GLASS SETTLING PLATE, TSCK



This was an adaptive exhibit. We have a version of this on our museum floor, but it did not have editable/parametric cad, and had some known issues.

In general, the exhibit is a 3 axis microscope translation device. The joystick allows the user to jog the camera view the x and y directions, and the z axis allows focusing the microscope with distance to the sample.

Additionally, there is a rotary axis, which allows the sample plate to be rotated 360 *, and thus examined from both the top and the bottom. Heated or cooled bay water flows across the sample plate to keep the bio alive.

Known issues:

  1. Rotary seal leaks with minimal pressure, wears acetal housing with use/rotation. They are plain o-rings sitting the custom acetal housing.

  2. Inevitable leaks/drips from the sample plate change process are not well caught.

Design considerations:

  1. Warm slow flowing salt water means a really corrosive environment. From our floor version, even 316 stainless steel would corrode quickly. This basically means all wetted surfaces need to be plastic or rubber.

We needed the ability to edit the CAD data for this exhibit production, so the entire exhibit was redrawn from scratch. Some amount of the table was delivered by the lead engineer on the project, but that cad was incomplete, had no 2d documentation, and had some outdated/incorrect features as booby traps awareness tests.

Solutions:

  1. The primary concern with this redesign was the leaking seals. The replacement was a carefully selected mechanical seal. It’s got a 316 stainless spring, which is then covered with a rubber boot to seal it from the pumped fluid. All the wear faces are easily replaceable as a cartridge, rather than needing to replace custom machined parts for wear. The fluid pressure also adds to the sealing pressure, rather than reducing it as with some designs.

In addition the 3d cad, a 167 page 2d drawing packet was produced. This was also the “light” version of a design packet, since most parts would be made in house (from 3d cad), and the project was highly time constrained.

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