water filter deliverables
Define a problem
We created a Gnatt chart to divide team responsibilities equally. Even though most of the work was done in class, since we had limited time for the project.
Brainstorm
These were some of the ideas we came up with.
research and generate ideas
There are 4 different methods used to filter water, which is activated carbon, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, and distillation. Activated carbon is used to trap chemical impurities. The pros of activated carbon is the increase of surface area and it promotes absorption. Some of the cons of activated carbon is that over time the material has to replaced over time because waste can get collected and trapped, causing the filter efficiency decrease. Reverse osmosis is when the water forced to pass through a membrane at pressure, leaving all the contaminants behind. The pros of reverse osmosis is that it eliminates sediment and it prevents contaminates from passing through the membrane that filters the water. The cons of reverse osmosis is that its not as efficient and could cause damage to the membrane. Ion exchange is when the bad ions are exchanged for the good ions making the water more purified. The pros of ion exchange is that the initial cost is low and is easy to connect. The cons of ion exchange is that it doesn't fully filter the water, and can only filter part of the water, then over time it can become expensive. Distillation is when the water is boiled to remove the impurities, it may not remove all impurities since some contaminants boil at a lower point. Physical filtration is when you strain water to other large particles. Chemical filtration is when the water passes through an active material to remove impurities. Home filters tend to use more than one method, to remove more contaminants.
http://www.explainthatstuff.com/howwaterfilterswork.html
https://www.uswatersystems.com/how-do-water-filters-work#cartridge
http://www.explainthatstuff.com/howwaterfilterswork.html
https://www.uswatersystems.com/how-do-water-filters-work#cartridge
explore POSSIBILITIES
Gauze-337.2 NTU
Tulle-337.2 NTU
Stone Granules-337.2 NTU
Activated Carbon-102.3 NTU
Coffee Filter-337.2 NTU
Gravel-337.2 NTU
Tulle-337.2 NTU
Stone Granules-337.2 NTU
Activated Carbon-102.3 NTU
Coffee Filter-337.2 NTU
Gravel-337.2 NTU
select an approach
develop a design proposal
make a model prototype
First 3 layers are created with activated carbon, stone granules, and gravel
test and evaluate the design using specifications
Our first prototype did very well. But we wanted to make our water drinkable which would be under 5 NTU, so we redefined our design to make it possible.
refine the design
We refined our design twice. The second design had more layers of activated carbon and stone granules. We also crushed the activated carbon into a fine powder, as we learned that this would likely yield better results. The second design we had resulted in 12.4 NTUs. Once again, this was good, however we hoped for better. Our final design has 3 layers of activated carbon and stone granules, as well as 3 coffee filters and 3 layers of tulle. We did not test this design as we would not have enough materials to remake it, however we assume that the more layers the better, so this final design should preform the best. However, through this process we did learn that our design is not reusable, as when we attempted to test our designs again with the same materials, it always yielded higher NTUs. We don't know what material is at fault for this design flaw, however if we had more time, it is a problem that we would have addressed.
communicate processes and results
conclusion/reflection
I believe this project was really fun to do. I also believe that with more time and more testing we would of been able to make our water drinkable even though we were pretty close. I learned that having drinkable water is very important and is a global problem we have to address. I believe that Maya and me did a pretty good job with this project even though we were a little upset that our water was so close to being drinkable. Maybe giving them a little bit more time a day extra would be better, to do more testing and redining the project.