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Thread: UVM Spout and fittings

  1. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by Maples Maple View Post
    Dr. Perkins,

    You stated:
    2. Arc-Flow Fittings. These fittings have a curved design which is designed to reduce friction and turbulence in fitting junctions. The Arc-Flow design can be incorporated into spouts, tees, saddles, end-tees, etc. In modeling calculations, it provides a 5-10% improvement in sap yield. Note that unlike a normal tee, the post faces downward instead of outward (away from the tree). This is so it can be easily flipped over for tapping below the lateral line. Only one end-line fitting needs to be made with this design as it can be used on either the right or the left side of the tree. The other thing that’ll be done on all these fittings is to bevel the connection edges at a 45° to reduce turbulence and friction between the liquid and fitting when entering and exiting the fitting. I've posted several videos we've made during testing at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...kN7muW8AXvxphj to help show turbulence inside the various types of fittings, and why the Arc-Flow fittings are superior to standard fittings.

    You use the word turbulence multiple times (I bolded). With my journal reviewer hat on, are you sure that turbulence is the correct word. I am not sure what the Reynolds number is for sap coming out of tree but I would be surprised if it was fully developed turbulent flow. Laminar vs turbulent is important for drag, any build up on the walls, etc. If you have published work on this, please point to the paper. I could be total off base also so please correct me if I am wrong.

    Thank you
    I am a former software engineer by institutionalized profession. Otherwise, I am a self-proclaimed idiot that loves to sit around doing among other sings pondering the efficiency of fluid dynamics inside tubing. I am not very good at it, but at least through the help of the people on maple trader I have learned how to make a abundant supply of great tasting maple syrup in recent years, a far cry from the char broiled stuff my brother and I made in the early 70's.

    Worked for IBM for a short stint doing nothing and making nothing, $ included, then designed and coded software, with a small group of people, used by grocery chains around the world to keep track of the UPC's purchased by a name and address, at any given store on any given day. Back in the days when accessible memory provided by the machine was extraordinarily limited so it took at least a medium sized brain to work the system such that you could quickly access these massive volumes of data.

    These days my computer time is limited to things like Maple Trader and other wonderful forums.

    There is no part of the word Turbulence that does not make sense to me here. And it would blow my brain to bits, if math and physics were to prove that there is not a way to improve on the current rigging that is used to address it.

    Perhaps Vortexes might be a better word, but its six of one and six of the same to me, a layman in this field.

    Now that is just coming from me, a self-proclaimed idiot.
    If you think it's easy to make good money in maple syrup .... then your obviously good at stealing somebody's Maple Syrup.

    Favorite Tree: Sugar Maple
    Most Hated Animal: Sap Sucker
    Most Loved Animal: Devon Rex Cat
    Favorite Kingpin: Bruce Bascom
    40 Sugar Maple Taps ... 23 in CT and 17 in NY .... 29 on gravity tubing and 11 on 5G buckets ... 2019 Totals 508 gallons of sap, 7 boils, 11.4 gallons of syrup.
    1 Girlfriend that gives away all my syrup to her friends.

  2. #32
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    A couple of new videos on installing the Barb-Spout and Arc-Fittings

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL16D9bAbIk

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQIACHdXb_A
    Dr. Tim Perkins
    UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
    http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
    https://mapleresearch.org
    Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu

  3. #33
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    Thanks for posting. I was wondering about making the connections. Y-fittings were always a pain in the butt for me so was curious about these. I am sure with some practice, it wouldn't be that bad in the field.
    305 taps on 2 Shurflo's, 31 taps on 3/16" and 229 taps on gravity. 565 in all
    Mountain Maple S3 controller for 145 of the vacuum taps
    2x6 Darveau Mystique Oil Fired Evaporator w/ Smoky Lake Simplicity Auto Draw
    Wesfab 7” filter press

  4. #34
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    What a luxury it is to have PMRC and crew to actually test all the things our brains think up during hours of tapping. I've thought a million times about how to access the sap in the outer rings and Dr. Tim and team have done it...Genius.

  5. #35
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    Any early results/observations from the 2023 season available yet? Curious minds want to know

  6. #36
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    Sorry, we typically don't talk about studies that are in progress. Our season as well as the seasons of most of the cooperators testing the spouts/fittings this spring are still underway.
    Dr. Tim Perkins
    UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
    http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
    https://mapleresearch.org
    Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu

  7. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by DrTimPerkins View Post
    Sorry, we typically don't talk about studies that are in progress. Our season as well as the seasons of most of the cooperators testing the spouts/fittings this spring are still underway.
    Yeah, I suppose. I had an idea hit me for a new style of T, and it reminded me of this thread

  8. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by littleTapper View Post
    Any early results/observations from the 2023 season available yet? Curious minds want to know
    Coming soon...
    Dr. Tim Perkins
    UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
    http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
    https://mapleresearch.org
    Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu

  9. #39
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    Unfortunately I can't seem to upload any graphics, so here are the preliminary results from the Barb-spout trials:

    Study 1. 27” Hg vacuum, all on the same pump. 40 trees per treatment (total of 80 taps). Avg 12.1” dbh for each treatment. All tapped same day. 2” deep tapholes, 5/16” spouts. New drops. Roughly all tapped on south-quadrant. All spouts are polycarbonate and made by the same injection-molding company. The only differences are the length of the barrel (Barb-spout shorter) and the barbs on the Barb-spout. Sap collected in individual chambers and measured at the end of the season.

    Treatments
    - Standard spout with Arc-connector 36.7 gal sap/tap
    - Barb spout with Arc-Connector 41.2 gpt (4.5 gal more, 12.2% increase).

    Study 2. 22-24” Hg vacuum, same pump. 6 mainlines / 3 per treatment. Total of 344 taps / 320 taps (avg 111 per mainline). All tapped within a few days by same person. 2” deep tapholes, 5/16” spouts. New drops. All spouts are polycarbonate and made by the same injection-molding company. The only differences in the spouts are the length of the barrel (Barb-spout shorter) and the barbs on the Barb-spout. Sap from each mainline flows through individual releasers equipped with counters and recorded for each sap run.

    Treatments
    - 90 deg polycarbonate spouts/standard tees 24.0 gpt
    - Barb spouts with Arc-Tees 26.5 gpt (2.5 gal/tap more, 10.3% increase)
    (note: a sensor on one of the three mainlines with the Barb-spout leaked, lowering the vacuum on that mainline, but the data from that line were left in)

    The sap from the Barb-spout was marginally sweeter, so the overall increase in syrup yield (both studies) is 13%.

    Those results are in the same ballpark as those we found during the development phase.

    We are waiting on results from other cooperators.
    Last edited by DrTimPerkins; 04-13-2023 at 01:33 PM.
    Dr. Tim Perkins
    UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
    http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
    https://mapleresearch.org
    Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu

  10. #40
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    Fantastic!!!

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