Abstract:
An ultraviolet water treatment system comprising a water chamber having a water intake for untreated water to enter the chamber, and a water outlet for water to leave the chamber; an ultraviolet light source; and a fibre optic rod having a distributing end and a receiving end, the receiving end is located to receive the focused ultraviolet light from the light source and convey the light through the rod and out the distributing end into the chamber to treat the water.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The invention relates generally to water treatment systems. More particularly, the invention relates to water treatment systems employing ultraviolet light.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     With ultraviolet light, light and temperature can be precisely controlled to create an atmosphere for sterilization and purification of water. Of all the different characteristics of ultraviolet light, selection of a proper wavelength for use is generally most important. Natural light is an optimum light in the area of ultraviolet as in sunlight, however, in many areas an artificial supplement of ultraviolet light in a higher range may be realized.  
         [0003]     Natural light and artificial light have different wavelengths or spectral qualities. There are many different types of artificial light depending on the light source used and the characteristics. The spectral characteristics can be altered or enhanced by the use of filters, coating or other means. Normally, the violet-blue segments of the spectrum are most important for sterilization and purification production.  
         [0004]     A plethora of lighting systems for ultraviolet sterilization and purification are currently in use such as the one described in Canadian Patent No. 2,373,673, entitled Flow Cytometer and Ultraviolet Disinfecting Systems which was published on Aug. 27, 2002. In almost all cases, a high amount of light output results in considerable heat generated near the source and transferred into the water. As required, the light source can be placed close to the treated area. Significant temperature change develops near the water which can produce dangerous results. Light sources that have been used in the past include fluorescent ultraviolet lighting, high or low pressure lights and a variety of others.  
         [0005]     Often times, water lighting systems must deal with excessive heat produced by existing technologies. Water lighting systems allow the placing of light sources close to the treatment area. The drawback is the heat build up around the light in conjunction with electricity is detrimental. This light intensity is very high to ensure the maximum rate of sterilzation and purification will occur. The water jacket enclosure surrounds the bulb and absorbs a percentage of ultraviolet light to the treatment area. The result is a reduction of light output through the surface.  
         [0006]     Many disadvantages of the current systems are heat output, complexity, cost and difficulty of maintenance operations. Heat values with electricity are the most problematic.  
         [0007]     It is, therefore, desirable to provide a water treatment system which overcomes some of the disadvantages of the prior art.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     It is an object of the invention to obviate or mitigate at least one disadvantage of previous water treatment systems.  
         [0009]     In a first aspect, the present invention provides an ultraviolet water treatment system comprising a water chamber having a water intake for untreated water to enter the chamber, and a water outlet for water to leave the chamber; an ultraviolet light source; and a fibre optic rod having a distributing end and a receiving end, wherein the receiving end is located to receive a focused ultraviolet light from the light source and convey the light through the rod and out the distributing end into the chamber to treat the water.  
         [0010]     The UV water treatment system is directed at being installed in existing water plumbing in houses, cottages etc. . . . where water needs to be treated/sterilized before use.  
         [0011]     Other aspects and features of the invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0012]     Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the attached Figures, wherein:  
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a schematic view of a water system;  
         [0014]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a water treatment system;  
         [0015]      FIG. 3  is a sectional view of the water treatment system of  FIG. 2 ;  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is a sectional view of a fibre optic rod connected to a water treatment chamber in accordance with the water treatment system of  FIG. 2 ;  
         [0017]      FIGS. 5   a  and  5   b  are views of an ultraviolet (UV) source for use in the water treatment system; and  
         [0018]      FIGS. 6   a ,  6   b  and  6   c  are views of a second embodiment of the fibre optic rod of  FIG. 4 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0019]     Generally, the invention provides an ultraviolet water treatment system for treating water for personal use.  
