Monitoring Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration Systems
Mentor 1
Professor Nathan Salowitz
Location
Union Wisconsin Room
Start Date
27-4-2018 1:00 PM
Description
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According to the World Health Organization, 2.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. Reverse Osmosis (RO) water filtration is one of the most effective technologies to purify water, even capable of desalination. Reverse osmosis water filtration systems apply pressure against osmosis pressure to pass water through membranes, removing contaminants. Flow sensing is an important measure to determine the efficiency of the filtration system. In our research on Monitoring Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration Systems, an orifice plate was created to fit within a pressure vessel at the end of a filter element. The orifice plate was laser cut out of acrylic with small holes to create a pressure difference in the water flowing through it. Cantilever beams cut in the plate were mounted with strain gauges which are used to back calculate pressure drop across the orifice plate. The calculate pressure is related empirically to flow rate. Testing of smaller orifice plates in smaller pipes led to the evaluation of the efficiency of using an orifice plate and strain gauges for flow sensing.
Monitoring Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration Systems
Union Wisconsin Room
?
According to the World Health Organization, 2.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water. Reverse Osmosis (RO) water filtration is one of the most effective technologies to purify water, even capable of desalination. Reverse osmosis water filtration systems apply pressure against osmosis pressure to pass water through membranes, removing contaminants. Flow sensing is an important measure to determine the efficiency of the filtration system. In our research on Monitoring Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration Systems, an orifice plate was created to fit within a pressure vessel at the end of a filter element. The orifice plate was laser cut out of acrylic with small holes to create a pressure difference in the water flowing through it. Cantilever beams cut in the plate were mounted with strain gauges which are used to back calculate pressure drop across the orifice plate. The calculate pressure is related empirically to flow rate. Testing of smaller orifice plates in smaller pipes led to the evaluation of the efficiency of using an orifice plate and strain gauges for flow sensing.
