Design and Simulate Leaf Guard to Improve Drainage Capability

Written by Saran Davaajargal

Water conservation is an integral component of the sustainability of ground water-based municipalities. Ontario government's climate change plan recognizes water conservation technologies as one of the key approaches for the province to reach its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. To improve the efficiency of rainwater conservation and drainage capability, the Humber College research team received the NSERC Engage grant ($25k) for the project Design and Simulate Leaf Guard to Improve Drainage Capability. The research project is led by Principal Investigator Hamid Dehkordi, professor in the Faculty of Applied Sciences & Technology (FAST) at Humber.

The Humber research team is collaborating with industry partner NEEB Engineering for the project. NEEB Engineering has developed a rainwater harvesting system to address water conservation challenges and satisfy the growing trend for sustainable technologies in the building construction sector. Before the system can be sold commercially, NEEB Engineering requires the development of an accessory eavestrough leaf guard product. The leaf guard is an important component ensuring optimum water quality when distributed in buildings. The research team will help NEEB Engineering overcome its current challenges with leaf guards as the project results are a necessary component to bring the technology to market in 2022.

View of a lake in Algonquin Park.

Industry Partner

NEEB Engineering is a Guelph, Ontario-based consulting firm in the building construction industry

providing sustainable engineering design services and development of innovative technology solutions in water conservation and management. NEEB Engineering specializes in rainwater harvesting system design, construction and maintenance and focuses on developing clean technologies to address domestic and global water conservation, security and supply challenges.

Challenge

NEEB Engineering has developed a rainwater harvesting system (RWH) to address the growing challenge of water scarcity and to contribute to the growing trend for sustainable technologies in the building construction sector. Before the RWH can be sold commercially, NEEB Engineering needs to complete the development of an accessory eavestrough leaf guard product intended to provide pre-storage filtration of rainwater prior to entering a rainwater harvesting storage tank. The leaf guard is an important component of the RWH technology in ensuring optimum water quality when distributed in buildings for toilet, laundry and manufacturing processes.

The main challenges in this project are to design a new leaf guard profile to optimize water capture and the drainage capability for NEEB Engineering’s RWH. The project will help NEEB Engineering determine how to optimize the water capture and drainage capability of the leaf guard by means of computer modelling. The task overview of the project is as follows:

  1. Design a new leaf guard profile as per provided input parameter
  2. Optimize the number of input parameters and reduce simulation runs using the Design of Experiment method
  3. Perform numerical modelling to identify the best performing stainless steel mesh, mesh support rib height, spacing, slot dimensions and slot tab configurations
  4. Field test 3D Print new designed leaf guard using a non-metal 3D printer

Project lead

Hamid Dehkordi, PhD, P.Eng., Principal Investigator, is a professor in the Faculty of Applied Sciences & Technology at Humber College. Hamid completed his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Québec at Chicoutimi, where he conducted research for four years. Hamid has over seven years of experience teaching at the post-secondary level. Hamid will apply his expertise in fluid mechanics and computational fluid dynamics for this project.

Student involvement

Maksym Khomych, student in the Mechanical Engineering Technology program at Humber, is the current research assistant on the project. In addition to developing skills in design and analysis using CAD and CAE software, the research assistant will also explore new fluid mechanics concepts and learn how to design and optimize the mechanical parts in real-world green industry challenges. Additionally, the research assistant will develop skills in writing technical reports and elaborating results while collaborating with NEEB Engineering technical staff.

Potential for impact

This research project helps to enhance leaf guard products that can improve rainwater harvesting technology, increase water capturing and improve water drainage. Additionally, the resulting water conservation improvements develop green technology and reuse water as one of Canada’s vital natural resources.

Rain water being collected in rain barrel.

Learn more about ways to get involved in research projects taking place at Humber.

NSERC signature

We acknowledge the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Nous remercions le Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada (CRSNG) de son soutien.

 

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