I can't believe that the ten weeks are almost over! I'm very happy with the progress I've made on my project, though there still is much more work that could be done. Attached is my poster summarizing the work I've done this summer...
My project this summer was about the triboelectric effect in return line and tank mounted filters. The triboelectric effect is the phenomenon responsible for most everyday static electricity, and occurs in filtration systems between the filter media and the oil because of the large amount of contact between the two. Previous research at MSOE has discovered that replacing filter component materials with electrostatic dissipative (ESD) materials can greatly decrease the electrostatic charge generation in tank mounted filters, but is less effective in return line filters. My goal this summer was to determine why the ESD material worked so well in tank mounted filters, and not as well in return line filters.
One of my first theories was about the velocity of the oil through the filter media - each filter element has a different shape and size, so the velocity profiles through them would also be different. Although the data from running these tests revealed some interesting facts about charge relaxation, it didn't suggest that the different amounts of generated charge were from different velocity profiles.
My next idea focused on the electrical circuits created by the ESD materials. ESD materials have a higher resistivity than conductors, but still do allow the movement of electrons and will create an electric bond between their boundaries. The use of ESD materials in the tank mounted filter created a bond between the bulk oil in the tank and the filter media, while this connection did not exist in the return line filter. To test this theory, I inserted conductors as necessary into the return line filter system to create this bond. So far, my data suggests that this was the cause of the increased charge generation in the return line filter system!
As I mentioned before, there still is a lot of possible future work to do on this project. Firstly, the way I setup the return line filter with the added conductors changed several other variables - such as the pressure at the filter and oil flow rate. Although I have reasons to believe these wouldn't significantly influence the charge generation, it would be best to create a setup that was identical in every other way to the previous setup. Secondly, the data acquired from the first set of tests (that varied the velocity of the oil through the filter) has several interesting trends; what I'm working on now is trying to fit an equation to all of the data.
As for advice for a future REU student, I would suggest trying to stay ahead of schedule as much as possible; ten weeks sounds like a long time at the start but it goes by quickly! I think one of the biggest things I will take away from this summer is an appreciation for how big the fluid power industry is. For my REU program, I was lucky enough to be able to work in MSOE's Fluid Power Institute (FPI). Not only did I get to see the other projects at the FPI, I also got to go to several events hosted by the FPI, such as a tour of a Caterpillar hydraulics factory, and talk to many different professionals in working in fluid power. Before applying to CCEFP's REU program, I hadn't really heard about fluid power, but now I realize how exciting and diverse of a field it is!
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