         [0020]     Turning to  FIG. 1 , a schematic diagram of an ultraviolet water treatment system  10  installed in a water flow system is shown. The water flow system  1  comprises a water input (in which untreated water enters) which is connected to a shutoff valve  2  via a bypass T  3 . The bypass T  3  is connected to a solenoid valve  4  which is connected to the water treatment system  10 . The water treatment system  10  is then connected to a second shutoff valve  5  via a pressure/flow switch  6 . The second shutoff valve  5  is connected to a second bypass T  7  which allows the treated water to be transferred to a requesting tap in the water system. The two bypass Ts  3  and  7  are connected to each other by a bypass valve and line  8 . A power supply  9  is also connected to the UV water treatment system  1  Q the solenoid valve  4  and the pressure/flow switch  6 .  
         [0021]     Turning to  FIG. 2 , a perspective view of the ultraviolet water treatment system is shown. The water treatment system  10  generally comprises a water treatment section  12 , a lamp housing section  14  and a ventilation section  16 .  
         [0022]     The water treatment section  12  comprises a water treatment chamber  18  preferably manufactured from stainless steel, connected to a water intake  20  and a water outlet  22 . The water intake  20  and the water outlet  22  are both channel milled into the water treatment chamber  18 . The water treatment section  14  also comprises a cap  24  which is removable to facilitate cleaning of the water treatment chamber  18 . The cap  24  is screwably attached to the water treatment chamber  18  for easy removal/replacement.  
         [0023]     The lamp housing section  14  comprises a body section  26  (having a set of ventilation vents  28  on opposite sides) and a cover  30  atop which the ventilation section  16  sits. The cover  30  may be removed from the top of the lamp body section  26  in order to repair any parts which are housed by the lamp housing section  14 . These parts will be described in more detail below.  
         [0024]     The ventilation section  16  houses a forced air ventilation fan  32  which is used to cool the inside of the lamp housing section  14  when the water treatment system  10  is in use. In general, the ventilation fan  32  is integrated into the top cover and is not removable on it&#39;s own.  
         [0025]     Turning to  FIG. 3 , a sectional view of a first embodiment of the ultraviolet (UV) water treatment system  10  is shown. When installed, the water intake  20  and the water outlet  22  are generally attached, via their connectors  34 , to standard plumbing parts in the water system. The cap  24  preferably has a polished reflective surface on its internal surface  36  facing the water treatment chamber  18  in order to assist in sterilization of the water. The internal surface  36  is preferably concave with a radius ground into it.  
         [0026]     The lamp housing section  14  houses a UV source  38  comprising a UV lamp  39  for providing the necessary UV light to sterilize the water, a reflector  40 , preferably a spun aluminium reflector which is used to focus the UV light and a lamp socket  42 . The reflector may also be a dichroic ellipsoidal reflector. If any part of the UV source  38  breaks down, the entire UV source  38  is preferably replaced in order to maintain positional relationship between the UV lamp  39  and that reflector  40 . The lamp socket  42  is connected via wiring  44  to a power supply connector  46  for providing power to the lamp  39 . The power supply connector  46  is also connected by wiring  48  to the forced air ventilation fan  32  in the ventilation section  16 . As will be understood by one skilled in the art, the power supply connector  46  is connected to the power supply  9 .  
         [0027]     At one end of the lamp housing body section  26  (near the water treatment chamber  18 ) is a UV conducting fibre optic rod  50 , which, in the present embodiment, is made of quartz. The fibre optic rod  50  provides a connection between the water treatment section  12  and the lamp housing section  14  as will be described in more detail below with respect to  FIG. 3 . As can be seen, the optic rod  50  is preferably screwed into the water treatment chamber  18  with O-ring  52  to assist in sealing the connection. The O-ring  52  is preferably groove machined into the water treatment chamber  18  so that the rod  50  may be screwed down until the O-ring  52  is compressed thereby accurately locating the fibre optic rod  50  at a predetermined distance from the cap  24 .  
         [0028]     Located near the ventilation vents  28  are a pair of light traps  54  which assist in covering the vents  28  so that the UV light from the UV lamp  34  does not escape the lamp housing body  26 , but is focused towards the fibre optic rod  50 , during the sterilization process. As described above, the reflector  40  also assists in focussing the UV light towards the fibre optic rod  50  in order to provide maximum UV light to the rod  50  and therefore the sterilization process, as illustrated by the arrows  51 , during the sterilization process.  
