Patent Publication Number: US-2023160194-A1

Title: Automatic sewage regulation system and regulating method thereof

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO THE RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a Continuation-In-Part of application Ser. No. 17/172,739, filed on Feb. 10, 2021; which is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 16/423,835, filed on May 28, 2019; for which priority is claimed under 35 U.S.C. § 120, the entire contents of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention provides an automatic sewage regulation system and a regulating method thereof, more particularly to an automatic sewage regulation system which uses an automatic sewage regulating device to regulate sewage outflow volumes of a plurality of preset sewage sources, to keep a water quality sensing value of sewage in an equalization tank within a preset range, so as to reduce a burden of a preset sewage treatment apparatus for sequential treatment, thereby extending lifetime of the preset sewage treatment apparatus. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     With the rapid development of science technology and industry, environmental pollution is becoming more and more serious. Among the environmental problems, the problem of water pollution is the most serious, so plating industry, food processing industry, dyeing industry, traditional industry, semiconductor industry or high-tech industry need sewage treatment plants to treat the discharged sewage. During sewage treatment process, the sewage treatment plant first separates inflow pipelines according to the industry, and measures the inflow water quality status and water volumes of the inflow pipelines, and then converges the multiple sewage sources. Next, a purification process, such as sedimentation, mixing, aeration or filtration, is performed on the converged sewage. The water quality of the purified sewage must be detected, and when the water quality of the purified sewage can meet a sewage discharge standard, the purified sewage can be discharged to an external water area. 
     However, it is hard to predict the volumes and pollution degrees of sewage discharged by various industries, so when a highly-polluting factory suddenly discharges a large volume of highly-polluted sewage to the sewage treatment plant, the sudden inflow of high-polluting sewage possibly damages the purification apparatus in the sewage treatment plant. Furthermore, in order to cope with the sudden highly-polluted sewage, more manpower is required to add extra dosages in the purification apparatus, and it increases extra manpower and dosage cost. Furthermore, most highly-polluting factories discharge sewage during the daytime and not evening period, so these purification apparatuses can only purify and treat low-polluting sewage during the evening period, and it results in a low facility utilization rate of the purification apparatus. When the purification apparatus cannot be effectively utilized, many resources of the sewage treatment plant are wasted. 
     Therefore, what is needed is to develop an automatic sewage regulation system to solve above-mentioned problems. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In order to solve above-mentioned problems, inventors develop an automatic sewage regulation system and a regulating method thereof according to collected data, multiple tests and modification, and years of research experience. 
     An objective of the present invention is that an automatic sewage regulating device can use a plurality of sensing modules to sense water quality sensing values of sewage in plurality of preset sewage sources, and transmit the sensed water quality sensing values to a control module of the automatic sewage regulating device, and the control module can output regulating signals to a plurality of water flow regulators of the automatic sewage regulating device according to the water quality sensing values, so that the plurality of water flow regulators can regulate volumes of sewage flowing from the plurality of preset sewage sources to the equalization tank according to the received regulating signals, so as to keep a water quality sensing value of sewage converging into the equalization tank from the plurality of preset sewage sources within a preset range. The preset sewage treatment apparatus can purify the sewage in the equalization tank to meet a sewage discharge standard. As a result, since the automatic sewage regulating devices are used to stably keep the water quality sensing value of the sewage in the equalization tank within the preset range, it prevents the equalization tank from converging sewage having excessively-high or excessively-low water quality sensing value, so as to reduce the burden of the preset sewage treatment apparatus for sewage treatment and extend the lifetime of the preset sewage treatment apparatus. Furthermore, the water quality sensing value of the sewage in the equalization tank can be kept within the preset range stably, so that the dosage for the purification process of the preset sewage treatment apparatus can be kept in a stable amount, thereby achieving the purpose of reducing sewage treatment cost. 
     Another objective of the present invention is that each of the plurality of preset sewage sources can use the automatic sewage regulating device to automatically regulate the water outflow volume thereof, to extend a time period in which the sewage having the high water quality sensing value flows into the equalization tank, so as to extend a facility utilization time of the preset sewage treatment apparatus and increase a facility utilization rate of the preset sewage treatment apparatus, thereby achieving the purpose of efficient operation and reduced cost. 
