CN113968604A

CN113968604A - System and method for treating water for animal consumption

Info

Publication number: CN113968604A
Application number: CN202010734408.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陈拥军; 高明星; 杨小丰; 张春锦
Original assignee: Herosos Water Purification Technology Shanghai Co ltd; Strix Ltd
Current assignee: Herosos Water Purification Technology Shanghai Co ltd; Strix Ltd
Priority date: 2020-07-24
Filing date: 2020-07-24
Publication date: 2022-01-25
Also published as: GB202013594D0; GB2597542A; WO2022018461A1

Abstract

A system (200) for treating water for consumption by an animal, the system comprising a plurality of disinfection boxes (450n) arranged in parallel. A controllable valve (445n) is arranged in the water flow in series with the associated disinfection box (450 n). A flow monitoring device (225) is arranged to monitor one or more parameters related to the flow of water through the water inlet (220). A controller is configured to selectively operate the valves (445n) in response to one or more parameters measured by the flow monitoring device to control the flow of water to each associated sterilization cassette to adjust the amount of sterilization species released as water flows through the parallel arrangement of sterilization cassettes (450 n).

Description

System and method for treating water for animal consumption

Background

Providing clean drinking water for animals, particularly poultry, has a significant impact on the health and performance of the animals, such as growth rate, feed conversion ratio, health or egg production, etc. Farm raw water may come from a variety of sources, such as municipal water, ground water, and even surface water and rain, all of which may be contaminated with microorganisms to varying degrees. In addition, a biofilm may form in the drinking water line, protecting pathogenic microorganisms. Regardless of the source of water, the water must be purified before it is provided to the animal for consumption, as microorganisms present in the drinking water may cause the animal to become ill. In addition, some microorganisms can reduce the effectiveness of drugs and vaccines dispensed through the water supply. However, the purification of pathogenic microorganisms in raw water and the accumulation of biofilm in water pipes present challenges to the provision of clean water. It is therefore an object of the present invention to address some of the challenges.

Biofilms are mucus that adheres to surfaces, encapsulating bacteria, fungi, and algae in extracellular polysaccharides and other organic compounds. Thus, biofilms have a dual role, one of providing a hotbed for the microorganisms to reproduce, and the other of protecting the microorganisms from biocides. Biofilm formation is prevalent in slow-flowing water systems with sufficient nutrients, such as joint drinking fountain systems for animal houses. Furthermore, farms often add additives to the animal drinking water, which may be used as a food source for the biofilm to promote its growth. These additives include flavored gelatin mixes, powdered drink mixes, vitamins, electrolytes, sugar water, stabilizers, antibiotics, and the like. Once formed, biofilms are difficult to eradicate, which presents challenges to the cleaning and maintenance of clean water supplies.

It is well known that drinking water disinfection is critical to effectively inhibit the presence of microorganisms and biofilm build-up in the drinking water system of animals. The purpose of water disinfection is to eliminate pathogens that may be present in the water, including pathogens that originate from water source contamination, and pathogens that may be added to the water, for example, if infected animals obtain water in a drinking fountain. It is therefore known to provide residual amounts of disinfectants, such as chlorine, in drinking water lines to help eliminate such pathogens.

Several water disinfection schemes have been widely adopted in the aquaculture industry. Ultrafiltration (UF) is a membrane filtration process that acts as a barrier to separate harmful bacteria, viruses, and other contaminants from contaminated water. This technique has been developed to effectively remove pathogens from raw water supplies, but it does not provide disinfectant residuals throughout the water distribution lines. Another common option in this field is to manually add disinfecting chemicals to the water supply, such as household bleach, sodium hypochlorite, hydrogen peroxide, stable hydrogen peroxide or chlorine dioxide.

In the poultry industry, chlorine products have been the primary water disinfection product for many years. Common chlorine sources used in poultry drinking water disinfection in poultry operations are sodium hypochlorite, elemental chlorine, and calcium hypochlorite. Since chlorination disinfection is better at lower pH (usually below 6.5), drinking water often needs to be acidified to support the efficacy of the chlorine disinfectant, thereby increasing residual disinfection (supporting better performance of the birds). However, in order to avoid the influence on the amount of water used, it is necessary to carefully select among various conventional acid products. When chlorine and an acid agent are used together in water, they are mixed and injected separately so as not to form toxic gas. The disinfection efficacy of chlorine is greatly reduced due to inorganic and organic nitrogen-containing contaminants in the poultry drinking water system. In addition, there is a concern that microorganisms may develop resistance to chlorine products if they are improperly used.

