Today was the early
morning of the week (where I actually had to get up before 6:55 AM at like 6:30
AM to get ready for breakfast at 7 and then being at the SILAIS building at 8
AM sharp) (such a hard schedule right?). Anyways breakfast was really good (a
fried egg, B&R, avocado and that good cheesy bread and the coffee banana
smoothie jawn). We had to be at the SILAIS building at 8 because they were
sending us off the to the centro de salud today. So we ended up getting there,
telling the guy from yesterday that his computer monitor is dying (because it
only turns on then off after about 2 seconds (which someone said online is
indicative of failing capacitors in behind the screen)). Anyways after that the
SILAIS folks said they were getting us transport to the centro de salud (which happens
to be only about 45 seconds closer to the dock (than our hostel), but whatever
on that one). Anyways we were waiting for quite some time (about 45 minutes)
and I headed back up to the workshop to put together the nebulizers for the folks
in the hospital and ran into the Gato who had already taken one of the air
compressor nebs back to the emergency ward for use (as this is one of the most
powerful ones we have). I also took some new air fittings that a nurse brought
me and put them on the other compressor that needed them (and that was ready
for use). I also closed up the pediatric neb (despite the filer being still
dirty (couldn’t really do much for that)) and gave it back to the emergency
room staff (and told them about the filter status and that they can run it
without a filter, but the air is NOT cleaned at all). Anyways not soon after
that Dan showed up and we headed off in a truck to the centro de salud. Upon
arrival at the building that we never would have guessed would be a health
clinic we entered and were immediately asked about all that we could fix. After
some waiting and meeting people in different places, we were shown into this one
room and given two chairs and a table (all of which were actually in pretty
good condition). We then sat down and waiting as the various staff from the
different areas piled different apparatii around us (everything from
centrifuges to a microscope to nebulizers to BP cuffs to ear and eye scopes). We
just started working on the different equipment (Dan worked on some BF cuffs
and pressure gauges for them (sphygs maybe?) while I took apart a very
frustrating nebulizer that was literally a box.
The mystery box of that neb from the outside
Look at those motor mounts (the multicolored rubber)! So cool! (also check out that motor! The piston is above the spring parallel to the table with the thick metal tab on the left being pulled by the electromagnet!)
The front half of the motor (diaphragm (which I took apart 3 times))
The piston and electromagnet coil
This did not seem to allow any
sort of opening of it whatsoever until I took apart this random set of screws
and luckily popped it open (after that I ended up taking apart the
motor/piston/diaphragm like 3 times to get the suction better (and only seemed
to make the entire thing louder (-.-// loud motors) (not like that did much))).
I also managed to get yet another 120 V AC shock from this futzer as I had the
side of the case off and was apparently touching one of the hot parts of this
(which seemed highly unlikely, but it was my fault for having the danged thing
plugged in (I thought it was unplugged) (so this makes 3 120V shocks in the
past 2 weeks (going to do my absolute utmost care not to get anymore)). Anyways
after I got all of the motor back together I put the crazy box back together
and realized I had done basically nothing. The nebulizer still did not put out
any of the water it was supposed to (I blame the nebulizer having an incorrect
head on it (as the neb is apparently designed to only have a single head that
works with it)). I also liked how the motor mounted in the base on 4 rubber
arms that absorbed the vibrations (from the motor which acted on the principle
of an oscillating metal tab attached to the piston (like a relay opening and
closing at 60 Hz)). Also during this time Dan and I checked out these eye and
ear monitors (the ones doctors use to check out the eye and ear with bright
lights. These didn’t power on at first, so we checked the batteries (rated at
3.5V (with probably 3 cells (@1.2V)) and the one battery registered 0.8V which
is still okay for the NiCd battery; meanwhile the other was at like 0.4 V
(discharged beyond capacity and damaged)).