     Another objective of the present invention is that each of the plurality of preset sewage sources can use the automatic sewage regulating device to automatically regulate the outflow volume thereof, to keep the water quality sensing value of the sewage in the equalization tank within the preset range stably, so that the dosage for the purification process of the preset sewage treatment apparatus can be kept in a stable amount to save manpower for treatment, thereby achieving purpose of improving purification effect, reducing operational cost and improving operational convenience. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The structure, operating principle and effects of the present invention will be described in detail by way of various embodiments which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 
         FIG.  1    is a block diagram of an automatic sewage regulation system of the present invention. 
         FIG.  2    is a block diagram of a preset sewage treatment apparatus of the present invention. 
         FIG.  3    is a flowchart of a regulating method of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The following embodiments of the present invention are herein described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. These drawings show specific examples of the embodiments of the present invention. These embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. It is to be acknowledged that these embodiments are exemplary implementations and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention in any way. Further modifications to the disclosed embodiments, as well as other embodiments, are also included within the scope of the appended claims. These embodiments are provided so that this disclosure is thorough and complete, and fully conveys the inventive concept to those skilled in the art. Regarding the drawings, the relative proportions and ratios of elements in the drawings may be exaggerated or diminished in size for the sake of clarity and convenience. Such arbitrary proportions are only illustrative and not limiting in any way. The same reference numbers are used in the drawings and description to refer to the same or like parts. 
     It is to be acknowledged that although the terms ‘first’, ‘second’, ‘third’, and so on, may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another component. Thus, a first element discussed herein could be termed a second element without altering the description of the present disclosure. As used herein, the term “or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. 
     It will be acknowledged that when an element or layer is referred to as being “on,” “connected to” or “coupled to” another element or layer, it can be directly on, connected or coupled to the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly connected to” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, there are no intervening elements or layers present. 
     In addition, unless explicitly described to the contrary, the word “comprise” and variations such as “comprises” or “comprising”, will be acknowledged to imply the inclusion of stated elements but not the exclusion of any other elements. 
     Please refer to  FIGS.  1  and  2   , which show a block diagram of an automatic sewage regulation system of the present invention and a block diagram of a preset sewage treatment apparatus of the present invention. As shown in  FIG.  1   , the automatic sewage regulation system is disposed between a plurality of preset sewage sources  1  and a preset sewage treatment apparatus  3 , and the automatic sewage regulation system can include an equalization tank  2  and an automatic sewage regulating device  4 . 
     Each of plurality of preset sewage sources  1  can be a buffer tank configured to receive sewage discharged from a factory  5  or rain water, and each buffer tank includes a water inlet  11  and a water outlet  12 , and the water inlet  11  is in communication to the factory  5 . 
     The equalization tank  2  is connected to the water outlets  12  of the plurality of preset sewage sources  1  and configured to converge the sewage discharged from the plurality of preset sewage sources  1  and discharge the sewage to the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3  for sewage purification treatment. 
     The preset sewage treatment apparatus  3  is connected to the equalization tank  2 , and can include a sewage purification apparatus  31  for purifying the sewage discharged from the equalization tank  2  to meet a sewage discharge standard, and an outfall  32  formed on the sewage purification apparatus  31  and configured to discharge the purified sewage to a preset water area, such as reservoir, river, lake, water bath, ditch or sea. The sewage purification apparatus  31  can include a primary sedimentation tank  311 , a sedimentation tank  312  in communication with the primary sedimentation tank  311 , a mixing tank  313  in communication with the sedimentation tank  312  and the primary sedimentation tank  311 , an aeration tank  314  in communication with the sedimentation tank  312 , a secondary sedimentation tank  315  in communication with the aeration tank  314 , a filter tank  316  in communication with the secondary sedimentation tank  315 , and a sewage discharge detection apparatus  317  disposed on the filter tank  316  and configured to detect whether the water quality meets the sewage discharge standard, and a discharge pump  318  disposed on the sewage discharge detection apparatus  317  and configured to draw the purified sewage to the outfall  32 . 