A conventional and simple operation known in the art to maintain the waterway system clean is to perform a conventional flush. Rinsing helps to wash away potential food sources of bacteria or other organisms. However, frequent flushing of waterways can increase maintenance costs (e.g., labor costs, water costs, and waste water disposal costs). Effective water disinfection operations can reduce the frequency of flushes if biofilm growth in the waterway system has been substantially inhibited. However, such systems require the drinking water supply from the drinking line to be shut off, and therefore the effectiveness of the long term rinsing or disinfection must be balanced against the requirement that the animal cannot be supplied with water for a long period of time. This often results in sterilization being performed at night when drinking water demand is minimal and may result in inefficient sterilization.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved system and method for treating animal drinking water with a disinfecting effect.

US 2003/0044378, US 2004/0086480 and US 2012/0035284, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, disclose bactericidal halogenated polystyrene hydantoin particles. Cross-linked porous halogenated polystyrene hydantoin beads, also known as HaloPure^TMIs a water-drinking system for humanContact sterilant beads. However, if the expensive HaloPure is not replaced regularly^TMThe filter makes it difficult to achieve long-term continuous control and consistent bromine sterilant usage, which is economically impractical for animal farms. It is therefore another object of the present invention to provide a cost effective system and method that can incorporate HaloPure^TMTechniques are used to treat animal drinking water.

Disclosure of Invention

When viewed from a first aspect the present invention provides a system for treating water for consumption by an animal, the system comprising:

a plurality of sterilization cases arranged in parallel, wherein each sterilization case includes a medium containing a releasable sterilization species that is released into water in contact with the medium as water flows through the case;

a water inlet arranged to supply a flow of water to the parallel arrangement of sterilization cases;

one or more controllable valves disposed in the flow of water from the water inlet, each controllable valve being disposed in series with an associated sterilization cassette of the plurality of sterilization cassettes;

a flow monitoring device arranged to monitor one or more parameters relating to the flow of water through the water inlet; and

a controller configured to selectively operate the one or more controllable valves in response to one or more parameters measured by the flow monitoring device to control the flow of water to each associated sterilization cassette to adjust the amount of sterilization seeds released as water flows through the parallel arrangement of sterilization cassettes.

The controller in the system may ensure that the controllable valves are operated to regulate the number of parallel arranged disinfection boxes through which the water flows. This may help to achieve a desired and/or constant level of sterilization (i.e., the amount of sterilization seeds per unit volume of water being treated) regardless of variations in the flow parameters. Thus, the system can provide a safe and effective amount of the sterilization seeds in the water supply to inactivate microorganisms and control and prevent biofilm formation.

The system advantageously takes into account those parameters relating to water flow that can affect the amount of biocidal species released when water flows through the parallel arranged disinfection boxes. In one or more embodiments, the one or more parameters related to water flow through the water inlet include one or more of: actual flow rate, average flow rate, total volume of water.

The inventors have recognized that one of the fluctuations associated with water treatment systems for treating water for animal consumption is the rate at which the bactericidal species is released from the medium in the water disinfection cartridge based on the volume of water that is self-installed or replenished with the water disinfection cartridge to treat. For example, the concentration of released biocidal species typically decreases gradually over the long-term exposure over the life of each cartridge.

In at least some embodiments, the controller is configured to selectively operate at least one of the controllable valves in response to a total volume of water that has flowed through the water inlet since an initial time t 0. Initial time t0 may correspond to the time at which one or more sterilization cases are first installed, replaced, provided for use, replenished or refilled, or may otherwise indicate the beginning of the operational life of one or more sterilization cases. In at least some embodiments, initial time t0 corresponds to the time at which water begins to flow through one or more of the plurality of sterilization cassettes after installation, replacement, or refilling.

