INL - Grinder Water Circulation and Filtering System

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has reached out to the University of Idaho to completely re-design and test a water filtration system that is to be used in a hot-cell environment. Our team is working closely with the staff here at U of I and with INL to ensure that develop a system that meets all of the specific requirements. We will be updating the information on this page monthly until it is finalized in May of 2018, where we will then hope to share the success of our project.

Problem Statement
The current INL hot cell grinder filtration system does not efficiently remove particle build up in the water storage tank making it harder to clean and creates clogging of the pipes.

Mission Statement
To completely re-design and build a working prototype for the INL hot cell grinder filtration system to meet the client’s specifications. We will design a system where the collection of muck in the water tank is minimized, create a more efficient flow in the filtration system, and apply a cheaper filter and pump to the system. We strive to provide the best possible product to our client.

Filter: Project Learning
INITIAL DESIGN

This was the initial design concept that we had in mind when trying to develop a new filtering system for the water circulation system. Overall this was a really great design and it had a lot of potential, but when it was first presented to our client the only feedback we received was that it was a great start, but we should implement 2 different types of filters. One filter would be a rough filter that would collect a good amount of the larger particles, and one would be a fine filter collecting the rest of the particles as needed. This design was taken well though overall, so we just had to try and implement everything that we learned and liked from this one onto our next concepts. One other thing that we realized we didn’t need was the bypass coming back in to the filter, we didn’t want this for two main reasons. The first reason we didn’t want this bypass was that it might send water back up the system because the pressure from it would be so much greater than the inlet pressure. The other reason that we didn’t need this bypass, was because it was making our system more complicated than needed, and since the water from the bypass would already be filtered it could just go back into the tank. Overall, we learned a lot from this design, and it is the building blocks for our current design.

SECONDARY DESIGN

The second design that we made seemed to be very innovative, and it proved to be more complicated than needed. Though this design met our new constraint of needing a rough and fine filter, it didn’t provide an easy option for cleaning the system out when it came time to replace or unclog the filter. As you can see these filters worked in parallel, and that would allow the flow to exit through the rough filter and then collect particles on the outside of the fine filter. Collecting particles on the outside is where the problem lies with this design. When changing out these filters we want all of the particles to be taken out as well. One of the main problems with the current system down at INL is that it allows for all of the particles to be collected on the out side, thus making cleanup a hassle. As if using the manipulators to operate everything inside of the hot cell wasn’t enough, collecting particles on the outside of the filter made INL have to start using a specialized vacuum that they had to design to remove all of the left over particles. This is something that we needed to change, because we are trying to make our system as hassle free as possible. Overall, this idea was really clever, and it was really easy to find parts for, but it didn’t meet the requirements that INL has for us. This Idea is also what lead us into figuring out the perfect filtering system that we have now. FINAL DESIGN

This design is our final design and overall what we will manufacture by the end of this course. We have listened to the advice, and direction of our client, and overall this design will meet ever one of their needs and expectations. This design is fairly simple, it consists of two filters in series, one smaller rough filter inside of the larger fine filter. This design is extremely simple and I think that it is also the easiest to work with in the hot cell environment. Overall we think that this design is perfect, but we are having problems with one portion of it, and that is finding filters that will actually suit our needs with in this unique system. It is hard to find filters that meet the specs that were given to us by our client that fit inside of each other as we have displayed above. One of the reasons that it was extremely hard to find filters to suit our needs, was because there was a miscommunication between us and our client, where we were given the sizes of the filters assuming that they were using American standards, when in fact they use European standards. The only other problem that we have had with this design is that it would be harder to replace these filters in the environment because it would take twice as long to replace both of the filters. This didn’t seem like a big problem to our client.