         [0029]     The arrows  51  provide a schematic ray diagram showing various paths taken by the UV light from the lamp and the reflector during the sterilization process. After the UV lamp is powered on, the UV light rays reflect off the reflector towards the second optical end of the fibre optic rod. The UV light rays then travel from the second optical end to the first optical end via the middle section of the rod. The resultants rays fill up the lens at the first optical end which then transfers the UV rays into the water treatment chamber whereby the water is treated by the UV rays and sterilized.  
         [0030]     Turning to  FIG. 4 , a more detailed schematic of the connection between the first embodiment of the fibre optic rod  50  and the water treatment chamber  18  is shown.  
         [0031]     The fibre optic rod  50  comprises a first optical end  56  where an optical lens is ground into the fibre optic rod and covered with an infra-red (IR) reflective coating and a rounded second optical end  58  made from quartz. The quartz used in the second optical end  58  is preferably a high grade UV transmitting quartz such as surpasil quartz. Furthermore, the first optical end  56  may also be manufactured out of suprasil quartz. The second optical end collects UV light from the UV lamp  49  and the reflector  40  and concentrates it for transmission into the water chamber.  
         [0032]     The optical lens used in the first optical end  56  may also be quartz. A middle section  60  of the rod  50 , between the two optical ends  56  and  58 , is manufactured out of quartz which causes the fibre optic rod  50  to be a quartz rod.  
         [0033]     The optical ends and the middle section are held in place by a cylindrical sleeve  61 , preferably manufactured out of stainless steel.  
         [0034]     In an alternative embodiment, the rod  50  may be tapered in order to fit and seal in the opening between the lamp housing body section  26  and the water treatment chamber  18  rather than being screwed in. In this manner, the rod  50  is adhesively bonded to the chamber  18 .  
         [0035]     An O-ring  62  is also located between the cap  24  and the water treatment chamber  18  to seal the connection between the cap  24  and the chamber  18  so that no water may escape from the chamber before, during and after the sterilization process.  
         [0036]     Turning to  FIGS. 5   a  and  5   b , a perspective view and a front view of the UV source  38  are shown. As can be seen in  FIG. 5   a , the UV lamp  39  is located centrally within the dichroic reflector  40 . The position of the lamp  39  with respect to the reflector  40  is quite important since the dichroic reflector is used to reflect/focus the UV light directly onto the second optical end  58  of the fibre optic rod  50 . If the lamp  39  is not centrally located, the impact of the focussed light is lessened. Therefore, when either the reflector  40  or UV lamp  39  needs to be replaced, in order to maintain the spatial relationship between the lamp  39  and the reflector  40 , the entire UV source  38  is replaced and the wiring (not shown) is plugged into the lamp socket  42  of the new UV source.  
         [0037]     Turning to  FIGS. 6   a ,  6   b  and  6   c , schematic views of a second embodiment of the fibre optic rod  100  are shown. As with the fibre optic rod described with respect to  FIG. 4 , the fibre optic rod  100  comprises a first optical end  102  and a second optical end  104  connected together by a middle section  106 . As with the first embodiment, the first optical end  102 , the second optical end  104  and the middle section  106  are housed in a stainless steel sleeve  108 . In this embodiment, the middle section  106  comprises an index matching fluid which has optical qualities which are similar to quartz. In one embodiment, this index matching fluid is de-ionized water such that even if some of the index matching fluid was to escape or leak from the rod  100 , there are little or no health risks associated with the de-ionized water which provides further health benefits for using the water treatment system. The index matching fluid transmits and converges the UV light rays from the lamp  39  and the reflector  40  as if the rod was an entirely solid quartz optical rod as described above.  
         [0038]     There is also an air ballast  110  connected to the middle section  106  of the rod  100 . The air ballast  110  is generally used to connect to a pump for insertion of the index matching fluid into the middle section  106 . The air ballast  110  also allows for expansion of the index matching fluid during the sterilization process since the fluid generally expands when subjected to heat such as from the UV light. Therefore, the air ballast  110  protects the fibre optic rod from exploding due to the increased pressure in the liquid during the sterilization process.  
