User:Hkhatun6564/Hydraulic ram

Write problem/project Goal
My goals are:
 * to construct a hydraulic ram that can successfully transport water from one source to an elevated source.
 * Pump 10 percent of the water from a height of 10 feet to height of 15 feet.

My First Task
My first task is to create the team page, so that it is ready for Monday's presentation. Also, to do some research on pvc pipes.

Summary of actual work over first weekend
My first task was to create a team page for the project, which i was successful in doing. Next, I helped do some research and test the current hydraulic ram. Finally, I was helping search for a part for the ram. It was the one inch PVC non return valve. For this first weekend, it was mostly about doing research and testing the ram to become familiar with the device. It was to help the group members to see what needs to be improved on the ram.

Week1 Narrative
11/12/12: The first day of project was mostly spend on brainstorming about the requirements and constraints for the project. It was brought to my attention that money and space was very limited. The previous group members of this project spend about 100 dollars in order to construct the hydraulic ram. Space was a problem too because most of us lived in town house, which meant that we did not have an elevated area in the back to do testing with the ram properly. Some requirements were pvc valve pipes in order to change the design of the current model. Through the brainstorming process, I found out that the hydraulic ram worked 60-75 percent of the time. Seeing those numbers, I realized that this project cycle should be focused on improving that number and have it working constantly. Not only that, I also found out that we may need a one inch PVC non return valve. I plan to do some research on the pipe online in order to find a cheap version.

Next, I created the team page for the project. It was simple because of the last two projects. I want to a page that had the team page format and just copied it then pasted onto the new hydraulic page. Along with that, I also created my individual page. It was the same way as the team page.

11/14/12: First thing I decided to do on my own is do research on an hydraulic ram. Since two members of the group already had a background information on the ram, I thought I should get educated on the ram as well. When I googled hydraulic ram, several links showed up. I was able to get some information from wikipedia. Through research, I realized that the ram we currently have is the simplest design. The resource also stated the main power of the ram. It seems as it uses hydropower. I found some interesting facts on the ram. It appears as though that the ram contain some restrictions. For example, there are operational problems with the drive pipe. The cause of that problem is due to intrusion air along with few other common problems.

This is the link used for research: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_ram

I also helped to test the ram. Since I was not familiar with the functions of the ram, it was a good idea to test it. First, we located the ram and other materials in room 159. Then, I helped set up the ram and placed it on top of a bucket to prevent water from spilling on the floor. Next, I connected the hose to the drive pipe. The hose was mounted on a bucket because the bucket is the water source. The water then travels from the bucket and through the hose. The drive pipe is used to connect to the end part of the ram. However, there was a problem with one of the valves. It was not flapping. This caused it difficult for the water to travel and complete the cycle. One way to fix the problem is by trying to replace the part with another pvc non return valve. Finally, I helped clean up the area. I assisted in throwing the water outside and cleaning the floor.

11/15/12: I did some research to find a PVC non return valve online in order to find a cheap device. There were not a lot of sites that were selling the part. However, the parts that I found were not the correct size. The group was interested in an one inch PVC non return valve and I found one and a half inch PVC valve. At the end, my search was not successful because I couldn't find the right size.

My Second Task
My second task will be to help make a smaller version of the hydraulic ram in order to make modifications to the bigger version. This will allow us to test the ram on a smaller scale.

Summary of actual work over second weekend
This week's task went as I planned. I met up with the group to help construct the smaller ram. We are still waiting on the part for the big ram to come in so we can began to work with it.

Week2 Narrative
11-19-2012: I met up with the group in order to develop a plan for the ram. We needed to figure out how we plan on proceeding with the ram since the week was cut short by thanksgiving break. The plan was to all meet up on Wednesday in the HCC library and proceed from there. Not only that few ideas were also discussed during this meeting.

11-21-2012: I met up with Tim and Tolu in the HCC library. We all got together and drew a basic sketch of the smaller ram. Not only that, we also developed a shopping list for required materials. The next plan was to go to a hardware store, such as Home Depot, and buy the materials. Before doing that, we decided come to the decision about using two brass swing check valves on the 1/2 inch ram. So, we went to Home Depot and picked up several materials for the project. One problem that we realized was that we did not have a hex saw in hand to cut the PVC that day. I decided to take it home and cut it the pipe myself.

