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Hi.

Welcome to Alabama STEM explorers and I'm here at the Johnson Control Center with my new friend, Sheila.

Hi, Ryan.

Thank you for introducing me.

So, like Ryan said, my name is Sheila and I'm a quality engineer here at Johnson Controls where we make fire suppression fittings.

I am also a member of Society of Women Engineers where we aspire to advance women and roles in engineering.

So.

That being said, what we're going to do here today is we're going to learn about our manufacturing process for thesre suppression fittings.

So have you ever looked up in a ceiling and seen a little sprinkler head sticking out?

Yes.

So that would be like this here.

So this is a part of a fire suppression system.

And that's what we make pipe for.

Fire suppression systems work to by pumping water through them in order to put out fires.

About 92% of fires get hot enough to activate a fire suppression system.

And 96 of the fires are controlled by these fire suppression systems.

These are installed everywhere.

So you'll often see them in restaurants, in hotels, businesses, apartment complexes, multifamily units.

So here at Johnson Controls, we use material to make our pipe and fittings.

So is like PVC, which you might have heard of or seen in a hardware store, except it has an extra chlorine molecule.

And this extra chlorine molecule allows us to have a higher temperature resistance.

So that means in a fire, these aren't going to be as likely to melt.

And we also allows us to have a higher tensile strength.

So they're more able to go through wear and tear.

You can hit them around.

They're not going to break as easily as other materials.

That being said, the plastic is also cheaper than metal, meaning that it's more cost effective to put this in larger facilities.

So looking at these, how would you think something like this is made?

Probably I would say like in there's a mold and then you fill the mold with liquids or like liquid plastic and then after it hardens, it turns into something like that.

That is exactly correct.

So that is how we do molding at our facility.

So we have these huge mold machines that can make anything from a three quarter inch fitting all the way to a three inch fitting.

So that gives us a of variability for where we can install these.

So that being said, I'm a quality engineer here.

So why do you think we care about quality to keep people safe and to make sure that people have good environments and people are enjoying life.

And without all of these other issues like utility or electricity or piping or any of these problems, that way they can just go about their daily lives.

That's exactly correct.

We care about quality because like you said, this product saves lives.

This is a safety matter.

When we have this product, we need to make sure that it's able to function correctly so that when there is something that goes wrong, like a fire, it's ready to perform.

So as a engineer, it is our job to design tests for what we are making.

So we need to figure out what function does this need to perform to and how do we test for that function.

So we create tests that simulate everyday use of these equipment.

And here we have a few different kinds of tests.

The first being visual.

So visual tests are looking for what we might call cosmetic issues.

So that would be burns, texture, anything like that.

It can also vary often be felt on pieces as well.

Then we also have dimensional testing.

So we need these pieces to fit together, right?

So if we didn't have good dimensions, these could just slip often.

And it's up to what it needs to.

Right?

So then our last form of testing is performance testing.

So what we do is we simulate water running through these and building the pressures like they would be if there was an active fire.

We also do impact and crush testing to make sure that our pipe can withstand being handled in a building environment.

Does that make sense?

Yes.

Awesome.

Well, I think now would be a great time to go look at some of our processes and do some hands on stuff.

But before we can do that, we need to talk about personal protective equipment.

So personal protective equipment is what we do and what we use in order to keep ourselves safe out in a manufacturing environment here, what we use is we use earplugs.

Because there are some peak sounds out there and this makes it so they're dampened enough so that they're not going to damage our ears.

Now, we also use cut resistant gloves because there are some things that might have a sharp edge on them.

And we just want to keep our hands safe.

Our hands are more.

Most valuable tool here.

We also use safety glasses, which will go over my glasses and which will help create a barrier from flying debris for you.

And we also have safety toed shoes which have a composite or steel material inside so that you drop something heavy or stubbed your toe.

It's not going to hurt.

And lastly, we will be pulling back our hair so that we're not getting it in our face and that we have better visibility while out on the plant floor.

So you ready to go?

Yes.

Let's get our PPE on.

Welcome to our quality lab here.

So what we do back here in the quality lab is a variety of tests in order to ensure that our parts are safe and able to go and be sold and then used in the real world.

So what we have here is I just put our pieces of pipe in a water bath so that they could cool to the appropriate testing temperature.

