. The filter was dissected to determine where the dye had absorbed. The cloth at the bottom contained a pink tint, meaning that the cloth had saturated with the dye, causing the filter to fail. The group also discussed adding more cloth to absorb more volume of dye. It was decided that a chemical approach to this problem was the correct one. The filter was cleaned by running clear water through it for a few hours following the lab.

Week 6: Videos of pouring some of the liquids through the prototype

Video 1. Video of the prototype testing during lab period. The pink, organic dye is being poured through the filtration system. 

Video 2. Video of the prototype being tested during lab. The blue, copper dye is being poured through the filtration system. 

Week 6: Prototype Testing

Figure 12. Pouring blue copper solution through filter. 

Figure 13. Pouring the blue copper solution through filter. 

Figure 14. The color of the filtered copper solution compared to the original. 

Figure 15. The final color of the filtered copper solution. 

Figure 16. The organic solution filtering through the prototype. 

Figure 16. Final color of the organic solution after being filtered through. 

Figure 17. The final color of the aluminum coated glass spheres after being filtered through. There were no reminants yet the pink dye left over contaminated the system. 

Previous to Week 6: Building of the Prototype

Figure 12. A picture of Matt putting together the layers of filtration material. 

Figure 11. A picture of the filtration prototype with charcoal, sand, gravel and cloth, and the resulting color of the water after passed through the filter. 

Figure 10. Members Jeff and Matt pouring water through the filtration prototype, as the rest of the group looks on. 

Week 6: May 8, 2015

This is the sixth laboratory meeting for group four. Over the past week, between the time of the fifth laboratory meeting and this one, the group has officially tested all four different filtration materials: sand, charcoal, cloth and gravel. This information has been recorded on a data table (below this post) and visualized in a graph (below this post) of the average flow rates. For each material, three different amounts were tested, 20 mL, 60 mL and 100 mL. From there, the amount of water passed through in mL was measured along with the time interval. From those values, the flow rates were able to be calculated and then averaged together. It seemed to be that the charcoal and the cloth has the smallest average flow rates, while the gravel and the sand had higher average flow rates. During the actual laboratory period, three different liquid substances were tested through the filter. The first was a blue copper solution. 100 mL was poured through the system and took a little above 5 minutes for the entire volume amount to be filtered through. The resulting color was a light, faint blue. This means that the filtration system was successful but not 100%. The next solution was a pink organic one. 100 mL was poured through the system and also took 5 minutes. The resulting color was a lighter pink, but still pretty saturated of a color. This means it was successful, but less than the blue. The final substance was an aluminum coated glass sphere substance, still 100 mL. The resulting liquid was still a pink, as a result of the previous dye left over that was poured through. Yet at the end of the 5 minutes, there were no particles left over, meaning that the aluminum was successfully eliminated. As a result, the copper solution was most successful, with the aluminum as well, and the organic being the least successful.

Graph of Data Table

Graph 1. A graph depicting the average flow rates of the four different filtration materials. 

Data Table for Filtration Materials

Table 1. The tested data of four different filtration materials for various volumes and calculated flow rates. 

Week 5: Pictures

Figure 9. Group 4 working during Laboratory week 5. 

Figure 10. The final water coloration after filtering through both sand and charcoal. This still needs to be modified. 

Week 5: May 1, 2015

This is the fifth laboratory meeting period for group 4. Over this past week, the group has been able to acquire sand. So, this period the sand was tested. So in the same way the charcoal was tested last week, the sand was tested this week. Using the same cotton T-shirt fabric, a round "sac" was cut and put together. The sand was then placed inside this "thylakoid sac" and placed in a cup with holes. The sand was made into a thylakoid sac. In a cup, the sand sac and the charcoal sac was placed, and water was ran through the cup, through the sacks and pushed down with the pre-existing prototype pump, the results were undermining. The resulting water turned out to be more dirty and discolored than it began as. The group then began to wonder if sand was not a proficient of a substance as thought. A possible reasoning is that there is dye in the sand, causing the discoloration. However, it was later figured out that it was the charcoal that was causing the discoloration. The sand was re-tested multiple times, and resulted in fairly perfectly clear water. However, when paired with the charcoal, the water becomes discolored to a black color. It is mostly likely that the T-shirt is too porous and too much ash from the charcoal is coming through. For a good amount of time, the sac of charcoal was watered down and through, and re-tested with sand. The color was lighter this time. The issue is that charcoal breaks down with the inclusion of water. The solution is a less porous sac material to not let charcoal ash out. The resulting color of the water is shown in a picture following this blog. For next laboratory period, the group will gather a better material to hold the substance, such as an athletic fabric T-shirt. Also, for next laboratory period, the pump system will be modified because it is found to be not strong enough for multiple trials.

Figure 5. The pump rough design. 

Figure 6. Charcoal "sacs or thylakoids" with crushed charcoal inside and T-shirt material holding it. 

Figure 7. An image of the pump and plastic cup. 

Figure 8. The bottom of the plastic cup with holes cut at the bottom. 

