ENGR10004 Engineering Technology and Society

Semester 1, 2022
Design Project: Project Description

Contents
Introduction 2

1 Project Description 2
1.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.4 Weather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.5 Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2 System Modules 5
2.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 Impeller and Pump Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3 Water Treatment and Disinfection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.4 Inline Image Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.5 Pipe Distribution Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.6 Constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

3 Workshops 10
3.1 Workshop Performance (23%) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.2 Peer Asessment (2% & Scaling Factors) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

4 Project Deliverables 11
4.1 Project Team Management Plan (5%) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.2 Team Presentation (10%) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.3 Draft Team Report (5%) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.4 Final Team Report (30%) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

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Introduction
This document provides a summary of the design project for ENGR10004 Engineering Technology and
Society. This project involves working as an engineering team in the planning, design, construction,
testing, and reporting of a solution to a real-world design problem involving the distribution, pumping,
disinfection, and monitoring of water to a remote community using renewable energy resources. Note
that this document is just a summary of the design project and supplementary information and further
resources will be provided over the course of the semester in lectures, workshops, and online via Canvas.

1 Project Description
1.1 Overview
The proposed project involves the planning, modelling, design, and testing of a pumping station to
disinfect and supply drinking water to a remote community from an underground well. A systems
diagram of the station showing how the sub-systems of the water delivery system are interconnected is
shown in Figure 1. The inhabitants have been using a system of buckets and ropes to retrieve drinking
water from the underground well but this system is proving to be more and more cumbersome as the
population continues to grow, and has caused several safety issues. Your engineering firm has decided to
take on a humanitarian design challenge and improve the water delivery process for the locals with the
help from donations from several non-governmental and not-for-profit organisations.

Figure 1: Pumping and water storage system: green blocks represent sub-systems in the design project.

The water is pumped from the well and stored in a tank that holds a seven-day supply of drinking
water for the town. This feeds into the pump for the water treatment and distribution network. To
improve the quality of the drinking water, the water will be treated using a compact ozone generation
and membrane disinfection system. Particle filter failure will be monitored via real-time tracking for
particle contamination of the water just prior to the water treatment membrane in the flow circuit.
The power system was designed and donated by a separate engineering firm and is a combination of a
wind turbine using battery storage with back-up diesel generators. The electrical energy from the power
system is converted into mechanical energy to drive the pump. The pump then does work on the wa-
ter, creating pressure to drive it through the water treatment process and the water distribution network.

The design project will consist of devising a real-world solution to several sub-systems including:
1. The impeller and pump design
2. The water treatment and disinfection process using a membrane unit
3. The image capture and real-time analysis system to monitor for particle contamination should the
filter fail leading to membrane damage
4. The water distribution network

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The solution for each sub-system will involve several major phases including experimentation, modelling,
design, and testing. In order to learn the relevant theory, measure important parameters, and prototype
designs, much of the design and testing will be performed on a small-scale test rig. Your team will
gain familiarity with the operation of this rig over the course of the workshops for this subject and are
required to demonstrate sufficient proficiency and an acceptable level of performance in its operation.
This rig will also feature as the centrepiece of your team’s final presentation and demonstration.

Documentation and up-to-date reporting of your team’s progress, design process, and final engineering
solution is critical for the successful completion of this project.

This is an open-ended design project, and as such will have many possible engineering solutions.
Design solutions will require assumptions to be made about the equipment, location, usage, or
environmental conditions of the proposed station. You MUST clearly state any assumptions that
you have made as part of the design process.

1.2 Location
The entire pumping system is to be located in a relatively flat, semi-arid area close to the location of
the underground well, which is situated approximately 100 m from the centre of the community. The
storage tank, the pumping system, and the water treatment process must be located at the tank site.
The distribution network must deliver treated water to a small water tower used to provide the treated
water to a number of key distribution points in the community, including a medical clinic.

1.3 Community
The remote community contains approximately 2,000 people who survive on an economy of local ocean
fishing. The average annual growth rate of the population is 1.2%. There is no airstrip and the dis-
tance to the nearest town of any significance is 2,000 km. The system must supply the drinking water
requirements of the total population as well as a small medical clinic. It is expected that the system be
designed to last a minimum of 10 years. Water required for other tasks such as laundry and domestic
cleaning can be obtained via a nearby river (with water that is unsafe for drinking).