Plug those suckers direct to the wall!
also during this time one of the
lab techs took apart a computer battery backup with a lead acid battery that
was rated at 12 V and we tested the battery to find it was at like 0.7V or
something wicked low (despite this being a rechargeable lead acid, this jawn is
toast but the tech apparently still went off to charge it (perhaps he can
revive it).) (We still plugged them in and charged them up for a while (using
the nice built in 120V plug on the end). The capacity is not great on the batteries
(but one is decent while the other discharges too quickly). Anyways after that
it was time for a coffee/cookie break (aw yeah best thing ever right there!)
and we had some good coffee and some chocolate cookies.
Coffee break
Not too much later it
was lunch time (and the place gave us free lunch (very similar to what the
place near the hospital served (but it was in a nice take out box with a salad
and a coke)) and the clinic gave us two lunch boxes and 2 cokes and we ate in
the room. I also looked at a microscope and realized the bulb was good, but the
tech said the corrosion prevented it from working. Also I checked the fuse on
another one of those air compressors/nebs and realized one of the 3.15 A 250V
fuses had blown (and the unit was not functioning). So we had to go back to the
hospital after lunch to see if they had the fuse (we thought we had a similar
ceramic fuse in another dead compressor) and we also wanted to get some brushes
for a centrifuge with brushes that were like 4 mm long (O.o and one was even
grinding away at the metal wire making the contact).
Seem like the right length for brushes right?
Back at the hospital I had to do some more to get the
parts I needed (had to talk to Popo and Marlon (who both said the hospital wouldn't give the air fitting parts for the compressors to the clinic (but
SILAIS could ask for them instead (-.- administrative power struggles?)))).
Anyways Barney ended up building us a new fuse (as the ones we had back at the
shop were not the right rating (5A 250 V instead of the 3.15 A 250V)). After
that we eventually got a brush from him too. This seemed to take forever and we
didn’t get back to the clinic until around like 3:40 PM (when we thought we
would get back at like 2:30 PM max). After that we reinstalled the carbones
(brushes) into the hematocrit centrifuge and it started running much faster
than before! It also was quite the sight to see with the electricity arcing
around where the brushes made contact (that’s probably not how it’s supposed to
be, but it looked cool and the motor worked).
Look at the tiny white vertical line below the orange coil or wire on the right (that's arcing)
After that we put back together
the centrifuge and let it run a while to wear in the brushes. I also took apart
this handheld Doppler unit (like an ultrasound but portable), and could find no
reason why the unit wouldn’t power on, so I’ll be working more in depth on
Monday on probing the board. Another fun project was when I took apart this neb
that wasn’t turning on to realize the fan had melted. Straight up MELTED the
plastic fan to the transformer coil (O.o) must have gotten wicked hot in that
shiznit, but it managed to do it and thus the motor could not turn (so the
motor seems to be working despite this happening).
Yikes! That is not going anywhere!
How does that even happen? That must have made quite the racket when it did that
MELTED!
Testing the motor with my favorite twist terminals and clearly the best wire spliced in there
Also we briefly looked at
the larger centrifuge that was not working (the fuse was fine, but we found a
diode that is open both ways (indicative of a failure (using the diode test
function on the DMM to read 0.5 both ways when it should be like 0.5 to 0.7 one
way and 1 the other way)). So we desoldered that and have to find a new one on
Monday (standard rectifier diode 1N5408). Anyways after that it was like 4:45
PM and we packed up and left (it had been pouring and the power had even gone
off for a minute or two). After that it was pretty chill. Just came back. Went
to the Claro store. Matt from Juigalpa came down to visit the Castillo and hang
the weekend with us. Watched Doom in Spanish (was not worth it). Watched Dead
Snow again in German on YouTube (still not worth it). Wrote blog. Fun times.
Gotta peace as I have to be on the 8 AM ferry to the Castillo! Take care!
The engineer, Barney and I (they're leaving and won't be back for at least half a week (maybe longer))
No comments:
Post a Comment