     The automatic sewage regulating device  4  includes a plurality of sensing modules  41  respectively disposed in the plurality of preset swage sources  1  and configured to sense water quality sensing values, such as turbidity values, suspended-solid values, dissolved oxygen values, temperatures, conductivity values, pH values, oxidation reduction potential values, total dissolved-solid values, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) values, chemical oxygen demand (COD) values, ammonia nitrogen values, heavy metal values or flow rates, etc. The sensing modules  41  are electrically connected to a control module  42  which can receive the water quality sensing values and generate water flow regulation signals according to the water quality sensing values. A plurality of water flow regulators  43  are electrically connected to the control module  42  and disposed in a preset water outlets of the preset sewage sources  1 , respectively, and configured to regulate flow volumes of the sewage flowing from the plurality of preset swage sources  1  into the equalization tank  2  according to the water flow regulation signals transmitted by the control module  42 . 
     In an embodiment, each of the plurality of sensing module  41  of the automatic sewage regulating device  4  can be a water quality sensor for sensing a water quality sensing value indicating a state of the water, for example, the water quality sensor can be a temperature sensor, a conductivity sensor, a pH value sensor, a dissolved oxygen sensor, a total dissolved-solid sensor, an oxidation reduction potential sensor, a turbidity sensor, a suspended-solid sensor, a biochemical oxygen demand sensor, a chemical oxygen demand sensor, an ammonia nitrogen sensor, a heavy metal sensor or a flow meter, etc. 
     Furthermore, the water flow regulator  43  of the automatic sewage regulating device  4  can be a device for controlling a volume of the water flow. For example, the water flow regulator  43  can be a pump, an electric flow regulating valve, or a frequency converter, etc. 
     Please refer to  FIG.  3   , which is a flowchart of a regulating method of the present invention. The regulating method can be executed by the automatic sewage regulation system of the present invention, and include steps (A) to (C), (A 01 ), and (A 02 ). 
     In a step (A), the automatic sewage regulating device  4  can use the plurality of sensing modules  41  to sense the water quality sensing values of the sewage in the plurality of preset sewage sources  1 , and transmit the plurality of sensed water quality sensing values to the control module  42  of the automatic sewage regulating device  4 . 
     In a step (B), the control module  42  outputs the regulating signals to the plurality of water flow regulators  43  of the automatic sewage regulating device  4  according to the plurality of water quality sensing values, so that the plurality of water flow regulators  43  can regulate the volume of the sewage flowing from some or all of the plurality of preset sewage sources  1  to the equalization tank  2  according to the received regulating signal, thereby keeping the water quality sensing value of the sewage converging into the equalization tank  2  from some or all of the plurality of preset sewage sources  1 , within the preset range. 
     In a step (C), the sewage in the equalization tank  2  flows through the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3  which performs the purification process to make the sewage flowing therethrough to meet the sewage discharge standard. As a result, the operation of the automatic sewage regulation system of the present invention is completed. 
     Each of the plurality of preset sewage sources  1  can have the water inlet  11  and the water outlet  12 , and the water outlets  12  of the plurality of preset sewage sources  1  are in communication with the equalization tank  2  together. The sewage discharged from factories  5  or rain water, such as factories in traditional industry, semiconductor industry, high technology industry or other industry, can flow into the water inlets  11  of the plurality of preset sewage sources  1 , and the sewage can flow into the equalization tank  2  via the water outlets  12  of the plurality of preset sewage sources  1 . 
     Furthermore, before the step (B), the regulating method of the present invention can execute steps (A 01 ) and (A 02 ). 
     In a step (A 01 ), the control module  42  of the automatic sewage regulating device  4  accumulates the water quality sensing values sensed by the plurality of sensing modules  41  to obtain a sum, and compare the sum with a preset water quality sensing threshold of the equalization tank  2 , and when the sum of the water quality sensing values sensed by some or all of the plurality of sensing modules  41  is higher than the preset water quality sensing threshold of the equalization tank  2 , a step (B) is executed, and when the sum of the water quality sensing values sensed by some or all of the plurality of sensing modules  41  is lower than the preset water quality sensing threshold of the equalization tank  2 , performing a step (A 02 ) is executed. 
     In a step (A 02 ), the sewage in some or all of the plurality of preset sewage sources  1  are directly converged into the equalization tank  2 , and the regulating method executes the step (C). 
