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Current
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assembly technique
One idea we got from Fred Stottlemeyer is to drill holes in the lamella large enough to put 1/2¨PVC tube through them, but small enough so that the tube fits snugly. We would then put a short nipple through the hole and put a PVC union on each side of the nipple. We´d squeeze the unions together so that the made a tight sandwich around the lamina. The unions are 4.1 cm (about 5 cm) so we´re thinking we could probably just use one union between each floc lamella.
We´re going to try Fred´s method of the union sandwiches out soon. Concerns are that the holes will be hard to drill and that the unions will not be thick enough to securely detain the lamina. The unions might slip through the holes.
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technique {cloak:id=Current assembly technique} Ojojona assembly.png | {anchor:Ojojona assembly}[!Modular plate settler^Ojojona assembly.png|width=300!|Modular plate settler^Ojojona assembly.png] h5. Current assembly technique for the plate settlers as used at [Ojojona]. {float:right|border=2px solid black|width=200px} {anchor:Ojojona assembly}[!Modular plate settler^Ojojona assembly.png|width=300!|Modular plate settler^Ojojona assembly.png] h5. Current assembly technique for the plate settlers as used at [Ojojona]. {float} We put together the numbers for what it will cost to put the lamella together using the [#Ojojona assembly] technique and realized it will be expensive, to the tune of $2000 just for CPVC caps, screw and nuts. One problem is that CPVC (like PVC but made for hot water) caps are expensive, about 50 cents each and we need 3000 of them. PVC caps are a fourth the cost, but are rounded on the end. We are concerned that these round ends will not fit tightly against the policarbonate sheets. The CPVC are flat on the end and are what we used in Ojojona. {excel:file=^Lamina Fastener Cost Estimate.xls|formatCell=true} {cloak} h2. {toggle-cloak:id=Proposed technique} Proposed technique {cloak:id=Proposed technique} One idea we got from Fred Stottlemeyer is to drill holes in the lamella large enough to put 1/2¨PVC tube through them, but small enough so that the tube fits snugly. We would then put a short nipple through the hole and put a PVC union on each side of the nipple. We´d squeeze the unions together so that the made a tight sandwich around the lamina. The unions are 4.1 cm (about 5 cm) so we´re thinking we could probably just use one union between each floc lamella. We´re going to try [Fred´s method|#proposed assembly] of the union sandwiches out soon. Concerns are that the holes will be hard to drill and that the unions will not be thick enough to securely detain the lamina. The unions might slip through the holes. {float:right|border=2px solid black|width=200px310px} {anchor:Ojojona assembly}[!Modular plate settler^4cmspacing.png|width=300!|Modular plate settler^4cmspacing.png] h5. Proposed assembly technique for the plate settlers giving 4 cm spacing. {float} |
We
...
think
...
we
...
have
...
a
...
good
...
solution
...
to
...
the
...
plate
...
settler
...
issue.
...
We
...
tried
...
Fred`s
...
suggestion
...
of
...
using
...
the
...
1/2"
...
PVC
...
unions
...
as
...
spacers
...
and
...
connecting
...
them
...
with
...
short
...
nipples
...
of
...
1/2"
...
pipe.
...
It
...
worked
...
very
...
well.
...
Concerns
...
that
...
we
...
had
...
discussed
...
were:
...
- That
...
- it
...
- would
...
- be
...
- hard
...
- to
...
- drill
...
- a
...
- 7/8"
...
- (the
...
- O.D.
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- of
...
- 1/2"
...
- PVC)
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- hole
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- in
...
- the
...
- lamina
...
- without
...
- destroying
...
- it.
...
With
...
- a
...
- hole
...
- saw,
...
- as
...
- Monroe
...
- suggested,
...
- the
...
- holes
...
- came
...
- out
...
- well.
...
- We
...
- were
...
- able
...
- to
...
- drill
...
- 4
...
- lamina
...
- at
...
- once
...
- and
...
- think
...
- we
...
- will
...
- be
...
- able
...
- to
...
- drill
...
- 6.
...
- The
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- only
...
- problem
...
- we
...
- ran
...
- into
...
- was
...
- that
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- the
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- hole
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- saw
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- heats
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- up
...
- and
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- starts
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- to
...
- melt
...
- the
...
- lamina
...
- if
...
- you
...
- drill
...
- a
...
- lot
...
- of
...
- hole
...
- quickly.
...
- We
...
- are
...
- confident
...
- that
...
- by
...
- keeping
...
- the
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- drill
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- at
...
- a
...
- low
...
- speed
...
- and
...
- cooling
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- the
...
- bit
...
- between
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- holes
...
- we
...
- can
...
- resolve
...
- this
...
- problem.
...
- That
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- the
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- large
...
- holes
...
- would
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- compromise
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- the
...
- strength
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- of
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- the
...
- policarbonate.
...
We
...
- pulled
...
- and
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- pushed
...
- pretty
...
- hard
...
- at
...
- the
...
- hole
...
- and
...
- shook
...
- the
...
- module
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- voilently
...
- and
...
- saw
...
- absolutely
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- no
...