The simplicity and inherent safety of the system is also an important consideration as ordinary people
must be able to obtain water without needing to know the technical details of the entire system. Several
people can be selected to be trained as basic technicians and supplied with simple serviceable parts in
the event of a problem with the pumping system.

Questions to consider:
• What is the average daily need of drinking water for a person?

• What is the water consumption of the clinic?

• How much water must be treated in a day?
• What is the best geometry for the pipe distribution network?
• What diameter should the pipes be?

• What size should the pump be?

• How large does the membrane system need to be?
• What are the risks of the membrane failing?
• How will membrane failure be detected?

• What are the safety mechanisms in the event of a membrane failure?

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1.4 Weather
Daytime temperatures in the region are fairly stable throughout the year, with a yearly average high
of 31◦ C and a variation of only several degrees between average winter and summer highs. The yearly
average low is 21◦ C and can vary from monthly low averages of 12◦ C in winter to 26◦ C in summer.
The lowest temperature ever recorded was 4◦ C, almost 75 years ago. Rainfall peaks in summer, with
an average monthly rainfall of 110 mm, while winter and spring are very dry and only average a few
millimetres a month.

Questions to consider:
• Will the pipes need to be insulated from the sun?

• Will the distribution network be above or below ground?

• How does temperature affect membrane performance?

1.5 Materials
The pump and pipe distribution network and membrane units can be made from any material deemed
feasible. Of course, it is an objective to keep material costs down, while remaining safe and reliable.
Should a breakdown occur, spare parts should be readily available and able to be installed quickly.

Questions to consider:

• What material should the pipe distribution network be made from?

• If the network is above or below ground, what materials should the supporting structure be
made of?
• Which components are at the greatest risk of failure?

• How much will the system cost to build? How much will it cost to run and maintain?
• Does the water treatment process using ozone affect the type of materials used in the distri-
bution network?
• Are there environmental issues that need to be considered?

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2 System Modules
2.1 Overview
A flowchart representing the process for completing the design project is shown in Figure 2. There are
several stages to this process that will take you through experimenting, modelling, design, and testing
phases, and finally being able to tackle the large-scale design project itself. You will be gathering data
from the small-scale experimental rig and learning about the relevant theory over the course of several
workshops which will aid you in the selection of some design variables. This process is not one-way,
in that there are loops in the flowchart representing the process of iterative design. Using iterative
design, you design, implement, and test an engineering solution as part of an iterative loop. If the
observed system behaviour matches the desired system behaviour, you have solved the design problem.
If the observed system behaviour doesn’t match the desired system behaviour, then you have to go back
to the design step and modify your design or model.

Figure 2: Flowchart for the completion of the design project.

As you progress through the design project phases, you will be given less detailed instruction and will
need to rely more on your own initiative and application of the engineering methods that you will be
learning about in the lectures and workshops. As previously mentioned, there are four major sub-systems
to be considered in the overall system:
1. The impeller and pump design

2. The water treatment and disinfection process using a membrane unit

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 3. The image capture and real-time analysis system to monitor for particle contamination should the
filter fail leading to membrane damage
4. The water distribution network
It is suggested that your team be organised into various sub-teams to split up the design tasks. If your
team chooses to do this, it is important that there is regular communication between the sub-teams to
ensure that the project is progressing successfully.

2.2 Impeller and Pump Design

Pumps come in a number of different configurations and designs, but at the scale of this project, they
typically have some type of housing surrounding an impeller that is able to rotate. The rotation of the
impeller is driven by a motor. As the impeller rotates it creates a region of low pressure that draws
water in nd a region of high pressure that “pushes” the water out of the pump. Thus, the pump’s core
job is to convert the mechanical energy from the rotation of the motor and impart energy to the water,
called “doing work on the fluid”. This increases the pressure in the water so it can move through the
pipe network.

The key design parameters for a pump are based around the flow rate that the pump must operate at,
the increase in pressure required, and the efficiency of the impeller in converting the rotational energy
from the motor into increasing the water pressure, i.e., doing work on the fluid. In this design, the
flow rates are defined by the design specifications around how much water the community needs in a
day. The pressure required from the pump will depend on the resistance to flow caused by parts of
the flow circuit after the pump, including the membrane unit (see Figure 3). The efficiency of the im-
peller depends on the physical shape of the impeller, e.g. the number and curvature of the impeller blades.

