Week 4

• This week we began construction of our final filter design
• We decided on using a regular soda bottle to form the outside of the filter
• The building of the filter: (collaborated by all group members on 4/28)
• The helix was built out of plastic film that had to be hand cut and measured to make it fit and be water-tight. This was difficult to build and cut with scissors.
• The plastic helix had to be epoxied to the center pole 
• This then will dry and be put in the bottle
• Josh and Laura cut plastic
• Steve and Joe added helices to bottle 
• Picture of construction:

• The first part (helix) of the filter. We have to wait for this to dry and then we can put it in the soda bottle in 2 days.

• We finalized our Gantt chart and are tracking our weekly progress. Below is the chart (by Steven Guarneri):
  
  
  

Weeks 3 and 4

Week 3 and Week 4

• The initial design including the air pump was discarded for an alternative design that is more compact. The new design involves a helical path for the water to flow through, maintaining the necessary length of path while making the container itself more compact.

Current design with helical path

• All necessary supplies were accumulated including:
• 8 feet of plastic tubing with 1/4 inch diameter
• 10 feet of PVC piping with 1/2 inch diameter
• funnel with 1/4 inch diameter
• 3110.5 grams of sand
• a two liter bottle 
• 5.6-6.0 grams of iron filings
• a cup of gravel
• Schuylkill River water with an initial turbidity reading of 5.92 NTU 
• H2 Hold Epoxy

Funnel with 1/4 inch diameter

Gravel

PVC with 1/2 inch diameter

Sand

Schuylkill River Water

Epoxy

Plastic tubing with 1/4 inch diameter

Iron Filings

• Week 3 team members went to 10th Street Hardware, where the plastic tubing, PVC, funnel, and epoxy were acquired. Between materials and subway tokens, each member contributed roughly 7 dollars to the materials. 

• Week 4 class included going to the river to collect water in the 5 gallon drum along with going to the soil lab to collect the sand, gravel, and iron filings. The turbidity level was also determined in the soil lab. 

Week 2

•  We discussed a plan on how to execute the building of the filter.
•    We obtained some of the materials, such as the soda bottles, and started construction.

                   -The soda bottles we bought were 1 liter bottles ans tall Smart Water bottles to compare
                  -We decided the the Smart bottles would be better
                   -We are planning on using 4 bottles stacked on each other    
                   - We also had to decide where to cut the bottles but we are going to experiment later

• We faced a few problems with the design

                   -We had to figure out how to make the soda bottles connect so that water stays
                           -This was accomplished by using glue and duct tape
                    -We also had to make the bottle strong enough to withstand the weight of the sand
                              -We taped duct tape all along the walls of the bottles to strengthen them
                     - We had to figure out how to make the filter stand
                               -This was solved by leaning it against something.
                               - We need a permanent solution.

• The design is coming along nicely and we believe it should be effective

Week 1

Freshman Design- A Better Water Filter in Ten Weeks

• Our group of four students (Joe Massott, Laura Blumenstock, Josh Lee, Steve Guarini) is tasked with designing and testing a small scale biofilm water filter.
• Every week a series of tasks are worked on in order to efficiently create our unique apparatus.
• Using sand, rusty nails, and a layer of living microorganisms, we're going to collaborate and compete with other students in the ENGR 103-070 class in order to aggregate and apply data from different setups.
• Week one consisted of a group meetup where we discussed the direction in which we want to take the design. We assigned roles, wrote up a preliminary report, and made a sketch of our ideas.

Bio

About Us-

Joe

Laura

Steve

Josh

References

References-

http://www.biosandfilter.org/biosandfilter/index.php/item/302

http://labspace.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=453412&section=1.5

http://bcn.boulder.co.us/basin/data/NEW/info/TSS.html