Floc Hopper Probe, Fall 2015

Miguel Castellanos, John Lopez

Abstract

The floc hopper probe team aims to create a fully functional floc hopper probe design for future visits to Honduras and elsewhere. Currently, very little information is know about the location or condition of the floc blanket in the floc hopper. This year’s research should lead to a better understanding of the events preceding sedimentation as well as more details on the location of the floc blanket inside the hopper. An experimental setup was created to test different floc hopper probe designs and observe which one gave accurate readings. This year’s team contributions include: a final design of the floc hopper probe and an assembling manual for the current probe design. The team has tackled the problem in the lab and now field testing is required for further improvement of design.

Floc Hopper Probe, Spring 2015

Steve Love and Garret Jancich

Abstract

The Fabrication Team’s purpose is to address current issues or areas of improvement in AguaClara plants. This semester, the team’s tasks included designing and fabricating a probe for monitoring sludge accumulation in the floc hopper. The floc hopper probe team created an operational tool for peering into the floc hopper in order to know when to drain it. The team also began work for developing the research capabilities of the probe. This would be achieved by taking image data via borescope snake camera and translating it into meaningful turbidity/DOM readings.