We do this because if it comes fresh off the line, it's still hot.

It could still be kind of soft and gummy, and we could fail because of that.

So that being said, what we're going to do first is we're going to do an impact test.

So what do you think we would do for an impact tester?

You know, maybe kind of maybe going to like hit it around a lot and see if it survives under heavy impact?

Yeah, that's about right.

So we also have an SOP that tells us exactly what we need to do when we have quality tests being performed.

So when we have our SOP we can look back and figure out what procedures exactly we need to do in order to perform the test appropriately.

Because there are guidelines set in place by auditing bodies to make sure that our pipe is a safe and a good quality as it can be.

And we have to pass those tests in order to sell our pipe.

So that being said, let's try some impact testing.

So this is our impact test machine or apparatus or apparatus.

So inside here is a 6 pound weight and the 6 pound weight has a little nose on the end.

So when we have our sample, you're going to notice that there's a little divot once we hit it, because that is the impact coming down on it.

So we have different heights for different sizes of pipe because smaller pipe can't go through as much as a bigger size pipe because it's a smaller wall thickness.

We just know that bigger pipe can put up with more and we want to make sure to test it to its full ability.

So when we test impact, we take out our holder and we put this in the little V-shape.

So I'm going to do the first one here.

Okay.

So impact test, we test three pieces every 2 hours and the first piece, we tend to hit it three times.

So this is a one and a half inch piece of pipe.

So I'm going to take it to this level right here.

I'm going to hold my hand about that level so that when the weight drops, it's not going to bounce and hit it a couple of times and it'll be less noisy for us as well.

So ready, ready.

Three, two, one.

And there we go.

So I'm going to lower this down and we're going to get to look and see.

So that's a £6 weight dropping from let's see, 54 inches and there's barely even a mark on it.

Do you see that?

All right.

So want to give it a try?

Yes.

Perfect.

Let's go.

Pull this down.

Yep.

Line up the black mark on the rope to right here.

Perfect.

And you're going to put your hand with the handle at that level.

And we're ready to go.

Okay.

Three, two, one.

Perfect.

Now, let's see those results.

Yep.

You can barely see the mark right there, but nothing really happened.

So this is what we would call a passing piece.

So in a non passing piece, what would happen is right next to that impact mark, there would be a large crack running along the edge where the pipe just sheared apart and broke because it couldn't handle the stress.

So now we're going to do our crash test.

Do you know what we might be wanting to do when we do a crash test or what we might be testing for?

I think we're going to be testing it for a natural disaster happened.

And like if the roof caved in, if everything kind of fell down onto all these pipes, we want to see if it will still uphold and we'll still stay solid and not fall.

That is exactly correct.

And another example other than natural disasters were stuff might be falling around.

It is in a fire because the structural integrity of the building is at risk when it gets burnt up.

So that way we're not breaking and breaking up the flow of the pipes and the water in the pipes here.

So this is our crush test missing machine.

So first we're going to load it.

Now we use six pieces every test.

I think I have three in that basket right there.

Can you hand the rest to me?

Yes, I can.

So they're in there and I'm going to close this up and lock it so that we're not putting our hands in here and getting squished.

So the first thing I'm going to do is this iree quarter inch piece of pipe.

So I'm going to lower this position control module to the three quarter inch mark.

So gently untwist it.

Now we're going to do same sort of thing over here where we have this little bracket that we raised and it has a little button on it.

And that's how the test needs to stop is when it hits this button, take it up to where it will be three quarter line.

And so that way, when this lever comes down, it's going to push this button until the test.

It's all done.

So that makes sense.

Yes, perfect.

So now what I'm going to end up doing is I'm going to adjust our levers and I'm going to jog the plate down until it's just almost touching the pipe.

And then after that, we're going to run the test and it will slowly crush the pipe.

Does that makes sense?

Yeah.

All right, so get ready.

I'm going to turn this.

I'm going to make some noise.

We're just barely above it now.

I'm moving it to slow, and we're going to switch from jog to run.

So the plate is just slowly moving down on top of the pieces of pipe.

You can see it's made contact and they're turning into little egg shapes as opposed to circular pieces of pipe.

And right now we are at almost 1200 psi.