- damage.
...
- The
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- hole
...
- did
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- not
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- expand
...
- or
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- crack
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- at
...
- the
...
- edges.
...
- We
...
- didn´t
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- push
...
- it
...
- to
...
- failure
...
- because
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- we
...
- didn´t
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- have
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- any
...
- small
...
- pieces
...
- that
...
- we
...
- wanted
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- to
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- waste.
...
- Still,
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- we´re
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- confident
...
- that
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- it
...
- will
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- hold
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- up.
...
Another
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- advantage
...
- of
...
- this
...
- method,
...
- on
...
- top
...
- of
...
- cost,
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- is
...
- that
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- Antonio
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- says
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- it
...
- is
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- much
...
- easier
...
- to
...
- put
...
- together
...
- than
...
- the
...
- caps
...
- and
...
- scews.
...
If
...
- you
...
- folks
...
- at
...
- Cornell
...
- approve,
...
- we´d
...
- like
...
- to
...
- move
...
- ahead
...
- with
...
- this
...
- idea.
...
- On
...
- the
...
- other
...
- hand,
...
- if
...
- you
...
- want
...
- to
...
- do
...
- more
...
- testing
...
- of
...
- it
...
- there
...
- and
...
- think
...
- about
...
- other
...
- possibilities,
...
- we
...
- could
...
- wait
...
- a
...
- week
...
- to
...
- decide
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- for
...
- sure.
...
The
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unions
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that
...
we
...
want
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to
...
use
...
as
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spacers
...
are
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only
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4
...
cm
...
in
...
length.
...
This
...
would
...
mean
...
smaller
...
gaps
...
between
...
the
...
sed
...
lamella.
...
I
...
think
...
I
...
remember
...
Fred
...
saying
...
that
...
usually
...
lamella
...
spacing
...
is
...
smaller
...
than
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4
...
cm
...
and
...
that
...
this
...
might
...
give
...
improved
...
performance.
...
Of
...
course
...
it
...
would
...
also
...
mean
...
more
...
lamella.
...
Instead
...
of
...
buying
...
60
...
12-foot
...
polciarbonate
...
sheets
...
for
...
the
...
plant
...
(floc
...
and
...
sed),
...
it
...
would
...
mean
...
buying
...
72
...
sheets.
...
At
...
a
...
cost
...
of
...
900L
...
a
...
sheet,
...
this
...
is
...
10,800
...
L
...
or
...
about
...
$550,
...
but
...
still
...
much
...
less
...
than
...
what
...
we´ll
...
save
...
by
...
not
...
buying
...
CPVC
...
caps.
...
We
...
had
...
another
...
idea
...
to
...
make
...
the
...
spacers
...
5
...
cm:
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cut
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1cm
...
rings
...
from
...
unions
...
and
...
put
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them
...
together
...
with
...
the
...
full
...
unions.
...
This
...
would
...
work
...
but
...
we
...
think
...
it
...
will
...
be
...
difficult
...
to
...
cut
...
the
...
rings
...
uniforly
...
to
...
1
...
cm.
...
If
...
the
...
4cm
...
spacing
...
will
...
work
...
just
...
as
...
well
...
or
...
better
...
we
...
recommend
...
going
...
with
...
that.
...
The
...
two
...
options
...
are
...
drawn
...
in
...
the
...
attached
...
power
...
point.
| Wiki Markup |
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{float:right|border=2px solid black|width=200px310px} {anchor:Ojojona assembly}[!Modular plate settler^5cmspacing.png|width=300!|Modular plate settler^5cmspacing.png ] h5. Proposed assembly technique for the plate settlers giving 5 cm spacing. {float} |
We`re
...
also
...
discussing
...
how
...
many
...
spacers
...
to
...
put
...
in
...
the
...
sed
...
modules.
...
In
...
the
...
same
...
attached
...
file
...
is
...
a
...
diagram
...
of
...
three
...
different
...
posibilities.
...
We
...
tried
...
the
...
7
...
spacer
...
option
...
and
...
it
...
looked
...
alright
...
but
...
we
...
thought
...
it
...
would
...
be
...
worth
...
adding
...
more.
...
The
...
8
...
spacer
...
option,
...
with
...
the
...
middle
...
row
...
staggered
...
looks
...
the
...
strongest
...
to
...
us,
...
even
...
better
...
than
...
the
...
9
...
spacer
...
option.
...
One
...
possible
...
concern
...
is
...
that
...
the
...
8
...
spacer
...
option
...
blocks
...
more
...
of
...
the
...
path
...
through
...
the
...
lamella
...
with
...
spacers,
...
since
...
they
...
are
...
in
...
5
...
different
...
horizontal
...
positions.
...
To
...
us
...
this
...
seems
...
insignificant.
...
Are
...
you
...
in
...
agreement?
| Wiki Markup |
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{float:right|border=2px solid black|width=200px310px} {anchor:Ojojona assembly}[!Modular plate settler^connectorpattern.png|width=300!|Modular plate settler^connectorpattern.png] h5. Proposed pattern of connectors. {float} {cloak} |