Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a sampling system
for use with water quality sensors used for monitoring
the quality of water being treated in water purification
or sewage treatment plants.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a schematic representation of the
- conventional sampling system;
Fig. 2 shows a sampling system for a water
quality sensor according to one embodiment of the present
invention;
Fig. 3 shows one embodiment of the intermittent
ozone generator used in the sampling system of Fig. 2; and
Figs. 4 to 6 show other embodiments of the sample
in system of the present invention.
A sampling system for use with water quality sensors is currently used in water purification or sewage
treatment plants because 1) it facilitates the maintenance
and management of the sensors, 2) the construction of the
sensors requires it, and 3) great economy is realized by
measuring the quality of water at many points using a
single sensor. An example of a conventional sampling
system is shown in Fig. 1, wherein the numeral 1 indicates
a sampling port, 2 is a sampling pump, 3 is a sensor, 7 is
a cleaning water tank, 6 and 7 are both automatic pipe
cleaner elements, 8 is a sampling pump motor control
center, and 9 and 10 are each drain pits. The automatic
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1 pipe cleaner 6 consists of a pipe cleaning ball supplier
pa, cleaning control valves 6b, 6c and Ed, and a cleaning
control panel ye, whereas the cleaner 7 consists of a ball
collector pa and cleaning control valves 7b and 7c.
Water sampled at port 1 with pump 2 is directed to sensor
3 through valve Boyle collector pa and valve 6b, and is
thereafter discharged into pit 10. In this sampling
mode, cleaning valves 6c, Ed and 7b are closed. In a
pipe cleaning mode, sampling pump 2 is first stopped and
cleaning pump 5 is actuated. At the sample time, cleaning
valves, 6c and 7b are opened, and the cleaning water in
tank 4 is directed through pump 5, valve -6c, ball supplier
pa, ball collector pa and valve 7b and is discharged
into pit 9. In this cleaning mode, pipe cleaning balls
are delivered from supplier pa and as they are carried
along by the cleaning water traveling to ball collector
pa, the balls clean the intermediate piping. Valve pa
controls the flow of the cleaning water and directs any
returning flow to- pit 10. The sequence of the above
steps is controlled by control panel ye and control
center 8.
The conventional sampling system has the follow-
in defects: lo the balls must be supplied and collected
manually; 2) cleaning with the balls is possible only when
the piping has smooth inner walls, and 3) the balls cannot
pass through the sensor, valves and the piping around it,
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1 the sampling pump or sampling port, so these areas cannot
be cleaned with the balls. For these reasons, much labor
is needed in cleaning operations and frequent periodical
cleaning is necessary.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, one object of the present invention
is to provide a device for keeping the sampling system and
water quality sensors clean over an extended period.
Another object of the invention is to provide
a device that causes ozone-containing sterilizing water
to flow continuously or intermittently through the sampling
system not only to prevent the deposition of
contaminants (e.g. algae, organic matter and sludge) on
various parts of the system but also-to clean off any
contaminant.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
One embodiment of the sampling system according
to the present invention is shown in Fig. 2, wherein the
numeral lo represents a sampling port A, lb is a sampling
port B, pa and 2b are sampling pumps, 3 is a sensor, 4 is
- a submerged sensor, 5 is a water receiving tank, 6 is a
-
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drain pipe connected to the water receiving tank, 7 is a
cleaning water tank, 8 is a cleaning pump, and 9 is an
automatic sampling system cleaner. At 10 is shown is an
intermittent ozone generator whose construction is shown in
Fig. 3, ha and fib are cleaning water drain valves, 12 is
a sampling pump motor center, and 13 is a drain pit.
The automatic sampling system cleaner 9 includes
an ejector pa for injecting ozone into water used for
flushing the system, an ejector pump 9b, cleaning control
valves 9c, Ed, ye and 9g, and a cleaning control panel of.
One embodiment of the intermittent ozone generator
10 is shown in Fig. 3, wherein aye indicates an ozonizer,
10b is a column filled with silica gel for adsorbing ozone,
10c is an oxygen circulating blower, eye and 10d are circular
lion control valves, 10f is a refrigerator for the adsorbing
column, 10g is a tank fillet with hot brine used to resorb
ozone from the silica gel, 10h is a brine supply pump, 10i
is an ozone injection valve, and 14 is an oxygen container
from which oxygen is supplied to ozone generator 10.
Referring to Fig. 2, water sampled at sampling
port lo using the pump pa is directed through valves ha,
9c and Ed to sensor 3 and sensor 4 submerge* in the tank 5.
The water is then discharged into drain pit 13 through an
overflow mechanism in tank 5. Before sampling water at
port lb, the pump pa is stopped, valves ha and 9c are
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closed, and drain valve 6 is opened to discharge theater sampled at port lay Then, pump 2b is actuated and
valves fib and 9g are opened to sample water at port lb.