         [0039]     As with the first embodiment, the fibre optic rod  100  is screwed into the water treatment chamber  18  with the air ballast being located within the lamp housing body. Due to the presence of the air ballast, the level of index matching fluid in the middle section  106  of the rod  100  does not change since the amount of fluid which changes to gas during the sterilization process returns to a liquid form once the UV light is powered off. Therefore, in general, once the fibre optic rod has been installed in the water treatment system  10  there is little or no requirement to pump extra index matching fluid into the rod. The insertion of the index matching fluid takes place before the rod is connected with the water treatment chamber  18 .  
         [0040]     Furthermore, due to a requirement that the air ballast  108  is required to be in a vertical position during use, in this embodiment of the water treatment system  10  the system is installed in the water system with the axis of the water intake, the water treatment chamber and the water outlet forming a line perpendicular to the ground.  
         [0041]     In operation, the optic rod gathers the UV light in its second optical end and then conveys this light to the water while also acting to absorb/deflect infra-red rays from being transmitted into the water.  
         [0042]     In one embodiment of operation, seen as an always-on embodiment, the water treatment system  10  is initially powered up by connecting the power supply connector  46  to the power supply  9 . This provides power to the treatment system  10  allowing for the forced air ventilation fan  32  to operate along with the UV lamp  39 . The forced air ventilation fan  32  operates to cool the inside of the lamp housing body  26  of the lamp housing section  14  since there is a high amount of heat generated by the UV lamp  39  during the sterilization process by drawing in atmospheric air through the ventilation slots  28  and up through the body section  14  to the fan section where the air exits out at the top of the water treatment system  10  thereby passing the UV lamp and the socket.  
         [0043]     After the treatment system  10  is powered up, the UV lamp  39  also turns on. The UV light generated by the UV lamp  39  is then focussed by the reflector  40  at the second optical end  58  of the fibre optic rod  50 . The UV light is also trapped in the lamp housing body section  26  via the light traps  54  located in front of the ventilation vents  28  and directed at the second optical end  58 . The UV light is focussed at the second optical end  58  of the fibre optic rod  50  which then conveys the light through the middle section  60  to the first optical end  56  near the water treatment chamber  18 . The middle section, either the solid quartz rod or the index matching fluid act to reduce the heat being transmitted to the water treatment chamber from the UV lamp.  
         [0044]     While the UV light heats up the fibre optic rod  5 Q untreated water travels into the water treatment chamber  18  via the water intake  20  to the water treatment chamber  18  where it is subjected to the UV light emitted by the first optical end of the fibre optic rod  50  which sterilizes the untreated water. In some cases, the water in the water treatment chamber may also contact the first optical end  56  of the fibre optic rod  50  without affecting the sterilization process. The treated water then travels out of the water treatment chamber  18  via the water outlet  22  where the water is then transferred for use.  
         [0045]     In another embodiment of operation, seen as an on-demand embodiment, the UV source and the fan are initially unpowered. Once a flow sensor, located in the water outlet  22 , senses a request for treated water (i.e. a tap opening), a signal is sent to a processor which causes a gate, located between the water intake  20  and the water treatment chamber  18  to close in order to prevent further untreated water from entering the chamber and holds this water in the water intake  20 . The processor then sends a signal to power up the ventilation fan  32  and the UV source  38 . Once the fan and the source have been powered up (after a slight delay), a signal is sent to the gate to open allowing the untreated water to flow from the water intake  20  to the chamber  18  to be treated. After the water is treated, the water travels from the water outlet to the tap requesting the treated water. Once the tap is closed, the flow sensor senses this and sends a signal to the processor to power down the UV source and the ventilation fan  32  and close the gate once again.  
         [0046]     One advantage of the water treatment system  10  is that the first embodiment (with a fibre optic rod manufactured entirely from quartz) may be installed either horizontally or vertically in the water system  1 . However, with the second embodiment of the water treatment system having the middle section of the fibre optic rod comprising an index matching fluid, the water treatment system must be installed with the axis of the water intake, water treatment chamber and the water outlet in a vertical position.  
         [0047]     The above-described embodiments of the present invention are intended to be examples only. Alterations, modifications and variations may be effected to the particular embodiments by those of skill in the art without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined solely by the claims appended hereto.