Thursday, September 30, 2010

Testing Procedures

The final solution should function to its fullest ability. The layout of the dock must allow the fueling station to be used as efficiently as possible. There should be a sufficient amount of pumps so that they are all used nearly the same amount without a significant amount of boat traffic. Boats normally have gas tanks in the back of the boats, so traffic can be eliminated if there are slips for boats to pull into and if there is a single traffic direction that boats can take. The system that is to be tested is the layout of the fueling dock. What will be specifically tested is its protection from external elements such as vessel impacts and water levels, the fluidity of the expected vessel traffic, and the maneuvering ability the gas attendants would have from pump to pump. The installation of the fueling system will undergo its own series of testing procedures, which will be administrated by the company which installs it. The design and layout of the dock will be administrated and tested by the designer (myself) throughout the design process. Also, the users of the dock which include the customers and the fuel dock staff, will be testing the design. The location of the testing will mainly focus at the end of the dock that is jutting out into the water. There is where most of the details in which need to be tested reside (i.e. the pump placement and protection). These tests will mainly occur in the preliminary and secondary stages of the design. The testing types that I will use are exploratory, assessment, validation, and comparison tests. 

Exploratory testing will be used in the preliminary stages of development. This type of testing will develop the motivation for the overall design. They will basically test the users' interest and feelings towards the concept of the design. They will test how well the users' requirements are met. It will test all of this through surveys and common sense. For example, would a boater want to wait or have to maneuver through traffic? The answer derived from common sense would be "no," so that is as far as that test would go. This testing step, although very simple, is vital to the motivation for the design.

Assessment testing will aim to measure the usability of the chosen alternative solution. This testing will be done in the secondary stage of design once the solution is chosen. Specifically, it will test the effectiveness of the design involving the way that boats maneuver, how protected the fuel pumps are, and how easily the attendant may move from pump to pump. This can be assessed by measuring distances properly. Boats of all shapes and sizes should be able to have enough space to easily maneuver in and out of the fuel dock and its slips. Giving the biggest boat enough space to maneuver forward, backward, left and right among the fuel dock, (and then some), will ensure that there will be no problems for any size of boat. To test the distance the fuel pumps should be from the dock, ideally, a simulation of a boat crashing into the dock would be used. There is not a standard distance that the pump is required to be away from the edge of the dock, but that does not mean that one cannot be found with a simulation. If a simulation is not available, a well estimated distance for the pumps can be found through comparison. This distance would also have to correlate with the level of access the dock gas attendant would have to the pumps. The dock attendant must have proper access to the pumps without the risk of falling in the water and losing too much time as he walks from pump to pump. As long as there is enough space for a person to have access to the pumps without risk of falling in the water, the test would be successful.

Validation tests will be conducted in the latest development process and they will test the overall design goals. Once designed and constructed, the usability, performance, and maintainability of the placement of the fuel pumps and the boat movement will be tested by observation. If boat crashes occur often in the fuel dock environment or the wait time for boats is often very long, then the design fails the validation test. This also applies to the maneuverability of the dock attendant from pump to pump and the distance the pump is from the edge of the dock. If the pumps are often damaged by boat crashes and the attendants often fall in the water or more generally have a hard time maneuvering from pump to pump, then adjustments to the pump placement have to be made.

Comparison tests will be used in a couple different stages of the design process. They will be used to compare concepts and products between the design and other established examples. I will be using comparison tests to find a manageable distance between fuel pumps and placement of the pumps from the edge of the dock. I will do this by comparing my design to other actual marinas. Comparing different marinas to figure out the best way that boat traffic is to maneuver would also be ideal.

Numbered Procedures
1.      Validate the need of minimal boat traffic for boaters
2.      Compare the distances the fuel pumps are from the edge of the docks of other marinas
3.      Acquire measurements of boats that would be using the fueling stations
4.      Observe boat traffic
5.      Observe boat crashes into dock
6.      Observe abilities of fuel dock staff to manage pumps

Survey
Will be given out to the boaters to explore their needs and thoughts on maneuvering in, out, and around of fuel docks:
-         Would it benefit you to have minimal boat traffic?
-         What is the length and width of your boat?
-         How long has your waiting time for fueling been at other marinas?
-         What time of day would you mostly use the marina?
-         Would you rather have a fueling slip for your boat or come right up to the edge of the dock from the front?
-         Do you have enough space to maneuver in and out of the fueling stations?

Observation Sheet
List of things that will be observed by overseer once the marina is operating.
-         Are there enough gas attendants hired?
-         Are there complaints about not having enough space to maneuver boats?
-         Can the gas attendants easily access the pumps?
-         Are there many boat crashed into the docks?
-         Are the hoses long enough?