Sampling at port lo alternates with the sampling at port lb
in the manner described above. Throughout the sampling mode,
valve ye remains closed.
Let us assume that sampling at point B has been
completed and that pump 2b is stopped and valves fib and 9g
are closed. To start the cleaning mode, the sampling pump
pa is stopped and at the same time, valves 9c and ha are
closed Then, the cleaning pump 8 is actuated and valve ye
is opened. At this time, drain valve 6 remains closed.
Then, the intermittent ozone generator 10 and ejector pump go
are actuated, and ozone is injected from ejector pa into
the cleaning water in tank 7. Ozone-containing cleaning water
is then forced by pump 8 and sent toward sensor 3 and :
submerged sensor 4 through valve Ed to clean off any deposits
fouling the sensors. By opening drain valve 6, the inside
of tank 5 and valve 6 can also be cleaned.
Next, valves 9c and ha are opened whereas
valves Ed and 6 are closed. This causes the ozone-contain-
in water to pass through valves 9c and ha and be disk
charged into sampling port lo through pump pa. Then,
valves 9c and ha are closed and valves 9g and fib are
opened to supply the cleaning water through sampling port
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lb through pump 2b. By this procedure, the sampling piping
and pumps pa and 2b are cleaned. After the cleaning
operation, valve ye is closed and pump 8, ejector pump 9b
and the intermittent ozone generator 10 are stopped. The
entire cleaning sequence is controlled by the control
panel of end control center 12.
Referring to Fig. 3, the operation of the inter-
mitten ozone generator 10 will now be described. Oxygen
from container 14 is oceanside in ozonizer aye by silent
discharge and is forced into the adsorbing column 10b by
circulation blower 10c through valve 10d. In the adsorbing
column, ozone is selectively adsorbed by the silica gel.
To increase the efficiency of adsorption, the adsorption :
column is cooled with the refrigerator 10f. Oxygen that has
not been adsorbed on the silica gel is forced by the blower
10c and directed to the ozonizer through valve eye. The
ozonizer is continuously operated and the ozone produced
gradually builds up in the adsorbing column. The adsorbed
ozone can be resorbed by forcing hot brine from brine tank
10g into the adsorbing column 10b by means of pump 10h, with
valves eye and 10d being closed and the adsorbing column
evacuated by ejector pa. The resorbed ozone is ejected
into water to form ozone-containing water to be again used as
cleaning water.
The intermittent ozone generator used in the
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embodiment of Fig. 2 may be replaced by an ordinary ozone
generator to effect the present invention in a simpler form
which is illustrated in Fig. 4. In the embodiment of Fig. 4,
ozone produced by ozone generator 10 is directly fed to
the cleaning water tank 7 where it is introduced into the
water to form ozone-containing cleaning water. The operation
of this ozone generator is substantially the same as that
of the generator shown in Fig. 3.
The present invention is very effective for use
in the case where water is sampled at two or more points,
and different types of sensors are used. The desired areas
can be cleaned successively with a single cleaning system,
as shown in Fig. 5. The embodiment of Fig. 5 relates to the
case where sampling at many points of a single body of water
It is carried out, but the same principle applies to the case
where sampling is performed on a plurality of such bodies.
Fig. 5 includes a cleaning sampling control panel
of capable of controlling sampling at spots lay lb and to,
a panel of instruments 16 for analyzing the quality of the
sampled water based on the data from sensors pa, 3b and 3c,
a data selection panel 17 for keying the data from the
sensors with the sampling spots, and a telemetering station
18 for recording the obtained data or sending it to a remote
station. The embodiment of Fig. 5 relates to the sequential
control of two or more sampling systems, and the principle
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of controlling one specific sampling system is the same as
that described in connection with Fig. 2.
In another embodiment of the present invention,
a plurality of sampling pumps can be integrated into one
pump which also serves as a cleaning pump, such as simplified
system being shown in Fig. 6, which includes a sampling/
cleaning pump 8. In a cleaning mode, cleaning water from
tank 7 is directed to sensor 4 through valves ye and Ed,
with valves 9c and oh closed. The water cleans sensor 4, as
well as water receiving tank 5 and drain valve 6 in the manner
describe din connection with Fig. 2. Subsequently, valve Ed
is closed and valve oh is opened to flush the cleaning water
through valves oh and ha, or fib or tic to clean the
sampling piping as well as these valves.
The present invention provides an effective device
preventing the buildup of foul matter in a water quality
sampling system which also cleans off any foul buildup
automatically. The device enables very simple cleaning of
the sampling system and sensors, which has conventionally
involved much labor and has been considered a very dirty
job. Through the cleaning of sensors and associated piping
and valves, the invention contributes greatly to the main-
tenancy and management of the sensors, and hence the precise
control of various factors (e.g. chemical dosing, MUSS and
DO the water of being treated in water purification and
sewage treatment plants.
