INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
June, 1923
643
The New Chemical Engineering Laboratory at the University of Michigan By Alfred H. White UNIVERS~TY OF MICHIGAN, ANN ARBOR,MICR.
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H I S NEW BUILDING, which is now approaching completion, is built of reenforced concrete with exterior walls of sed brick and Bedford limestone, and in appearance is typical of the newer buildings a t the University of Michigan. The present structure is complete in itself, but is planned for future enlargement so that it may grow to three times its present size. The unit which is now approaching completion is in the shape of a U with extreme dimensions of 190 by 224 f t . It is divided into three portions-a head 63 by 190 ft., a north wing 65 by 161 ft., and a south wing 61 by 161 f t . Future growth will continue the front line of the building in both directions with two additional wings, making a long front with four parallel wings at right angles to it. The head of the building will in general be occupied by class rooms, offices, libraries, and research laboratories which demand quiet. Especial pains have been taken to reduce noise and vibration t o a minimum in this portion of the building. The main entrance is through triple doors in the middle of the front into a broad lobby, which opens into a museum from which access i s gained to the stairs. The library is on the third floor directly over the museum. The technical journals will be in this library but those devoted to pure science will remain in the Chemistry Building. Arrangements have been made to duplicate the sets of the more important journals, such as those published in America, the Joicmal of the Chemical Society of London, the A n n a l e n , and the Berichte, as well as the more important reference books. The Davis Highway Library with its specialized collections is t o be housed on the first floor. The building contains two lecture rooms each seating about 100, and eleven other class rooms including a seminar room connected by folding doors with the room allotted to the student branch of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. The .Department of Chemical Engineering has been assigned about one-third of the basement and first floor of the north wing, and the entire three upper floors of the same wing, as well as considerable portions of the head of the building on the second
and third floors and the whole of the head of the building on the fourth floor. This department will have about 40,000 sq. ft. of net floor space, not counting that occupied by the library, the museum, and class rooms. A successful combination of small research laboratories and large general laboratories has been obtained on the second, third, and fourth floors of the north wing, by placing the corridor to the north of the double row of center columns. The effect of this, as shown by the floor plans, is t o give a series of small special and research laboratories with abundant north light, while leaving free a space south of the corridor for large laboratories. The general chemical engineering laboratories occupy the greater 'part of the second and third floors of the north wing, as well as a smaller portion of the basement and first floor. Equipment is provided for the study of evaporation and heat transfer, distillation, mixing of liquids, gas absorption, drying, filtration, and crystallization. A service stairway connects the several floors of this unit. Pipe lines, pumps, tanks, and equipment are interconnected in such a way as to coordinate the facilities of the laboratories. The floors are heavy enough to support tanks and machinery, and there are floor drains in nearly every unit. Electrical outlets are frequent, and slots have been placed in the ceilings to carry hangers for shafting. Pipes for highand low-pressure steam, gas, water, and air are provided, with plugged tees a t frequent intervals. Distilled water is furnished t o three points on each floor. The evaporators furnish a large volume of soft and nearly pure water, which is distributed to the general laboratories from a large storage tank in the attic. The storerooms and dispensing rooms are located in a stack extending from the basement to the attic traversed by a freight elevator. The evaporator laboratory forms one of the rather unique features of the building. It occupies a space extending from the basement through the first floor. The set of evaporators and accessories is probably the most complete and extensive equipment of its kind in the country. The evaporators include a
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vcrtical tube, a horizontal tube, and a semifilm unit. They have a maximum capacity of about 4000 Ibs. of water evaporated per hour in each unit, and are completely equipped with such accessories as devices for weighing and controlling feed, removing crystals, and measuring condensate. They have the greatest possible flexibility to permit their adaptation to the study of problems both of evaporator desig.n and of process development. The first floor has been entirely eliminated from this section of the building, leaving a room two stories in height in which the evaporators are carried on steel frames, with two working floors and the whole space traversed by a traveling crane. A service stairway connects the several floors of this unit with the general chemical engineering laboratories on the second and third floors. On the second floor space has been taken from the large laboratory on the south side of the corridor for a workshop for a skilled mechanic, a workshop for students, and a storeroom for pipe and fittings. The arrangement on the third floor is similar to that on the second. A dispensing room for chemicals and apparatus has been partitioned off of the west end of the large laboratory, and a space has been taken off of the east end to provide a laboratory which will be fitted with laboratory desks where students may carry on analytical or other small-scale work. Adjoining this is a computing and balance room, and next to it the general laboratory. The distillation and gasabsorption divisions of this laboratory occupy a portion of this space on the second and third floors. Provision for column stills, scrubbers, or other tall apparatus has been made where the concrete floor has been replaced by steel beams carrying angle irons laid loosely a t right angles to the beams and spaced to receive bricks which will be laid in asphalt. It is only necessary to take up a few bricks and cut off the angle irons to prepare an opening of any desired size and a t any point within this area. A special flue has been provided for acid fumes and another lined with fire brick for hot gases. The small rooms on the second floor comprise five singleunit research laboratories, a general laboratory for advanced students, drafting room, laboratory for pulp and paper testing, for motor fuels and petroleum, class room, graduate laboratory, and departmental offices. There is also a conference room. The Department of Engineering Research occupies several rooms, and the large laboratory across the corridor, and the rest of the head and the entire south wing belong t o the engineering shops. On the third floor are three single-unit research laboratories, an electrochemical laboratory, a dye, textile and leather laboratory, and a paint and varnish laboratory. The front of the third floor is occupied by a series of small offices
and laboratories for the teaching staff and for graduate students. At the northeast corner is a class room, and east of it a room devoted to ceramics and portland cement. The large laboratories on the fourth floor of the north wing are given over to work in gas, fuel, and water. All the students in the courses in mechanical engineering, as well as in chemical engineering, do work here. At the east end of this space is a research laboratory, and a t the west end a dispensing room. The small laboratories on the north side of the corridor coniprise two single-unit research rooms, a class room, computing room, and advanced gas-engineering laboratory. The other small laboratories are For metallurgical work. Metallurgy occupies the entire fourth floor of the head of the building and part of both wings. In the north wing there is a laboratory for small machines t o test the physical properties of metals, a preparation room, and a laboratory for advanced students. The metallographic laboratories occupy the northwest corner of the building, with the polishing equipment in the larger room, with rooms for microscopes and cameras and dark rooms. Laboratories for advanced students and the staff occupy the center of the front, and the pyrometric laboratories occupy the southwest corner of the building. The furnace room is a t the head of the court. The power circuit is brought to three 50-kilowatt transformers in the attic, which reduce the 2300-volt pressure to 110 volts. Wires from these transformers drop directly to the switchboards in the south unit of the room. Gas-fired furnaces are grouped in the north end of the room. The control of the instruction and technical processes of the foundry and forge shop has been vested in the Department of Chemical Engineering during the last two years. The arrangement has worked well and now with the close physical relations as well as harmony in purposes between the two departments, results of great value are expected. The foundry is on the fourth floor, where it receives abundant light and air. The floor is heavily reenforced and is adequate to carry electric furnaces as well as the cupola now provided. Next to i t is the foundry-control laboratory and the office of the professor in charge, then a students' laboratory and a balance and computing room, with a single-unit research laboratory. The forge shop and heat-treatment rooms are on the floor below. The whole arrangement gives exceptional facilities for graduate students who desire to make careful laboratory study of processes on the small industrial scale. This new building will be completed within the next three months, and with the opening of the college year the University of Michigan will have very unusual facilities for research work as well as undergraduate instruction in chemical engineering.
