OpenSource Rotameter v2021.Carv

thingiverse

The 2021.Carv version of the open source rotameter. This version included LED lights to allow for better viewing of the rotameter. The recommendations to improve this testing and design are as follows; 12 Recommendations 12.1 Experimental setup In terms of the testing rig, one change that is recommended for future experiments is to find a way to evenly distribute the sand in the water. A big problem was that in some instances the pump would take on more sand, and in some instances less sand. The student had to use a spade to keep on churning the water to get the sand to suspend instead of just settling at the bottom of the reservoir. Another idea that was used was to have multiple flow outlets at the bottom of the reservoir to try and act like jets to disturb the sand further. However, as the length of pipe increases, the desired effect is not as great as expected.Therefore, a more effective method of suspending sand for a consistent mixture is recommended. Another recommendation is to extend the metal frame of the rig to be slightly taller by welding more bars together. This is to keep in line with what was read in literature that the rotameter should have a straight pipe section of at least five times the pipe diameter (before and after) to reduce turbulence. The student met the requirement for the inlet, but the outlet only had a straight section of about three times the pipe diameter due to spatial constraints. The outlet of the rotameter was quite near to the elbow/corner of the piping system. It was not possible to place the second pressure gauge on the vertical section and as a result, it had to be placed after the elbow on the horizontal. One could also experiment with backpressure by placing another ball valve after the rotameter. Closing this valve slightly may help with float instability/bounce by increasing the back pressure to the rotameter to possibly steady the float. The taller rig would also allow one to move the second pressure gauge to be inline and just after the rotameter. The pressure reading would then not get influenced by the elbow joint. An extra rig height of perhaps 20 cm would be ideal to accommodate all this. 12.2 Testing conditions Another factor that changes how a rotameter would perform would be temperature. However, due to the 3D printed components, one is limited to temperatures below 50°