In this module of the project, you will be investigating the pump performance by measuring the efficiency
of the pump impeller as a function of flow rate, called a pump curve. Using the lab-scale rig, you will
first use a base impeller model and then design your own custom pump impeller that will be 3D printed.
You will use the custom impeller pump curve in the design of the full-scale pumping system to satisfy
the goals of the project.

Figure 3: Pumping sub-system: the pump is fed from the water storage tank and provides the work to
transport the water through the membrane unit to the distribution network.

2.3 Water Treatment and Disinfection

Water treatment is comprised of the processes that make water suitable for an end-use, be it for industry
or for drinking by reducing or removing contaminants. For drinking water, these processes may include
separating solids using filtration or settling tanks, and chemical treatments including disinfection or
coagulation. In theory, well water is safe to drink provided the well source has no naturally occurring
contaminants at high levels (e.g. heavy metals, chemical contaminants). Yet, shallow wells may run the
risk of biological contamination (e.g. bacteria, viruses, parasites, and other microorganisms) originating
from anthropogenic (man-made) sources or rainwater runoff, as well as from short to medium term stor-
age of the water, which is the case in this design. Therefore, the water will be treated with a disinfection
process when released from the water storage tank.

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There are a number of methods to disinfect water including boiling, which is reliable but energy-intensive
and time consuming, as well as chemical treatments such as chlorination. A technology that has become
more common within the last 40 years is treating water with ozone to disinfect water against biological
contaminants. Ozone, comprised of three oxygen atoms, O3 , is well-known for being in the Earth’s atmo-
sphere with a high concentration in the stratosphere and helps block some portion of harmful ultraviolet
radiation. Ozone, when not in the atmosphere, can be used as a highly reactive oxidising agent that is
very effective in breaking down even the most difficult biological contaminants in drinking water.

Ozone, commonly generated via a coronal discharge method using oxygen, is a gas and must be trans-
ferred into the water very quickly after being generated. The water treatment section will contain an
ozone generator using air as the source of oxygen. Ozone can be introduced into water via bubbling gas
through it, using a membrane unit as a gas-liquid contactor, or by using a Venturi (a special type of
valve) injection, with each method having different advantages. This project will be using a membrane
unit as a gas-liquid contactor. This type of process unit is robust across a range of flow rates and pres-
sures, and is simple to operate and maintain.

Even at low levels in the air, ozone can be harmful to come into contact with and therefore this section of
the design project will not use ozone with the experimental rig. Instead, you will be using a membrane
process simulator for your design. The full-scale design will account for the transfer of ozone from the
gas stream into the water via the membrane using empirical engineering correlations. The size of the
membrane unit required will depend on the specified concentration of ozone in the water exiting the unit
based on water quality requirements. The membrane unit size will also depend on the volume of water
to be treated in a set time period (e.g. 2-6 hours), the minimum time required for the ozone to react
with the contaminated water, and the time required for the ozone itself to break down so that the water
is safe to drink. This will require analysis of data on ozone reaction rates with biological contaminants,
as well as the interplay between the time required for ozone to react with biological contaminants and
the time that is required for the water to flow through the pipe to the town. A block diagram of the
ozone treatment system is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Water treatment sub-system: an ozone water treatment system using a membrane unit as a
gas-liquid contactor. Between the particle filter and the membrane is an inline image monitoring (IIM)
sub-system.

2.4 Inline Image Monitoring

The field of online or integrated sensing is becoming the prevalent in diverse areas such as controlling
and monitoring a chemical processing plant, real-time face recognition software (e.g. Facebook, Google),
personal health and bio-monitors (e.g. Apple Watches, Fitbit), air quality monitoring in buildings, and
complex, automated image analysis in medical imaging. Any engineer, regardless of discipline, will need
to become familiar with some aspects of real-time monitoring or sensing.

In the context of water treatment, a membrane process must have monitoring systems to determine if the
treatment system is working reliably. This can include offline water quality analysis and testing as well
as online or inline monitoring systems. One of the main risks in using membrane processes is membrane
failure, which will cause the membrane to not operate properly. In the water treatment system for this

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project, a pre-filter is included to prevent particle or sediment from going through the membrane, which
can clog or damage the membrane if they run through the membrane for an extended period of time.