Specifications/Limitations

Specifications
  • Product must safely and efficiently provide fuel
  • Design must prevent fuel spills
  • Design must not interfere with the surrounding ecosystem
  • Design must connect with the civil fueling system
  • Must be accessible to a trained maintenance staff
  • Piping must be able to resist all types of weather extremities
  • Fueling hoses must be long enough to access all types of vessels
  • Design must adhere to the laws and regulations provided by head engineerDesign must not be prone to any types of large scale contact resulting in damage
  • Design and construction cannot damage the park’s environment and ecosystem
  • Must be designed for saltwater
  • Amount of pumps must correlate with the number and size of fuel tanks

Limitations
  • Pumps are only for diesel and petroleum

  •  Cannot have more than 6 pumps

  • Amount of power available is limited by accessibility to central building

  • Limited to materials that are non-corrosive in salt water

  • Dock design is limited to 125 feet in width, 300 feet in length

  • Must be powered to not exceed the amount availible which is unknown at this point

  • Amount of pumps limited by the 10,000 gallon diseal tank and the 8,000 gallon fuel tank

    • Friday, September 24, 2010

      Marina Piping Brainstorming

      I have recently found a distributor of marina piping called Northwest Pump & Equipment Co., and my goal is to use their "XP Marina/Aboveground Product Piping" in my design along with a few of their other products. The description is as follows:
      APT Metallic Ducted (MD) pipe is the ideal choice for aboveground and marina fuel delivery systems. The MD series piping system contains our product piping inside a flexible metallic conduit. This superior construction adds fire protection, impact resistance and UV stability to what is already the highest quality piping system. The MD series pipe is shipped with single wall or secondary contained pipe already installed into the metallic jacket, reducing installation time in the field. For marinas, the flexibility of this product easily handles variation in water levels and can be installed alongside or under docks.
      I would use this type of piping for under the docks due to te fact that it has some flexibility and it is made to easily handle aquatic environments.

      Another website I found with some alternative solutions for a floating dock is provided by Franklin Fueling Systems. It exists at a PDF file, so information cannot be directly quoted. It provides flexible piping which will be needed in my different designs for connecting the pipes to different locations where flexibility is needed, such as connecting to sumps which provide fuel to the dispensers.

      Wednesday, September 15, 2010

      The Marina Team: The Same Group Effort


      Design Brief: The team effort is to design an environmentally friendly marina, which will provide the public with recreational water access, by enabling each member of the project to complete tasks pertaining to their delegated specialty to create a cohesive solution for a functional “green marina” on Sandy Hook.

      Specifications:
      • Location: Sandy Hook Chapel area
      • Environment: sandy soil and uneven elevations (you guys might want to fix the wording, idk how)
      • Addresses needs of both employees and patrons of the marina
      • Easily accessible to any party

      Limitations:
      • Size: limited to 848 ft of beachfront property, extending backwards 331 ft
      • Power: environmentally resourceful and efficient
      • All structures and materials must adhere to “green marina” guidelines
      • 2 trees must be planted for every tree removed
      • No more than 40% of property may consist of impermeable structures

      Background Information

      Background Information 

      The Chapel Area
      Sandy Hook National Park
                  An opportunity to design and propose a Green Marina on Sandy Hook National Park is given to a team of students. Every aspect of the Green Marina will be environmentally friendly. I am working with the fueling stations which will be located on the end of one of the docks on the Chapel area site. The fueling stations would be a great way to provide convenience to the park and would provide opportunities for business and exposure to the park as well as what else the marina has to offer. The specific situation requires fueling stations and their piping to be designed without harming the environment in which it resides. What will be designed is the layout of the fueling stations and the installation process will be familiarized with, for a company can be hired to install the system.



       
      Building a marina with fueling docks will benefit the entire park. The environmentally friendly aspect of it will help the marina gain appeal while helping reduce the ecological footprint it will leave. The people that will be involved in the process of using and installing the marina's fueling stations are customers with vessels that need to be fueled, the staff that mans the docks, the workers who install the piping and fueling stations, the workers who maintain the stations up to a specific standard, and the inspectors of the marina. The fueling stations of the marina will enhance the convenience of Sandy Hook National Park to many people and may provide an income to the park. 







                  Designing a green marina with fueling docks for Sandy Hook National park is a great way to enhance the visitor's experience at the park and create a business. The fueling stations are needed at the marina in order to provide convenience and an opportunity for business. Customers will be able to fuel their vessels and thereby provide an income for the marina. They would have to adhere to the safety guidelines of the fueling stations in order to do so, however. 

                  The intended mood of the design is obviously ecologically friendly. The fueling stations must exist without harming the ecology around it, as if it doesn't exist in the environment at all. Also, the design must be clean and use as little chemicals as possible. The fueling stations must be sleek and the piping must be of quality. 
      Also, the sounder the fueling stations look, the more of an attraction and a success they will be. 









       

      Although this is an environmentally friendly marina, other marinas generally provide the same use. Fueling stations in marinas all over the world all have the same purpose: to provide fuel to vessels. This marina's fueling stations are to be designed a cut above the normal because the goal is to design them as environmentally friendly as possible. Like other products, the design will meet laws and regulations as well as taking extra measures to provide the same product that is existing in its environment without any harm to its ecology.