This section will describe how to build the “Intake” component of the Eco-Libre Life-Line system.
CAD Design of the Eco-Libre Life-Line’s “Intake” component
Note
Want to view the 3D Model of the Intake Compoenent above?
You can download the intake.FCStd file from out GitHub repo and open it on your computer in FreeCAD
The “Intake” component is responsible for raw water capture from a stream. The design of >=20cm falling, turbulent water is self-cleaning: the turbulent water falls onto the screen with sufficient force to clear debris off of the screen. This ensures constant raw water collection into the Life-Line system, without requiring periodic manual human intervention (or automatic moving parts) needed to remove debris blocking the ingest of water into the system.
The “Intake” component is made-up of several parts:
The Weir is a masonry structure (CEB, Concrete Block, or Steel-reinforced Concrete) that’s built in the middle of a stream. It has a Weir Opening at the top, which channels falling water to flow ontop of a metal screen and into a water collection drum.
Concrete Block, Rock, and Cement Weir for the Eco-Libre Life-Line at Fruit Haven in Morona-Santiago, Ecuador (attribution: Boris Plotkin)
The distance between the bottom of the Weir Opening and the top of the Fine Mesh Screen atop the water collection drum must be at least 20 cm. If the water falls less than 20 cm, it will not have enough force to self-clean the screen of organic debris.
The Turbulence Bar is a piece of steel angle that’s bolted to the weir, bisecting the Weir Opening.
The Life-Line “Intake” component’s Turbulence Bar
The Turbulence Bar changes the flow of the water as it passes through the Weir Opening, creating turbulence. This turbulant water is more effective at self-cleaning the screen below of organic debris than non-turbulant falling water.
The Fine Mesh Screen is a very fine metal screen that’s designed to filter-out large organic materials (eg leaves, sticks, stones, grass, etc) from entering the drum.
The Life-Line “Intake” component’s Fine Mesh Screen
The Fine Mesh Screen should be made of Stainless Steel, and the holes in the screen should be approximately 0.85 mm large (20 US Mesh)
The Outflow Pipe is where water flows out of the Intake drum and into the next component of the Eco-Libre Life-Line system (the Settling Tank Component)
The Cleanout Drain Pipe is located at the bottom of the drum, next to the Outflow Pipe.
The Life-Line “Intake” component’s Cleanout Drain Pipe
The Cleanout Drain Pipe consists of a Bushing, Pipe, and Valve.
The purpose of the Cleanout Drain Pipe is to flush small debris (eg sand) that have collected at the bottom of the drum. In normal operations, the valve should be closed. During routine maintenance (at least once per year), the Cleanout Drain Pipe should be opened, to flush-out any debris that have settled at the bottom of the drum.
If possible, a valve actuator (eg a simple electronic sprinkler system on a timer) could be placed after the valve to automatically flush the drum on a routine basis.
