UNIVERSITY OF STELLENBOSCH

MECHATRONICS 424 Declaration

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Name: .................................................. Student no: .................................................. Signature: .................................................. Date:..................................................

EXPERIMENT TO DETERMINE THE BEST TECHNIQUE FOR MAKING HOLES IN PVC TUBING

Mr A.S.F. Koortzen

15061132

Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 1 Objective and Motivation of Experiment ............................................................................................. 1 Description of Experiment .................................................................................................................... 1 Details of Experimental Design ............................................................................................................. 2 Detailed Experimental Procedure ......................................................................................................... 2 Hardware Configuration ....................................................................................................................... 4 Proposed Data Analysis......................................................................................................................... 5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 5 References ............................................................................................................................................ 6

List of Figures
Figure 1: Orifice disk geometry ..................................................................................................................... 2 Figure 2: Diagram of orifice specifications.................................................................................................... 2 Figure 3: Diagram of needle .......................................................................................................................... 3 Figure 4: Orifice nozzle experimental apparatus .......................................................................................... 4 Figure 5: Expected data distribution of orifice diameters ............................................................................ 5 Figure 6: Expected relationship between lateral velocity component and pipe velocity for various orifice diameters ...................................................................................................................................................... 5

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1. Introduction
The aim of this experiment is to investigate different techniques for making orifices in a regular PVC pipe. The validity of each technique will be based on the precisions and repeatability of the specific technique. This report will document the experiment that needs to be executed in order to determine the required data. The details of the experimental design will be discussed and the proposed experiment will be explained by figures and graphs. The method of how to conduct the experiment will also be discussed.

2. Objective and Motivation of Experiment

The objectives of this experiment are to: 1. Find the best way for making several hundred holes repeatedly in a PVC pipe 2. Measure the accuracy and analyze the repeatability of the holes made by each proposed technique The motivation of this experiment originates from a project undertaken to improve the efficiency of cooling towers. The PVC tube forms part of a large grid of piping designed to distribute rejected process heat water from a power plant evenly within the cooling tower, increasing cooling towers capacity and overall power plant efficiency (Viljoen, 2006). The problem with making holes in a PVC pipe involves several factors. Simply drilling holes with a drill bit causes buckling of the pipe due to temperature effects and this leads to high variation in hole diameter, leading to uneven water distribution from a certain section of pipe. Using a drill also takes a considerable amount of time. Another variable factor is the thickness of the PVC tubing that makes drilling from a certain reference point insufficient leading to varying hole diameter based on pipe thickness.

3. Description of Experiment
The experiment involves mainly two phases: firstly investigating several techniques for making holes in a PVC tube, and secondly, measuring the accurateness of the holes created by each technique. The process for determining valid hole making techniques will not be carried out on an actual PVC pipe section. Instead, disks of the appropriate thickness is to be cut from a solid section of plastic. These disks will then be used as imitation PVC pipes on which different ways to make holes can be tested. The second part of the experiment will consist of the observation of the holes created by each technique under a microscope (or similar device suitable for measuring the orifices diameters). Further careful investigation of the hole edge surface, roundness and smoothness will provide sufficient proof of the validity of each technique. A possible third part of the experiment can commence with the insertion of the disk into a special device that will enable its use to allow water flow through the specific orifice. In this step the water jet streaming from each disk can be physically examined and investigated. 1

4. Details of Experimental Design

The experiment is designed in such a way that it can be repeatedly executed in a relative short time period. For ease of clarification a technique is suggested that can be investigated by using the experimental procedure as outlined in this report. Figure 1 shows a diagram of a typical disk that will be used to to test the specified technique on. This disk can be easily clamped onto a workbench to provide an easy accessible, rigid working environment. All required safety equipment should be worn and additional safety regulations should be adhered to as stated in the Departments Safety Rules for work conducted in workshops.

Figure 1: Orifice disk geometry

The proposed technique involves the insertion of a hot needle with the appropriate dimensions into the plastic disk, resulting in the required orifice as specified by the nozzle design. The needle has to be tapered in order to provide the required pressure drop. The needle can be heated in several ways. An oil bed is available that can be heated to a required temperature. The oil also provides additional lubrication for easy insertion into the plastic disk. The needle can also be heated using an open flame, and then using infrared sensors to determine the temperature before insertion into the disk. Figure 2 shows a diagram of a typical required orifice dimension. The needle would have to be manufactured prior to the experiment in order to provide the specified orifice dimensions.

Figure 2: Diagram of orifice specifications

The remainder of the experiment involves the observation of the manufactured holes under a microscope to provide a data distribution curve of possible deviations from the ideal orifice (which is to be a tapered (600 with respect to the horizontal) hole of diameter .

5. Detailed Experimental Procedure

The experiment is carried out in the following steps, closely adhering to the mentioned specifications and safety regulations. As mentioned before, the hot needle technique is followed to provide a reference, but the experiment is designed to allow for numerous techniques to be carried out.

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5.

