User:Toluaj/enes100/ProjecT 2

Write problem/project Goal
to create a hydraulic ram that would deliver water to an area or elevation higher than that of its source

My First Task
Perform some research on the hydraulic ram and find out the parts necessary in making the ram, and find some tutorials and how to make the ram

Summary of actual work over first weekend
For the first I guess everything went as planned, my group members and I decided to use the first week to get information about the hydraulic ram and find the materials that will be used in making the ram

Week1 Narrative
For the first weekend i decided to do some major research on hydraulic ram. For my research I found out the major parts needed for the hydraulic ram, its functions, how to construct the ram in general. The major parts needed for an hydraulic ram are the waste valve, non- return valve, snifter valve.In constructing the hydraulic ram, one has to consider that the water source has to be un-pressurized because it is the pressure and gravity that aids the flow of water from its sources to its endpoint. Another important factor to consider is that the pressure tank must act as a air cushion because it improves the efficiency of the pump and sometimes during the water pump cycle, the air in the pressure tank dissolves into the water, a way to prevent this is by adding a snifter valve to the hydraulic ram which will add air into the pressure tank during each pump cycle. in addition to the research I performed i also watched a number of videos that showed or gave step-by-step instructions and additional information to consider when making a hydraulic ram. These videos are mainly small scale hydraulic ram which will be very helpful : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkrWEAyYhbU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgrythkYDIg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-cGi1rF6yQ&feature=fvwberel

My Second Task
To get started on constructing a prototype of the hydraulic ram

Summary of actual work over second weekend
For this week I hoped to be half-way done with the ram, but the day I dedicated to working on the ram which was on 25/10 I couldn't find any of the materials for the ram and on 26/10 i went over to the engineering room to work on the ram, but the room was locked. With all these interruptions i was unable to get some real work done on the ram

Week2 Narrative
22/10/2012: My group members and I decided to work on the shopping list for the hydraulic ram to find out material would be brought and find places where we could buy them at reasonable prices. After this I went to the storage to find some pvc pipes and other materials we could use in constructing the ram.

24/10/2012: some of the materials for the ram was ready, but we were unable to obtain a 1" inch waste valve; this was sort of an issue since our design for the ram was 1" inch waste and swing check valve. We then decided to create a decision matrix on what size the ram would be. with this we decided to make our prototype in 1/2"inch since we had already obtained a 1/2"inch waste valve and make the real ram with 1"inch waste valve. After this I decided to work on the pressure tank for ram, the original pvc was too big for the 1/2" inch design. Performing some necessary cut and adjustment to the pvc I was able to reduce it size that would be conducive for the 1/2"inch ram.

27/10/2012: I decided to go in search of a 1"inch brass swing check valve, I went to a nearby store, but they didn't have any. Then i decided to search online. I was able to find some areas around that sold them, the prices ranged from $8-$20. I was unable to go out to obtained though.

My Third task
Actually get the prototype finished and find a way for getting a water source that is not pressurized

Summary of actual work over third weekend
even though there were some set in this week since the school was closed, I was still able to accomplish my goals for this week which was to finish the construction of the ram, which is nearly done and can be finished my monday

Week3 Narrative
10/31/2012: meet with group members and started working on the hydraulic ram. I mainly worked on the pressure tank, to ensure that the tank would be pressurized Tim and I used the rubber of a bike wheel as a diaphragm to aid in pressuring the tank. The rubber was sort of lengthy so some cuts had to made in order for it to fit into the pressure tank. this had to be done carefully in order not to let out all the air form the rubber, then a stapler to seal the ends of the rubber, later on Tim used Hot glue gun to seal it more. after this the rubber was then placed into the pressure tank.

11/2/12: Tim and I decided to meet up and finish working on the hydraulic ram in order for us to reserve the last week for testing. Since we had obtained most of the materials such the non return valve, connectors, drive pipe and waste valve, we started connection of all the materials using our design systematic ( found on team page). All the materials were only placed into each other without any adhesive/ glue holding it in place. this was done first, so we could be able to correct any mistake we would make. starting with a waste valve which was connected to a joint then to a T- connector which was then connected to the waste valve at one end and the other was connected to the drive pipe. From the waste valve another T- connector was used,at one end a PVC pipe was connected to act as the beginning of the delivery pipe and the other is where the pressure tank would be connected. After the step-up was completed, I took down the ram piece by piece and connected them back using PVC cement to secure the parts into place.

My Fourth task
For this final week, I plan on using it to finish constructing the ram, but majority of my time would be spent on testing since the ram is nearly finished just remains to find a water source.

Summary of actual work over fourth weekend
For this week, I planned on using it for testing the hydraulic ram and hopefully be able to use it to supply water to an assigned area, but this plan was not completed. At least my group members and I were able to start testing the ram, but we ran into a issue,which prevent us from actually using the ram to supply water to a certain area/destination

Week4 Narrative
Over, the course of this week, I mainly focused on testing on the hydraulic ram

7/11/12: Met with team member and started testing the ram. For the first test, we noticed that the waste valve was not flapping, that water was just flowing out the waste valve. The flapping effect of the waste valve was suppose to create the water hammer effect/ vibration that would send the water up the non-return valve then out the outlet pipe. At first we thought the pressure from the water faucet which was our water source was too much for the waste valve, that was why it was just flowing out water rather than flapping. Then a bucket was used as a water source instead, but it still didn't make any difference.

8/11/12: Tim and I met later in the day, to continue testing on the ram. We came with some suggestion to the waste valve problem. We added a snifter valve to the system thinking it was help, but it didn't. Performed addition testing, but this time we manually flapped the waste valve and we were able to get some amount of water out through the outlet pipe. We did some more tests and did some research to see what we could to solve this problem.

9/11/12: Tim and I met up again, brought our suggestion to the table tested them, but honestly none of them actually worked. One of them included adding a wine cork to the bottom of the waste valve to allow it to float, with this adjustment the waste valve did open with incoming water, but it still didn't flap. After this we just took some videos to visually explain to people the concept of the hydraulic ram and state the problem we ran into. Here is the video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EBFV0K5BSs,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX7mq3an4nM&feature=youtu.be, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmThOKES7KY&feature=youtu.be

Complete Team Page
link to team page http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Hydraulic_ram/Howard_Community_College/Fall2012/p2501ATandT