All right.

That's it.

So now I'm going to turn the machine off.

All right.

So let's take a look at our samples here.

Look at how flat those got in that test.

But do we see any breaking?

Now, it's amazing that they didn't cry or actually split in half.

Right.

So and remember, this is what it used to look like.

So it got shorter and wider, but it stayed intact.

Next, why don't we do a glue up for our burst tests?

Some fun.

Yes.

After the shutdown.

So now we're going to get ready to do and prepare for our first test.

So we have our vent hood here, which is pretty loud.

But this is a really important safety piece because it's helping, getting the fumes from the glue out away from us so that we're not breathing it in.

This is kind of like PPE, but it's just safety equipment.

Otherwise, right now we have our hair pulled back.

So it's not in our eyes.

We have nitrile gloves on to make sure that we're not getting anything on our hands and we still have our safety toed on.

So we're ready to go now for a glue up.

We're just basically trying to fit this together like a puzzle to make something that fits in our burst test apparatus.

So we have all of these extra fixtures here, but this is what we need to test today.

This is our sample from the floor.

So we have a three quarter inch 90 elbow.

We have a one inch coupling, we have a one by three quarter by one reducing T and we have an RSA adapter for one end.

So Raine, what I'd like you to do is I'd like you to come up with a way to fit these all together for us.

Between everyone at peace, we need a one inch piece of pipe in between every three quarter inch piece with a three quarter inch piece of pipe.

Now, there are lots of ways that these two can go together and it's up to you to figure ut.

And on every new piece, when there's no more to do, we're going to put a piece with a cap on it.

Like what's right behind you?

Yep, right there.

So ready.

I see.

Yeah.

We're going to connect it to see.

You're going to connect it like this, okay.

Yep.

So like that.

So, yep.

That's a three that would go in there.

All right, let's put this piece on the end.

So this is what our test apparatus will be like.

Let's start gluing.

So when we glue, we're going to do two coats with our little brush.

So we have this cute little round brush and we go along the inside and then we go around the outside.

And so I'm going to put it together and I'm going to push it down and twist a little bit to make sure that it gets nice and sealed in there.

So that makes sense.

All right.

So let's try with our next pieces.

So, yep, those two together.

So should I put the glue on the inside of this?

Yeah, inside of that one.

Outside of this one.

Yep.

I will take this from you and put these two pieces together and give it a little twist at the end.

Really push it.

There we go.

Perfect.

Without this, glue or pipes would leak, and they wouldn't be as efficient for saving lives.

All right, well, this is our finished piece.

Awesome job, Brain.

So what we actually have to do before we can run this is we have to put it in our oven and give it time to here.

So that means the glue will be all set and ready to go.

So I'm going to go put this in the oven.

All right.

So now that we have our fixture and it's all cleared, we're going to run it through our burst test.

So this is our burst tank.

It's filled with water.

And what we're going to do is we're going to submerge the fixture in the water.

And so when there are no more air bubbles, we know it's good to go.

So now I'm going to take it out.

And this is our adapter head, which is going to fit onto our air hose.

So our air hose is going to be what's simulating the pressure build within this piece.

So I'm going to stand right here and I'm going to tighten this real quick just to make sure we get a good seal.

There we go.

Just to make sure the water doesn't come out Yep.

So it's also we want to make sure that this is down far enough that it's touching the gasket that's inside the filling.

So going to do it's going to take this pull it back and pop it on all nice and snug and it's ready to go.

Now, one important safety measure is we have to have this down when we are running our burst test.

Otherwise, if there's something that breaks, it could fly out, it could hit us.

Water also gets everywhere, which is just messy and not fun.

So let's go over to the computer and get our This is our burst test apparatus.

And so what we're going to do is we're going to set the settings so that we can run our burst test.

Okay, so we're running an ASTM burst test.

So that's what that says.

It says ASTM test.

We're good on fittings.

Good.

So start the test.

And now ACS is going.

That pressure hose is filling with air to simulate pressure building up in the pipe.

So normally this would be water pressure, but it's easier for us to test this with air in a water filled pipe.

So in a moment here, we're going to see this graph start to populate with data from the burst test that's running right now.

So here it goes.

