For those wondering where I’ve been these last few months, I’ll summarize in two words: “new father”.
In lieu of a post on content management, open source, or anything else software-related. I figured I’d share some insight to a “hardware hack” I was playing around with not too long ago.
Late last year I had just returned from a trip to Las Vegas where I noted that the indoor flower exhibit in the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens makes extensive use of a special type of fountain that leverages a principle called “laminar flow”. This principle is very similar to how lasers work. Basically, the goal is to design a nozzle that is capable of removing the turbulence in the water that exits it so that the water takes on a “glass-like” appearance. This is wondrous to watch and it takes me back to my first visit to Disney’s Epcot Center where the same types of nozzles used to make their “leap-frog fountains”.
Now, I wasn’t terribly scientific about the design, and I do plan on building another one and be a little more careful about taking specific measurements.
First, I followed the basic ideas presented in this discussion.
In addition to that I looked at the original patent for the Disney/Bellagio design to get a better picture of what the design should be like. To see the patent, go to http://www.uspto.gov and search for patent number 4,795,092.
Everything came from the local Home Depot. I used 4″ diameter pipes along with couplings to put the segments together… In hindsight, 6″ diameter pipes would have possibly worked better. The mesh was pretty standard fiberglass screening for windows and doors. The open cell foam came from a pond pump filter and the pump itself was a 600 GPH pump. I used 1,999 straws which I bought at the supermarket.
Since I was rather unscientific about things, I basically just started putting things together in layers from the bottom to the top. Remember the goal is to remove as much turbulence from the water as possible. To that end, the water was pumped at an 90 degree angle to the nozzle pipe. That was probably the biggest mistake I made. I had drilled a hole along the side of the pipe and fit a 3/4″ PVC pipe that would hook into the pump, but the seal wasn’t watertight. I therefore recommend that the water come in straight through the back instead.
So, the water enters the bottom and collects into a chamber of about 3″ in height. It then hits a 3″ segment of open-cell foam which helps remove turbulence from the water. The foam was cut slightly wider than the diameter of the nozzle pipe and was held in place with the screen.
After passing through the foam, the water enters another empty chamber before entering the approximately 6″ long straw chamber which were also held together with the screening (I had cut the straws down to size and packed them as tightly as possible. After exiting the straw chamber the water collects in the last chamber which has two screens separated from the straws by about 1″, they are also separated by about 1″ from each other and are finally separated from the end of the nozzle by about another 1″.
The end-cap that forms the nozzle was drilled with a drill-bit that could generate a “V” cut or knife-edge. Basically, the opening is wider on the outside than on the inside of the cap so the water exits without touching the edges of the hole. I had to look around for a special inset drill bit for this. I had tried two different hole diameters (1/4″ and 1/2″. Depending on the flow capacity of the water pump, I’d suggest you stick with no more than 1/4″.
The completed nozzle was glued together using standard PVC glue and stood at about 2 feet in height. I think I can re-design it to be about 1 1/2′ if I use a wider tube. Basically I would set it up so that it’s only as tall as the stacked couplings which hold together the different units.
That’s basically it. You can take a look at my Laminar Flow Nozzle Flickr Set to see more pictures.