An inline image monitoring system includes an online optical monitoring system using a camera linked
to a real-time image analysis processing system to detect particle contamination using an automated
image analysis system (see Figure 5). If the presence of particles in the water flowing into the membrane
exceeds a critical value, a control valve is automatically triggered to recycle water to the main storage
tank and sound an alarm to change the particle filter.

In this module of the project you will develop and test your own real-time image analysis processing sys-
tem. You will iteratively develop this image processing algorithm through testing your image processing
program using a high-speed camera as part of the experimental rig with a flow system with different
levels of particle contamination operating in real-time. The refined and tested image processing system
will be included in your final design of the full-scale water treatment and distribution system.

Figure 5: Inline image monitoring sub-system to detect particle contamination using a camera and an
automated image processing system operating in real-time.

2.5 Pipe Distribution Network

The pipe distribution network consists of two sections with different purposes. As shown in Figure 6,
in Section 1, the water must be transferred from the storage tank and pumped through the filter and
membrane disinfection unit. The water must then travel to the town and be fed into a short-term water
tower. Section 2 is the pipe distribution network within the town. Using the water tower to provide
hydrostatic pressure, water is delivered at specified pressures and flow rates to three distribution points
in the town, one within the clinic (see Figure 7).

The diameters of the pipes within the network are dependent on the required flow rates, set by design
specifications around the water requirements of the community. In both sections, water will flow from
high to low pressure. In Section 1, the pump provides the pressure as the water flows through the pipes
and membrane. The resistances to flow come from both the changes in height of the water as it is
pumped into the water tower and from the energy lost through friction as the water moves through the
pipes. In Section 2, the height of the water tower provides the necessary pressure to drive flow.

In this module of the project, you will be investigating the interplay between the pressure in the pipes
from pumps and the losses that occur from friction between the moving water and the pipe. Using the
lab-scale rig, you will measure the frictional losses in a flow circuit for different types of fittings relevant
to the pipe network.The measured frictional loss correlations with flow will be used in combination with
a conservation of energy approach to design the fluid network, specifying the lengths and diameters of
the pipes, changes in elevation of the pipe, and the number of bends, T-junctions and valves required to
transport the water through Section1 and to the three distribution points in Section 2.

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 Figure 6: Pipe distribution network: Section 1.

Figure 7: Pipe distribution network: Section 2.

2.6 Constants
For this design project, the constants in Table 1 may be assumed. There are further constraints and
objectives for each sub-system detailed in the module design documents that you will receive soon.

Table 1: Physical constants for the design project.

Parameter Symbol Value Unit

Water density at 25◦ C ρ 998 kg/m3
Dynamic water viscosity at 25◦ C µ 8.90 × 10−4 Pa.s
Kinematic water viscosity at 25◦ C ν = µρ 8.92 × 10−7 m2 /s
Gravitational acceleration g 9.81 m/s2

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3 Workshops
The schedule for the workshops is given in Table 2. Note that a more detailed schedule of lectures,
workshops, and subject assessments is available on Canvas.

Table 2: Workshop Schedule.

Week Workshop Description

1 - NO WORKSHOP
2 1 Intro to MATLAB/Team Activities/Team Application Letter
3 2 MATLAB Loss Problems/Team Management Plan/Friction Loss
4 3 MATLAB Loss & Pump Problems/Pump Curve/3D Impeller Design
5 4 EBE Problems/Pump Curve - Custom Impeller/Pipe Network Design
6 - NO WORKSHOP
7 5 Water Treatment Problems/Water Treatment Design/Pipe Network Design
8 6 Consultation Workshop
9 7 Image Processing in MATLAB/Image Acquisition & Camera Calibration
10 8 MATLAB (Loops & Statements)/Particles in Pipes I
11 9 Particles in Pipes II
12 10 Project Discussion

3.1 Workshop Performance (23%)

Workshop performance including attendance, participation, and pre- and in-workshop deliverables based
on your experimental measurements make up 22% of your final mark. The Team Application Letter
that you will complete in Workshop 1 to aid in team formation will contribute an additional 1%, for a
total of 23%.