So there's our line starting out and it dwells around 500 for a little bit and that's 500 psi.

And now, yep, it is on the rise.

So this test is going to go it can go up to 2300 PSI with a dwell of 104 seconds.

So our passing value is far below that, but we always test above that way.

It's easier for us to make something that really, really passes than it does to make something pass right on the line.

So we are looking for a passing value of 1440 PSI and we are almost there for this test.

And you can see our numerical values right up here.

We've made it.

We did it.

So at this point, first can occur at any time without being detrimental to the safety or quality of the pipe because we have passed on this test.

So let's look at our test results here.

So we made it to a max pressure of 1661 PSC.

So our pipe is withstanding pressures of 1661.

Now that being said, passing is 1440.

So we're good to go here.

We easily pass that test.

Let's take a look at what happened with our first test.

All right.

So let's see what we have here.

Wow.

It looks like it broke apart.

I'm going to give you this piece while I fish down for the other one.

We get all the water out for you.

Let's see.

You tell me, what does it look like happened here?

It looks like there was so much pressure that it just caused us to break apart here.

So this little shard kind of just came off of this pipe from the intense pressure?

Yep, that's exactly correct.

So what we can see here is we see the glue kind of came off.

And so that means it was getting to be so pressurized that it just started to pull away from the glue.

And it was really focused on that point.

And you can tell you can see these white marks right here.

And that is an example of stress on the pipe.

And if I put this together back correctly, you can see it bubbled out quite a bit.

So it does not fit the same anymore because it just broke apart at this joint right here.

But it did so after our test tolerance, which means it's good to go past.

Yeah, but it's always interesting to see how these sorts of things happened and what happens to them, because there are so many different kinds of failures you can have, the pipe can fail, the glue can just pop right off or you can even see instances where fitting cracks.

And that's rare.

So this piece and these parts are officially good to go.

Now, that being said, we don't sell these.

They're used, but we know that because we tested these, the others in the run should be good as well.

So as an engineer, it's our job to figure out what we are doing with these and these kinds of tests.

Our next stop is we're going to learn how these fittings are made right here.

So this is our rapid seal fitting.

I can see how those are made.

All right.

So we're going to demonstrate the last kind of testing we do here at Johns Controls, and that's dimensional testing.

Okay.

mensional tests are a great leading indicator to whether or not we're going to pass or fail a functional test.

So what we're going to do here is we're going to take wall thickness measurements.

So wall thickness, believe it or not, can vary across a piece of pipe.

Now, we can't personally see it, but any variation in this wall thickness can result in a failure if it goes under its tolerance limit.

Now, looking at our SOP, this is a one and a half inch piece of pipe.

So it looks like our minimum wall thickness needs to be point one, four one.

So that's what we're going to be looking for.

We're going to be looking to make sure everything stays above that 0.141 measurement.

Now I'm going to take my micrometer.

So this is a manual micrometer.

It does have a little reader face on it.

So we we spin it using the thimble right here.

The arm that goes in and out is the spindle and it makes contact with the anvil.

If we close it all the way now, we spin the end to get it to contact.

And when we make contact, we're going to feel some resistance.

And we don't want to really wrench down hard on it because we could actually damage the pipe and create a dents in it.

And that's not going to be a very good measurement if we're literally squeezing it so hard.

It's smaller than it actually is.

Right.

So can you tell me what that measurement is?

Point one, four, eight.

Perfect.

Okay.

And so we take several measurements all around the pipe.

That is .152.

And we do this because it can vary from point to point.

You could have a low spot or you could have a high spot.

And we want to make sure that we're keeping everything about the same and within our tolerance limits.

So this piece of pipe is good to go.

Yes.

Awesome.

Being able to go through these quality tests with you and show you what we do to make sure that our products are good and help keep people safe is really important.

Yes.

Thank you so much for inviting me over to the Johnson Control Center.

I learned so much today and I'm definitely going to go home feeling a little more smart.

Okay.

We'll see you next week on Alabama STEM Explorers goodbye!

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Alabama STEM Explorers.

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Alabama STEM explores is made possible by the generous support of the Holle Family Foundation, established to honor the legacy of Brigadier General Everett Holle and his parents, Evelyn and Fred.

Hollye champions of servant leadership.