Patent ID: 9709429
Date: 2017-07-18
CPC Classifications: B01D,C02F,G01F,G06F

Claim:
1. A micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) sensor system for a membrane based water filtration plant comprising: a remote telemetry unit (RTU), a supervisory control and data acquisition unit (SCADA), and a plurality of MEMS sensors for measuring pressure, flow rate, and conductivity of a stream; said water filtration plant is comprised of a train comprised of a membrane vessel containing a plurality of membrane elements; said membrane vessel and said membrane elements receive a feed stream and produce a concentrate stream and a permeate stream; said membrane elements are arranged in series creating an interface between each adjacent membrane element; said MEMS sensors measure the flow rate, pressure, and conductivity of said feed stream, concentrate stream, and permeate stream at said interface between each adjacent membrane element; said membrane vessel is further comprised of conventional pressure sensors, conventional conductivity sensors, and conventional flow sensors; said conventional pressure sensors are comprised of a conventional pressure sensor in each of said feed stream entering said membrane vessel, and concentrate stream and permeate stream exiting said membrane vessel; said conventional conductivity sensors are comprised of a conventional conductivity sensor in each of said feed stream entering said membrane vessel, and concentrate stream and permeate stream exiting said membrane vessel; said conventional flow sensors are comprised of a conventional flow sensor in each of said feed stream entering said membrane vessel, and concentrate stream and permeate stream exiting said membrane vessel; wherein said membrane vessel is further comprised of a conventional temperature sensor in said feed stream entering said membrane vessel; said conventional pressure sensors measure the pressure of said permeate, concentrate, and feed streams of said membrane vessel; said conventional conductivity sensors measure the conductivity of said permeate, concentrate, and feed streams of said membrane vessel; said conventional flow sensors measure the flow rate of said permeate, concentrate, and feed streams of said membrane vessel; said conventional temperature sensor measures the temperature of said feed stream of said membrane vessel; said RTU communicates with said MEMS sensors and said SC.ADA to provide said MEMS sensor pressure and conductivity measurements to said SCADA, said RTU communicates wirelessly with said MEMS sensors; said conventional pressure sensors, said conventional conductivity sensors, said conventional flow sensors, and said conventional temperature sensor provide measurements directly to said SCADA; wherein said SCADA uses measurements taken by said MEMS sensors, said conventional pressure sensors, said conventional conductivity sensors, said conventional flow sensors, and said conventional temperature sensor to identify if at least one of said membrane elements is compromised, wherein each of said MEMS sensors is comprised of a removable smart sensor structure (RSSS) and a control/data transceiver chip (CDTC); said RSSS is comprised of a smart part and at least one of a pressure sensor or a conductivity sensor; wherein said smart part is comprised of a coil, voltage regulator, inductive transceiver, non-volatile memory, microprocessor, and conversion circuitry; wherein said CDTC is comprised of a coil, inductive transceiver, and RF transceiver.