     In the step (A 01 ), when the control module  42  of the automatic sewage regulating device  4  determines that the sum of the water quality sensing values is higher than the preset water quality sensing threshold of the equalization tank  2 , at least one preset sewage source  1  having the water quality sensing value higher than the preset water quality sensing threshold is controlled to decrease the water output volume thereof by the corresponding water flow regulator  43 , and at least one preset sewage source  1  having the water quality sensing value lower than the preset water quality sensing threshold is controlled to increase or keep the water output volume thereof by the corresponding water flow regulator  43 , so as to keep the water quality sensing value of the sewage in the equalization tank  2  below the preset water quality sensing threshold; when the sum of the water quality sensing values is lower than the preset water quality sensing threshold of the equalization tank  2 , at least one preset sewage source  1  having the water quality sensing value higher than the preset water quality sensing threshold is controlled to increase the water output volume thereof by the corresponding water flow regulator  43 , and at least one preset sewage source  1  having the water quality sensing value lower than the preset water quality sensing threshold is controlled to decrease or keep the water output volume thereof by the corresponding water flow regulators  43 , so as to keep the water quality sensing value of the sewage in the equalization tank  2  below the preset water quality sensing threshold. 
     When the sum of the water quality sensing values accumulated by the control module  42  is higher than a preset water quality sensing threshold of the equalization tank  2 , all of the plurality of preset sewage sources  1  having the water quality sensing values higher than the preset water quality sensing threshold are controlled to decrease the water output volume thereof by all of the plurality of water flow regulators  43 , so as to keep the water quality sensing value of the sewage in the equalization tank  2  below the preset water quality sensing threshold, and all of the plurality of preset sewage sources  1  are then controlled to increase or keep the water output volume thereof by all of the plurality of water flow regulators  43 , so as to keep the water quality sensing value of the sewage in the equalization tank  2  below the preset water quality sensing threshold. When the sum of the water quality sensing values accumulated by the control module  42  is lower than the preset water quality sensing threshold of the equalization tank  2 , all of the plurality of preset sewage sources  1  having the water quality sensing values lower than the preset water quality sensing threshold are controlled to increase or keep the water output volume thereof by all of the plurality of water flow regulators  43 , to keep the water quality sensing value of the sewage in the equalization tank  2  below the preset water quality sensing threshold, and the preset sewage sources  1  are then controlled to decrease or keep the water output volume thereof by all of the plurality of water flow regulators  43 , so as to keep the water quality sensing value of the sewage in the equalization tank  2  below the preset water quality sensing threshold. As a result, the burden of the preset sewage treatment apparatus for treating sewage can be reduced, and the lifetime of the preset sewage treatment apparatus can be extended. 
     In an embodiment, the automatic sewage regulating device  4  can include the sensing module  41  disposed in the equalization tank  2 . In the step (A), the sensing module  41  disposed in the equalization tank  2  can transmit the water quality sensing value of the sewage in the equalization tank  2  to the control module  42  of the automatic sewage regulating device  4 ; as a result, the sensing module  41  in the equalization tank  2  can be used to sense the water quality sensing value of the sewage in the equalization tank  2  in real time, to indeed keep the water quality sensing value of the sewage in the equalization tank  2  converging from the plurality of preset sewage sources  1 , within the preset range, thereby improving operational accuracy of regulating sewage volumes of the plurality of preset sewage sources  1 . 
     In the step (C), the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3  can use the primary sedimentation tank  311 , the sedimentation tank  312 , the mixing tank  313 , the aeration tank  314 , the secondary sedimentation tank  315  and the filter tank  316  of the sewage purification apparatus  31  to purify the sewage, and use the sewage discharge detection apparatus  317  to monitor whether the water quality of the sewage in the filter tank  316  meets the sewage discharge standard. When the water quality of the sewage in the filter tank  316  meets the sewage discharge standard, the discharge pump  318  can draw the purified sewage to the outfall  32  for discharging. 