Cut the plastic cylinder into disks thicknesses of appropriate size (the PVC piping to be used for the nozzle is thick; care should be taken to have the disks cut of equal thickness, as this will only ease later steps during making the holes. Heat the oil bed to the required temperature (a temperature of is provided as an initial temperature); depending on the ambient room temperature, this can be adjusted to allow for easier needle insertion into the disk; the temperature shouldnt be too high, as this might affect the material surrounding the hole. Clamp the cut disk onto a workbench and ensure that it is fastened properly; if care is not taken the disk might slip during needle insertion resulting in a skewed orifice; also take note not to clamp fingers into the clamping mechanism! Insert the needle into the bed of oil using tongs or an appropriately created clamping tool and leave for approximately to allow for sufficient heat transfer between the oil and the needle; take absolute all necessary precaution; the oil is very hot, and spillage onto skin can cause severe degree burns. Now insert the needle into the disk using the tongs; this is a very delicate step, as the needle can easily be inserted too far, resulting in a orifice diameter that is too large; the needle should also be held perfectly perpendicular to the disk specimen, otherwise a skewed hole will be created; although it does not form part of the experiment, the needle should have some mark up to which point it can be inserted and still provide the required hole diameter (refer to Figure 3 for a layout of a typical needle).

Figure 3: Diagram of needle

6. If step 5 is difficult to accomplish due to the needle temperature being too low, the oil bed temperature should be increased; allow sufficient time for the oil to heat up before the experiment is continued. 7. Now allow ample time of the plastic around the newly created orifice to cool down; typically a whole set of disks will be tested for different techniques, and the time between step 7 and step 8 (data acquisition phase) will be a day or two. 8. The next phase of the experiment involves the measurement of the orifice diameters and a possible third phase during which each disk can be inserted into an orifice nozzle apparatus (described in more detail in Section 6: Hardware Configuration); using a microscope (or similar highly accurate measuring device) the diameter of each orifice will be measured; the microscope will provide graphics of the orifice roundness and accuracy as well as the diameter; 3

care should be taken so as not to re-adjust settings of the microscope during each measurement; the microscope should also be tested and calibrated to ensure that it measures accurately. 9. The data retrieved from step 8 can now be analyzed and represented in comparative graphs to the ideal orifice specification. Possible differences in orifice diameter might be a result of the some of the following reasons, and care should be taken so as to avoid them: the needle was not held perpendicular to the disk specimen upon insertion the disk thickness varied, resulting in the tapered part being pushed into the disk too deep the magnification or specimen table of the microscope was tampered with during measurements

6. Hardware Configuration
The primary hardware that will be used during the experimental phase consists of the oil bed in which to heat the needle. For the measuring of the orifice diameter, an Olympus GX51 microscope will be used. The software that will be used on a computer to analyze and process the measured data from the microscope is AnalySIS FIVE. If the orifice disk is to be tested for water jet trajectory and drop size, the following procedure was outlined by a post graduate student (Roux, 2012). Figure 4 shows an image of the hardware that will be used to determine various water jet characteristics such as drop size
orifice nozzle chamber piezometer orifice disk control valve

Figure 4: Orifice nozzle experimental apparatus

diameter, water stream trajectory and effect of inclination angle from each orifice. Water will flow under gravity from a tank to the orifice nozzle chamber from where it is sprayed and collected in a bucket. The apparatus consists of a PVC pipe section into which various orifice disks can be fitted. The wall thickness and orifice diameter can be varied through inserting the different discs created by various techniques. The pressure in the pipe is varied by means of a control valve and the chamber can be rotated to adjust the inclination angle. A piezometer will be used to measure the static liquid pressure in the system. The spray will be illuminated with two 1000W tungsten halogen lamps and the drops and jets then photographed by a Nikon D70S digital SLR camera from which characteristics such as drop size diameter can be determined.

7. Proposed Data Analysis

It is expected that a random scatter of the measured data (the diameters of the different orifices created by each technique) will occur. As a result, a normal distribution will be used to present the varying diameters of the measured orifices. A normal distribution applies to most physical properties that are continuous or regular in time or space with variations due to random error (Figliola & Beasley, 2011). The density function governing the normal distribution is given by Equation 1, and an example of the expected distribution is given in Figure 5, where the ideal orifice diameter is denoted by . The function shows the distribution of the varying orifice diameters.

Figure 5: Expected data distribution of orifice diameters

For the third phase of the experiment, various authors (Reuter 2010, Viljoen 2006 and Xiaoni et al. 2006) used mathematical models to predict drop motion for either design or performance evaluation purposes. For example, the velocity of a drop ( ) can be determined by Equation 2. Figure 6 shows

Figure 6: Expected relationship between lateral velocity component and pipe velocity for various orifice diameters

an expected comparative graph of the relationship between lateral velocity and pipe velocity for different orifice diameters compared to an empirical curve.

8. Conclusion
The report presented a documented guide to an experimental procedure for determining the most suitable means of creating orifices in a PVC pipe. The report provided guidelines for recreating the experiment for testing and data acquisition phases.

9. References
Roux, D. 2012 Development of a Spray System that Provides a Uniform Water Distribution with Minimal Pump Head. MScEng. Thesis, University of Stellenbosch. Figliola, R. and Beasley, D. 2011).Theory and Design for Mechanical Measurements. 5th ed. Clemson: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., p.122-123. Reuter, H.C.R. 2010. Performance Evaluation of Natural Draft Cooling Towers with Anisotropic Fills. PhDEng. Thesis, University of Stellenbosch. Viljoen, D.J. 2006. Evaluation and Performance Prediction of Cooling Tower Spray Zones. MScEng. Thesis, University of Stellenbosch. Xiaoni, Q., Zhenyan, L. and Dandan, L. 2006. Performance Characteristics of a Shower Cooling Tower. Energy Conservation and Management, Vol. 48. pp. 193 203.