3.2 Peer Asessment (2% & Scaling Factors)

One of the main distinctions of engineers over other professions is that they work in teams. As you are
working in a team of four for this design project, you are expected to equally contribute to the goals of
the project.

You will assess your team mates and yourself THREE times during semester, in Weeks 5,
9, and after the submission of the final report (during the exam period):

• Peer Assessment 1 (Week 5) is only for feedback purposes and group health - it is not assessed
• Peer Assessment 2 (Week 9) is worth 1% of your final mark and will be used to produce a Scaling
Factor applied to your Team Presentation
• Peer Assessment 3 (during the exam period) is worth 1% of your final mark and will be used to
produce a Scaling Factor applied to your Final Report
For groups that work well together this often does not affect students’ marks but if the group does not
work well, these scaling factors can impact the presentation/report marks.

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4 Project Deliverables
This subject employs a mix of team-based assessment, individual assessment, and peer assessment.
Marking schemes for most of these will be made available on Canvas in order to guide you as to what is
required.

4.1 Project Team Management Plan (5%)

One of the first things to do once you have formed your team is to decide on the ground rules for the
team. What tasks need to be performed? How can labour be fairly divided? Are there specified roles for
each team member? What is the schedule or plan for meeting deadlines? These are the sorts of questions
your team will need to think about and agree upon answers for. The Project Team Management Plan
will act as the framework for how your team will operate and you will work together.

You will work on the Project Team Management Plan in Workshop 2, with all members in each team
receiving the same mark. The Project Team Management Plan will consist of 5 main themes:
• Project Goal & Objectives: identify the main goal and objectives of the team, outlined based
on SMART criteria
• Roles & Responsibilities: decide on the role(s) and responsibilities of each team member
• Task Planning & Scheduling: breakdown of project tasks along with deadlines and dedicated
responsible member for each task

• Risk Planning & Management: identify risks in the project, ways of monitoring, and contin-
gency plans
• Team Communication Plan: outline how the team will manage communications, conflicts, and
intolerable behaviour

This deliverable is to be submitted via Canvas by Friday, March 25th at 11.59pm (end of
Week 4).

4.2 Team Presentation (10%)

An important part of being an engineer is being able to communicate effectively. Towards the middle of
the semester, your team will be preparing a short video presentation as a group on your design solution.
In this presentation, your group will demonstrate your approach to the problem, your understanding of
the topic, and your proposed solution. Your team will record the presentation using Zoom and submit
the recorded presentation via Canvas. You are expected to submit a single presentation file (i.e. your
slides), using Microsoft PowerPoint only, and submit a PDF of this file on Canvas as well.

• Presentations are limited to 15 minutes per group; more details on the recording and submission
process will be provided closer to Week 8
• All team members must speak for approximately an equal amount of time as part of the presentation
• A demonstrator will review each team’s presentation for feedback and assessment purposes

• Assessment will be based on design/structure, quality/technical elements, delivery, and content

coverage
• You will receive both a team mark and feedback for the presentation
This deliverable is to be submitted via Canvas by Friday, April 29th at 11.59pm (end of
Week 8).

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4.3 Draft Team Report (5%)
At the end of Week 10, your team will submit a Draft Team Report encompassing your design work
to date and specifically covering the pump, pipe network, and parts of the membrane sub-system. The
purpose of submitting this draft report is for your team to receive feedback which you should use to im-
prove upon your Final Team Report. A suggested template for the project report, as well as a marking
rubric will be available on Canvas. The draft report is limited to 30 pages (excluding Appendices).

This deliverable is to be submitted via Canvas by Friday, May 13th at 11.59pm (end of
Week 10).

4.4 Final Team Report (30%)

Your team must submit a final technical report on your proposed solution to the design problem. This
should be around 25 pages, with an upper limit of 40 pages (excluding the cover page and Appendices).
The report must include:
• Cover Page: team name, names and student numbers of team members
• Abstract (200 words max): a brief summary of what will be presented in the report
• Main Body of Report

• Appendices: includes all MATLAB code you have written, as well as detailed drawing of your
pump impellers with dimensions on the drawings
Further details on the Final Team Report will be made available on Canvas during the semester.

This deliverable is to be submitted via Canvas by Monday, June 6th at 11.59pm (first week
of the exam period).

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