     Furthermore, the aeration tank  314  of the sewage purification apparatus  31  can comprise an aeration reflow pipeline  3141  disposed on a side thereof and in communication with the equalization tank  2 , and a driver device  3142  disposed on the aeration reflow pipeline  3141  and electrically connected to the control module  42 . In an embodiment, the driver device  3142  can be a pump. When the plurality of sensing modules  41  of the automatic sewage regulating device  4  sense that the sum of the plurality of water quality sensing values is higher than a preset tolerable concentration of the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3 , the control module  42  enables the driver device  3142  to make aerated water of the aeration tank  314  reflow to the equalization tank  2  via the aeration reflow pipeline  3141 , so as to keep the water quality sensing value of the equalization tank  2  within the preset tolerable concentration of the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3 , and stably keep the water quality sensing value of the sewage the equalization tank  2  converging from the plurality of preset sewage sources  1  within the preset range, thereby facilitating the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3  to effectively perform purification operation and preventing the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3  from being damaged by impact of more-concentrated sewage. 
     In an embodiment, the automatic sewage regulating device  4  can include the sensing module  41  disposed in the equalization tank  2 , and when the sensing module  41  senses that the water quality sensing value of the sewage in the equalization tank  2  is higher than the preset tolerable concentration of the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3 , the aeration tank  314  of the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3  can reflow internal aerated water into the equalization tank  2 , so as to reduce the water quality sensing value of the sewage in the equalization tank  2  to below the value of the preset tolerable concentration of the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3 . 
     In practical usage of the automatic sewage regulation system of the present invention, the plurality of sensing modules  41  of the automatic sewage regulating device  4  can be used to sense the water quality sensing values of the sewage in the plurality of preset sewage sources  1 , and the plurality of sensing modules  41  can transmit the sensed water quality sensing values to the control module  42  to perform analysis and calculation for regulation operation, and then the control module  42  can output the regulating signals to the plurality of water flow regulators  43 , the plurality of water flow regulators  43  can regulate the flow volumes of the sewage flowing from the plurality of preset sewage sources  1  upon receipt of the received regulating signals, so as to keep the water quality sensing values of the sewage converging to the equalization tank  2  from the plurality of preset sewage sources  1  within the preset range, and when the sewage in the equalization tank  2  is discharged outwardly, the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3  can purify and filter the sewage to meet the sewage discharge standard. Since the plurality of preset sewage sources  1  can regulate the outflow volumes thereof by the automatic sewage regulating device  4 , the water quality sensing value of the sewage in the equalization tank  2  can be kept within the preset range, to prevent the sewage having excessive-high or excessive-low water quality sensing value from converging into the equalization tank  2 . As a result, the burden of the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3  for treating sewage can be reduced, and the lifetime of the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3  can be extended. 
     According to above-mentioned content, the automatic sewage regulation system and the regulating method of the present invention have advantages below. 
     First, the automatic sewage regulating device  4  can automatically regulate the outflow volumes of the plurality of preset sewage sources  1 , to keep the water quality sensing value of the sewage in the equalization tank  2  within the preset range stably, so as to prevent the sewage having excessive-high or excessive-low water quality sensing value from converging into the equalization tank  2 , thereby reducing the burden of the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3  for treating sewage and extending the lifetime of the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3 . Since the water quality sensing value of the sewage in the equalization tank  2  is kept within the preset range stably, so that the dosage for the purification process of the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3  can be kept in a stable amount, and the sewage treatment cost can be reduced. 
     Secondly, the plurality of preset sewage sources  1  can automatically regulate the outflow volumes by the automatic sewage regulating device  4 , so that the time period in which the sewage having high water quality sensing value flows into the equalization tank  2  can be extended, and the facility utilization time of the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3  can be extended, thereby increasing the facility utilization rate of the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3 , and achieving the effect of improving operational efficiency and reducing operational cost. 
     Thirdly, the plurality of preset sewage sources  1  can automatically regulate the outflow volumes by the automatic sewage regulating device  4 , to stably keep the water quality sensing value of the sewage in the equalization tank  2  within the preset range, so that the preset sewage treatment apparatus  3  can use the dosage in a stable amount for purification process, thereby saving manpower for treatment and achieving effect of improving purification, reducing operational cost, and improving convenience in operation. 
     The present invention disclosed herein has been described by means of specific embodiments. However, numerous modifications, variations and enhancements can be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure set forth in the claims.