In at least some embodiments, the controller is configured to selectively operate at least one of the controllable valves to close concurrent flow of water from the water inlet to the associated disinfection cartridge in a first phase corresponding to a total volume of water below a volume threshold and to open concurrent flow of water from the water inlet to the associated disinfection cartridge in a second phase corresponding to a total volume of water above the volume threshold. This means that the valve is operated to bring one or more further sterilisation cassettes online in the second stage. For example, when water flows through the parallel arrangement in the first stage, the amount of released biocide species may gradually decrease as the total volume of water increases and the disinfection box is depleted, but this may be compensated for by opening a valve to allow water to flow through one or more additional disinfection boxes that have not been depleted. Even operating a single valve in this manner can extend the useful life of the system.

It has been recognized that a system comprising a plurality of controllable valves allows for selectively opening or closing different branches of a parallel flow arrangement at different times. In at least some further embodiments, the controller is configured to selectively operate another one of the controllable valves to open concurrent water flow from the water inlet to another associated disinfection cartridge in a third phase, wherein the third phase corresponds to a total volume of water above another volume threshold. Thus, when the total volume of water increases above another volume threshold, one or more additional disinfection cassettes may be loaded into a parallel arrangement. It will be appreciated that any number of volume thresholds may be applied to determine the subsequent stage in which the total volume of water has increased and additional disinfection cassettes are brought into the parallel flow arrangement to assist in the amount of sterilization species released as water flows through the parallel arrangement.

In at least some embodiments, the system includes a plurality of n disinfection cartridges arranged in parallel and a plurality of n controllable valves each arranged in series with one of the n disinfection cartridges, wherein the controller is configured to selectively operate the plurality of m controllable valves to open parallel water flow from the water inlet to the m disinfection cartridges arranged in parallel according to a total volume of water flowing through the water inlet since an initial time t0, where m ≦ n.

It has also been realised that a plurality of valves may make it possible to close one branch of the parallel arrangement when the disinfection box needs to be replenished or replaced, the water flow being diverted through one or more other branches of the parallel arrangement that are open, which means that the water treatment is not interrupted.

In at least some embodiments, the one or more controllable valves include a first valve arranged in series with a first of the parallel arranged sterilization cassettes and a second valve arranged in series with a second of the sterilization cassettes; wherein the controller is configured to selectively operate the first valve to open a first flow of water from the water inlet to the first disinfection box in a first phase and to selectively operate the second valve to open a second concurrent flow of water from the water inlet to the second disinfection box in a second phase, wherein the first phase corresponds to a total volume of water below a volume threshold and the second phase corresponds to a total volume of water above the volume threshold; and wherein the controller is configured to selectively operate the first valve to close the first flow of water from the water inlet to the first disinfection cartridge in a third phase, wherein the third phase corresponds to a total volume of water above the final volume threshold. Thus, the first cassette can be replenished or replaced in a third phase once the second cassette comes online. This method may be reversed once the second cartridge has been depleted.

Furthermore, this method can be extended to any number of controllable valves. In at least some embodiments, the system includes a plurality of n disinfection cartridges arranged in parallel and a plurality of n controllable valves each arranged in series with one of the n disinfection cartridges, wherein the controller is configured to selectively operate the plurality of m controllable valves to close parallel water flow from the water inlet to the m disinfection cartridges arranged in parallel according to a total volume of water flowing through the water inlet since an initial time t0, where m ≦ n. The m disinfection boxes can be replenished or replaced while the water flow through the parallel arrangement is closed. Of course, the initial time t0 may be reset when one or more sterilization cassettes are replenished or replaced.

The inventors have recognized that another fluctuation associated with water treatment systems for treating water for animal consumption is the flow rate of water through the system. The demand for drinking water in farms may vary greatly, for example at different times of day and night.

In at least some embodiments, the controller is configured to selectively operate at least one of the controllable valves in response to an actual or average flow rate of water through the water inlet.

In at least some embodiments, the controller is configured to selectively operate at least one of the controllable valves to close concurrent water flow from the water inlet to the associated disinfection cartridge in a first phase and to open concurrent water flow from the water inlet to the associated disinfection cartridge in a second phase, wherein the first phase corresponds to an actual or average flow rate below a flow rate threshold and the second phase corresponds to an actual or average flow rate above the flow rate threshold. This means that the valve is operated to bring one or more further sterilisation cassettes online in the second stage. For example, as the flow rate increases, the amount of biocidal species released from each sterilization cassette may decrease due to the shorter contact time with the medium, but this may be compensated for by a further sterilization cassette arranged in parallel in the second stage. Even operating a single valve in this manner can extend the operating range of the system despite fluctuations in flow rate.