11-23-2012: I found a hex saw to cut the pipes. I measured the pipes about 10 inches to match a smaller scale of the ram. I used a measuring tape to measure the pipes and then placed the saw at the mark. I sawed all the required parts then I assembled the ram together to have an idea of what it is going suppose to look like later.

My Third task
If the part for the bigger ram does not come in, I plan to help glue the parts together for the small ram. Hopefully we get the part soon so we can improve the bigger ram and test it.

Summary of actual work over third weekend
This week the group and I were able to construct both the small ram and the big ram. I was able to glue all the parts of the small ram and the group finished installing the check valve on the big ram.

Week3 Narrative
11-26-12: We worked on trying to glue the parts of the small ram together. First, I helped disassemble the connected parts of the smaller ram in order to glue them together. Then, I located the container that contained the pvc cement. There was a little problem opening the cap of the container. Tolu and I tried some various ways to open the cap. For instance, clamping down the container down was one of the option; however, that did not work. Then, I asked someone in the class to open the cap by using a wrench and twisting the cap. It finally worked after using the wrench. After that, I glued the pressure tank to another part, which created a series to connect the rest of the parts.

11-28-12: I continued to work on the construction of the smaller ram. We decided to divide the work up, so I was in charge of gluing the rest of the parts. So I continued to glue pvc pipes that were about four inches long. From the pressure point I glued about 3 four inches pvc pipes to the pressure tank. Then, I glued that with an elbow. The elbow has a 90 degree angle, which will help connect the other set of pieces. I used one four inch pipe and connected it with a ten inch pvc pipe. They were connected by the t-joint. Now it just needed to dry.

11-30-12: Since I was not able to meet up with the group on Thursday, I decided to test the ram on my own on Friday. I set up the ram for testing. While testing, I realized that the check valve still needs to moved manually. That was our problem originally, so buying the part did not help solve the problem at all. Now it is time to look for a different way to solve this problem.

My Fourth task
I plan to do a lot of testing with both rams. Testing will allow us to see the conflict with the check valve, and we did not test the small ram after it was finished build. Not only that, I plan to also do some research on the check valve and see why it did not work with the ram.

Summary of actual work over fourth weekend
This week I was able to test both the ram. One thing that was different was that the small ram still needed to be finished. The swing valves were not staying connected to the pvc pipe, so the ram will not work properly. So this week the ram was fully constructed and both rams were tested.

Week4 Narrative
12-3-12: I helped the group with the testing of the big ram. First, I grabbed the materials and carried some of them outside. Then, I put the bucket at an elevated level. In this case, for testing we used the staircases that are located outside. Placing the bucket on the staircase gave it about 9 feet of height. When the valve was opened to let pressure flow, it appeared as though there was too much pressure. It seemed like the amount of pressure was restricting the swing valve to flap. One idea to fix this problem was to flap it manually, like it has been done in previous tests. Or to connect a hose from the end pipe. At the end, the hose was connected at the end of the delivery pipe. It decreased the pressure, but not by a lot because there was still tremendous amount of pressure flowing to the swing valve.

12-5-12: I met up with the group in order to see what steps we will be taking to finish the project. Since there was not enough time to work on the project during class due to our group presentations, the group and I decided to meet up on Friday to finish constructing the small ram and test it.

12-7-12: I met up with Tolu and Shane in order to work on the small ram. First, I had to think of a way to attach the swing check valves with the pvc pipes because it the plumbers potty was not working. At the end, we used hot glue to attach the two objects together. Surprisingly, it worked. Not only that, I helped create the base for the ram. I sawed some woods to use for the ram, and then I attached the wood to the main frame of the ram. Then, I helped test the small ram. I attached the hose to the water source and the small ram. In this testing, the water source was the faucet. The hose was attached directly to the mouth of the faucet. The swing valve was flapping; however, we forgot to place a part in the ram. There was no turn valve to turn on and off the second swing check valve.

12-8-12: With the project cycle ending, the team page needed some work. I created the decision matrix and the poster for the page. With help from Tim, I was able to post the two components on wikiversity. I just added information on a powerpoint slide and with the help from Tim, I was able to save it as a png file.

Complete Team Page
Fill out the Team Form (should have already copied the form, created the team page, linked to it and started filling it out).