Week 4: April 24, 2015

This is the fourth meeting of group 4 laboratory period. It is established that the group needs to test three different materials, with 3 different volumes of materials, and 3 different volumes of water per material. So, there will be a total of 27 trials. The three different materials are charcoal, sand, and fabrics, say from a cut up T-shirt. The group continued to discuss the tangible building of the filter. The original idea that was proposed was it would be a two-way pump. However, after more discussion this is proving to be more difficult than assumed. So, the group is discussing a new possible design in which the two-way pump can still work. Also, outside of class, a simple "protoype" design idea was built with a plastic tumbler bottle. Three holes were cut out on the bottom of the bottle, and the top was cut and rounded off. Using cardboard, a round surface was built and three wooden dowels in the shape of a tripod were attached to it using glue. In the real filter, glue will not be used, however this was used just for current circumstances to test the shape of this pump. Black cotton (t-shirt) material was wrapped around the cardboard and duct tape was taped underneath (just for current circumstances). Smaller holes were poked into the cardboard area. Pictures follow this blog post. Also during this laboratory period, sacs of charcoal were made with t-shirt fabric being the sac carrier material. These sacs were placed inside the clear plastic bottle. However, a problem arose because some fine charcoal was coming through the t-shirt. A proposed idea was to place sand under the charcoal as a second layer so that no charcoal would leave the holes. However, the group is in process of acquiring sand. The general idea of this test is to test the pressure of the the water and pump onto these charcoal sacs. This was tested, and pictures follow. However, the test did not work very well. There were too many holes poked into the cardboard pump, and too much charcoal was flowing through, and the water was darker due the charcoal. This will be tested again outside of class in the following week.

Figure 4. An image of the charcoal purchased at a local store, which in simulation would be made from scratch. 

Figure 4. Matthew Long pouring water through the finely mashed charcoal. 

Week 3: April 17, 2015

This is the third laboratory period of the group meeting. For this period, the group has gathered charcoal, plastic cups, cloth, coffee filters and multiple tools. For the collection vessel, questions that arise are "how much can it hold?", "does it have a flat bottom or should it be propped up?" and "is it fragile?"The objective in testing materials is that the group must test a minimum of three different materials, three different times. Additionally, the group will be measuring two different volumes of filter material used. First, using one Solo cup and a screwdriver, multiple small holes were made on the bottom of the cup. Then, large pieces of charcoal were placed in a plastic bag. A hammer was used to mash the charcoal into fine, thin pieces. In the simulation, charcoal will be made from scratch. What charcoal requires to be made is fire, firewood, and one container. The wood will be found from trees on the island, the fire would be made with either wood from the island, or a lighter could be found on the crashed plane. The more specific steps on how to make charcoal from scratch follows on a different blog post. So, after the charcoal was mashed into fine pieces, it was placed in the Solo cup with holes in it. The fill line of charcoal was also recorded, this will later be more finely measured and will serve as one of two different volumes of filter material. Water was poured through the "charcoal filter" three different times. Observations were recorded and an excel chart will be created as follows this post. The other filtration material that was tested during this period was the cloth. A basic T-shirt was cut into small squares, and lined along the bottom of a different cup, also marked with holes at the bottom. This filter was tested three different times as well, and was recorded as only one lining of cloth (which will be one of two different 'volumes' of filtration, as two layers will have a thicker volume). These were recorded and tested.

Figure 3. Revised rough sketch of filtration device with labels. 

Week 2: April 10, 2015

This was the second meeting of the group and the second laboratory period. This period, groups were guided to begin thinking about building and testing these devices. The professor stated that testing will be on May 8 and final reports are May 15. During the period, the discussion of more possible materials and supplies took place. Coffee filters were brought into the discussion, because there are definitely a large supply of those on the plane do to the airline serving coffee. Also, charcoal filtering became a possible idea. However, the group had to watch videos and read about how to make your own charcoal, because the survivors of the crash would not have any accessible. After research, it was concluded that while on an island, charcoal can be made. The only materials needed are two bottles, wood and a fire. Technically charcoal would be made on the island for the filtration device, but the group will be purchasing charcoal at a store to reduce hassle. So it came to a conclusion that charcoal would definitely be used in the filtration system. As discussion continued, a re-sketch of the filtration device was composed, and follows this blog post. This sketch is more detailed than the last and more labeled on what materials would be used. At the end of this laboratory period, it was concluded that for next week we would be testing our different materials and the duration of time it takes for water to flow through each material. So, for next period materials should be ready for testing.

Week 1: Group 4 Outside Work

Figure 2. Group 4 hard at work on April 9, 2015 outside of lab. 

Week 1: Brief Sketch of Filtration System

Figure 1. A brief brainstorming sketch of the filtration system. 

Week 1: April 3, 2015

This was the first meeting of the group and first laboratory period. The overview of the project was presented by the professor and groups were formed. The group consists of Matthew L., Charles Z., Jeffrey S., Nicole C., and Cheyenne S. Six different possible scenarios were presented to each group, in which one is chosen by personal decision. These scenarios included zombie apocalypse, deserted island, nuclear war, tsunami, drought, and flood. Group 4 chose the deserted island simulation. Afterwards, the blog was formed and ideas for the filtration system were being brainstormed. The general consensus was that sand would definitely be used and it is assumed a spring is located on the island. Other materials that are provided by the laboratory are 1-micron sized beads for bacteria, colored solutions for organics and copper solution for metal removal. Remaining materials must be obtained independently. Possible ideas were then discusses amongst the group. One idea was a pump that could pull water into the container continuously by placing the pump in the spring, and pump it out through the filtration materials through tubing through a fine filter. This idea was not used because it relied too heavily on creating enough suction to lift the water with only scrap material. Also, rubber tubing from a plane crash would have been used for engine components and would be saturated with gasoline, jet fuel or other harmful chemicals. The second idea that came into discussion was a similar design that uses a pump with a one-way valve into which water will be fed by the user. Two course filters will prepare the water for pumping by removing any large materials from it. The user will then push down on the pump to force the water through a fine filter that will contain and pull back on the pump to allow more water into the chamber. A brief sketch of this design proposal is also posted on this blog. This is the general filtration system that will be tested and worked on, with possible alterations as research and testing continues.