It has been recognized that a system consisting of multiple controllable valves can have different branches of a parallel flow arrangement selectively opened or closed in response to fluctuations in flow rate. More generally, the controller may take into account the actual or average flow rate when determining the number of parallel legs to be included in the parallel flow arrangement. For example, the parallel flow arrangement may comprise at least two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten or more parallel branches. In such an example, each parallel branch may include at least one sterilization cassette and an associated controllable valve arranged in series with the sterilization cassette.

In at least some embodiments, the system includes a plurality of n disinfection cartridges arranged in parallel and a plurality of n controllable valves each arranged in series with one of the n disinfection cartridges, wherein the controller is configured to selectively operate the plurality of m controllable valves to open parallel water flow from the water inlet to the m disinfection cartridges arranged in parallel according to an actual or average flow rate of water through the water inlet, wherein m ≦ n.

In some preferred embodiments, the controller is configured to be responsive to a plurality of parameters relating to the flow of water through the water inlet, for example taking into account both the total volume and the actual or average flow rate.

In at least some embodiments, the controller is configured to receive measurements made by the flow monitoring device to determine:

(iii) a volume parameter representing a total volume of water flowing through the water inlet from an initial time t 0; and

(iv) a flow rate parameter representing an actual or average flow rate of water through the water inlet;

wherein the controller is configured to assign a volume phase based on the volume parameter and a flow rate sub-phase based on the flow rate parameter. The controller may use a look-up table of volume phases and flow rate sub-phases.

In at least some further embodiments, the system includes a plurality of n disinfection cassettes arranged in parallel and a plurality of n controllable valves each arranged in series with one of the n disinfection cassettes, wherein the controller is configured to selectively operate the plurality of m controllable valves to open parallel water flow from the water inlet to the m disinfection cassettes arranged in parallel according to the dispensed volume and flow sub-phases, where m ≦ n.

The system may include any suitable type of controllable valve. When the controller operates the valve, it means to open or close the valve or otherwise adjust the flow rate through the valve. In some examples, the one or more controllable valves are fixed on/off valves. In some examples, the one or more controllable valves are proportional valves. Of course, the system may include a mix of different valve types. In at least some embodiments, the controller is configured to send control signals (wired or wireless signals) to the one or more controllable valves. Thus, the system is automated, rather than requiring any manual valve operation.

The system may include any suitable number of sterilization cases. For example, the parallel flow arrangement may include at least two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, or more than ten sterilization cassettes. In at least some embodiments, the plurality of sterilization cases includes an even number of sterilization cases arranged in parallel, wherein a first half of the sterilization cases are arranged in a first parallel branch and a second half of the sterilization cases are arranged in a second parallel branch.

As described above, the present invention relates to a sterilization case that includes a medium containing a releasable biocidal species that is released into the water in contact with the medium as the water flows through the case, so that the total contact time (in terms of total volume) and/or the instantaneous contact time (in terms of flow rate) can affect the amount of biocidal species that is released. In at least some embodiments, the amount of biocidal species released as water flows through the sterilization case tends to decrease as the total volume of water in contact with the medium increases. This results in a decrease in the concentration of the bactericidal species per unit volume.

In at least some embodiments, the biocidal species released by each sterilization case includes an oxidizing halogen, such as oxidizing bromine (Br)⁺). In at least some embodiments, each sterilization case includes a medium comprising germicidal halogenated (e.g., brominated) polymer resin beads. In one or more examples, the germicidal species includes 5 wt% to 90 wt% halogen oxide, preferably 30-35% halogen oxide, such as bromine oxide (Br)⁺). Suitable sterilization cassettes are described in US 2003/0044378, US 2004/0086480 and US 2012/0035284, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

In some embodiments, the sterilization cassettes each include a flow-through column containing a releasable, sterile medium. In some embodiments, the sterilization cases each include a bed filter comprising a polymeric medium, such as polymeric resin beads, such as a bactericidal halogenated polymer, such as a bactericidal brominated polymeric resin beads, such as N-halamine bactericidal polymeric resin beads, such as halogenated (e.g., brominated) polystyrene hydantoin resin beads, such as brominated polystyrene hydantoin resin beads, such as methylated polystyrene hydantoin resin beads.

