Ultrasound Water Purification

PROJECT PLAN

Group Number: 24
Professor Bigelow
Jacob Bernhard/Team leader
Yuhao Fu/Team Communication Leader
Parker Oltrogge/Team Webmaster
Subin Mao/Team Key Concept Holder
Xiyuan Wang/Team member
Tao Wu/ Team member
bernieja@iastate.edu
Team Website
Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 Project statement
1.2 purpose
1.3 Goals
2 Deliverables
3 Design
3.1 Previous work/literature
3.2 Proposed System Block diagram
3.3 Assessment of Proposed methods
3.4 Validation
4 Project Requirements/Specifications
4.1 Functional
4.2 Non-functional
5 Challenges
6 Timeline
6.1 First Semester
6.2 Second Semester
7 Conclusions
8 References
9 Appendices

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1 Introduction
1.1 PROJECT STATEMENT
Our goal is to create an ultrasound based filtration system. It is broken down into three separate

parts that we are attempting to create. The first part of the project is to use an ultrasound to eliminate

organisms in the water. The next section is to create a filtration system that filters the water of matter.

Lastly, we will be creating our own testing system that tests the quality of the water.

1.2 PURPOSE
The past several decades have witnessed a severe lack of clean potable water in South African

area. This is a problem that our team is attempting to alleviate. Our driving purpose is to create an

alternative method to purify water using ultrasound. This will hopefully eliminate the need to replace

filters, and lower the overall cost of filtration in the region.

1.3 GOALS
The goal of this project is to develop and test a water filtration/sterilization system based on

ultrasound. This project is more of a proof of concept rather than a finished design. We want to see if we

are able to create a device that meets the requirements, and is able to be scaled down to be affordable. If

we are able to prove the design of our filtration system works, then we will ultimately attempt to create a

deployable device.

2 Deliverables
In order to achieve our goals, we have to have things that need to be accomplished. First we will

need to create our product. This product is broken down into three parts: ultrasonic filtration, matter

filtration, and a flowing water sensor. When discussing with the client, we decided to break the

deliverables up into these three different sections. We will record our findings, and design details into

three mini reports that can be used individually, or combined into one cohesive description of the

product.
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3 Design
3.1 PREVIOUS WORK/LITERATURE
Our group doesnt have much experience in this field of work. The only previous experience, is

basic knowledge about portable filtration systems that Jacob Bernhard acquired while doing survival

training in the military. This knowledge was limited to the five basic kinds of filtration, and the methods

and situations used to employ them.

While researching the project, we have found similar attempts to use ultrasound in water though

the design wasnt with filtration in mind. The afterthought was to employ ultrasound as a means to

replace chemical filtration systems. We also looked into the World Health Organization and other

humanitarian organizations, in order to find a set standard for potable water, and there does not seem to

be a world standard.

3.2 PROPOSED SYSTEM BLOCK DIAGRAM

This is a basic flow chart on how we will attempt to create the system flow of our project. First

we will have the water storage tank that takes in unfiltered water. We will then run it through the water

purification system. This system is located on floating system that regulates the amount of water that is in

the water purification system. Then after the water is done with the purification process, we will be

running it through a flowing testing system into a separate water container. This testing system will have

several different methods of testing. We are still considering different housing systems for our transducer

and different float methods for water level control.

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3.3 ASSESSMENT OF PROPOSED METHODS
The main method of purification that we are attempting to accomplish, is applying an ultrasound

wave to water, so that the focal point hits the surface or just below the surface. This way the water

splatters and we will be able to catch this water to run it through our matter filtration system which may

have two different sections.

The matter filtration has two different methods that we could employ. The first method is using a

standing wave in order to trap solid particles in different collision points of the waves. The second method

is to use a non-carbon based standard filter. Both of these methods will accomplish our goal, though we

would like to employ the ultrasonic solution, because it lowers the necessity to replace filters.

The last section is the flowing water sensor. This sensor will need to take samples of the water to

determine the different safety conditions of the water. These conditions will probably be based on the

WHO system of water purification, and a mixture of Ames water purification plant in order to reach a set

standard for our own filtered water.

3.4 VALIDATION
In order to confirm that our system works we will be doing our own cultures to ensure there isnt

any bacteria growth from the system after the initial ultrasound. Also we will be attempting to send

samples to a local purification plant to have those samples tested for potability. These results will also be

paired up with our own sensor data in order to ensure we are achieving the same readings as the testing

site.

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4 Project Requirements/Specifications
4.1 FUNCTIONAL
Our ultrasound water purification system needs to kill harmful bacteria in the water and then

filter out undesired matter. Afterwards we need to test the water using our own testing system to see if it

matches the correct values that the testing center came up with. Not only meeting the requirement of

drinking water (as far as we found there is no worldwide accepted requirement for pure drinking water.

America has EPA, most of Europe has its own. Great Britain uses its own system and most third world

countries have no government entity for pure safe drinking water) we also need to develop an enclosed

housing container for the clean drinkable water. This will help eliminate the water from being

contaminated after it has been purified.

4.2 NON-FUNCTIONAL
The main non-functional requirement for this project is to pass the potability test in the testing

center that we send our samples. This will be make or break for our projects concept. If the initial testing

doesnt pan out we may need to rethink our hypothesis.

5 Challenges
One of the main challenges that our team faces, is that we have limited resources that we can

utilize. One of the main components that we will most likely need is a Network Analyzer. This NA will

allow us to integrate multiple transducers into our circuit. The cost of this piece of equipment is

enormous, and the school doesnt have one available for us to freely use. Also our limited working

knowledge of water purification may hinder our speed of completion as we are learning the material that

we are also working to complete.

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6 Timeline

6.1 FIRST SEMESTER

Date Task

Week 1 Select Project

Week 2 Meet with advisor

Week 3 Brainstorm Ideas and set up weekly meeting

Week 4 Narrow down on the specification and resources

Week 5 Design the project plan

Week 6 Create models of the design

Week 7 Select a design document

Week 8 Calculate the cost of the resources

Week 9 Update the website

Week 10 Update the project plan

Week 11 Create group presentation

Week 12 Finalize website Complete the project plan

Week 13 Group Presentation and plan for next semester

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6.2 SECOND SEMESTER

Date Task

Week 1 Organize ordering of past. Meet with advisor

Week 2 start assembling

Week 3 assembling/testing

Week 4 testing if circuit

Week 5 complete assembling

Week 6 adjustment

Week 7 adjustment

Week 8 adjustment

Week 9 client testing on work site

Week 10 client testing on work site

Week 11 Presentation/Deliverable Doc work

Week 12 Presentation/Deliverable Doc work

Week 13 Finished Deliverables

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7 Conclusions
We plan to design, build, and test the usability of ultrasound in water purification. Our project

design requires the use of two separate ultrasonic transducers, one which is intended to kill bacteria and

the other to trap dangerous particulates. First and simplest in the killing of bacteria by ripping the cells

apart and spraying water. Secondly we will be testing the theoretical possibility of trapping heavy

particulates into a standing ultrasonic wave. Our project will be tested for ability to create safe water, and

compared to standard water purification methods by volume of clean water per unit energy consumed.

The most important goal as of now is the killing of harmful bacteria using ultrasound. The second goal is

the trapping of heavy particulates using ultrasound. The third goal is to test our purified water to see

the levels of bacteria and heavy metals, the end ph and temperature.

8 References
https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/P1005EJT.txt?ZyActionD=ZyDocument&Client=EPA&Index=2006
%20Thru%202010&Docs=&Query=&Time=&EndTime=&SearchMethod=1&TocRestrict=n&Toc=&Toc
Entry=&QField=&QFieldYear=&QFieldMonth=&QFieldDay=&UseQField=&IntQFieldOp=0&ExtQField
Op=0&XmlQuery=&File=D%3A%5CZYFILES%5CINDEX%20DATA%5C06THRU10%5CTXT%5C00
000011%5CP1005EJT.txt&User=ANONYMOUS&Password=anonymous&SortMethod=h%7C-
&MaximumDocuments=1&FuzzyDegree=0&ImageQuality=r75g8/r75g8/x150y150g16/i425&Display=hpf
r&DefSeekPage=x&SearchBack=ZyActionL&Back=ZyActionS&BackDesc=Results%20page&Maximum
Pages=1&ZyEntry=4#

http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/surveillance/outbreak-classifications.html

http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/surveillance/deficiency-classification.html

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9 Appendices

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