In some embodiments, the medium is arranged to release a bactericidal species comprising an oxidizing halogen, such as oxidizing chlorine, preferably such as oxidizing bromine. The biocidal species (e.g., bromine) is released into the water as it passes through the medium (e.g., halogenated resin beads), preferably at a controlled rate.

In some embodiments, the bactericidal species released by the medium is a halogen, such as a chlorine oxide, such as a bromine oxide. In a preferred embodiment, the bactericidal species is bromine oxide (Br)⁺). It is understood that oxidation of bromine at pH values corresponding to normal drinking water of 6.5-8.5 will form hypobromous acid (HOBr), a disinfectant species. Hypobromous acid can easily pass through bromine (Br) in water₂) Is formed, with the equilibrium to the right, at a pH between 6.5 and 8.5, favours the formation of HOBr.

Hypobromous acid has superior antibacterial activity to the similar species of chlorine (hypochlorous acid). Hypobromous acid readily reacts with ammonia and amines to produce bromoamines, which are also effective germicidal species. These biocidal species, which may be referred to as "residual bromine," remain in the water after being transferred out of the disinfection box, and thus may provide a biocidal effect in the water delivery system downstream of the disinfection box.

In embodiments where the medium is halogenated (e.g., brominated) polystyrene hydantoin resin particles, a halogen species (e.g., bromine, such as chlorine) may be chemically bound to amide nitrogen (1) and/or imine nitrogen (2). Upon contact with water, the halogen dissociates (as shown in the figure below) to produce hypohalous acids (e.g., hypobromous acid, e.g., hypochlorous acid).

It is understood that amide-halogen bonds are stronger than imine-halogen bonds (due at least in part to increased electron density in the amide-halogen bond due to fewer adjacent electron withdrawing groups), and therefore the dissociation constant for bromine release is greater for imine-halogen bound species (thereby producing more hypohalous acid).

In some embodiments, when installed in a sterilization case, the medium (e.g., resin beads) comprises 5 to 90 wt% of an oxidizing halogen (e.g., bromine, e.g., chlorine), e.g., 10 to 80 wt%, e.g., 10 to 60 wt%, e.g., 10 to 20 wt%, e.g., 12 to 18 wt%, e.g., at least 15 wt%, e.g., 15 to 40 wt%, e.g., 15 to 36 wt%, e.g., at least 20 wt%, e.g., 20 to 35 wt%, e.g., 22 to 32 wt%. In a preferred embodiment, the germicidal species is selected to be bromine.

In one or more examples, the particles (e.g., beads) of the media (e.g., resin beads) are between 100 microns and 5000 microns in size, such as between 100 microns and 1500 microns, such as between 200 microns and 1500 microns, such as between 300 microns and 100 microns in size.

In a preferred embodiment, the sterilization cassette is selected to include a cassette comprising a medium containing releasable oxidizing bromine, such as HaloPure containing brominated polystyrene hydantoin beads^TMAnd (5) a box.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of treating water for consumption by an animal, the method comprising:

arranging a supply of water through a water treatment system, the system comprising:

the method comprises the following steps:

measuring one or more parameters related to water flow through the water inlet; and

controlling the one or more controllable valves to open or close in response to the one or more parameters to control the flow of water to each associated sterilization case to adjust the amount of sterilization seeds released when water flows through the parallel arrangement of sterilization cases.

As mentioned above, controlling the at least one valve in response to one or more parameters related to the water flow through the water inlet means that the number of active parallel branches in a parallel arranged disinfection box can be adjusted. This may be a dynamic adjustment method that provides real-time response to variable flow parameters of the system.

In at least some embodiments, the method comprises: the number m of one or more controllable valves that are open at any given time is determined to achieve a constant amount of sterilization species released per unit volume as water flows through the parallel arrangement of sterilization cassettes. The number m may be ≧ 1. The step of determining the number m of one or more controllable valves that are open at any given time may comprise calculating the number m or looking up the number m, for example using a look-up table stored in a memory. This approach may also provide benefits even when a single valve is selectively opened or closed in response to a measured flow parameter.

As described above, the system may include a plurality of controllable valves, and thus the method may be applied to determine the number of valves to be opened or closed at any given time. In at least some embodiments, a system includes a plurality of n sterilization cassettes arranged in parallel and a plurality of n controllable valves each arranged in series with one of the n sterilization cassettes, the method including: operating a plurality of m controllable valves to open parallel water flows from the water inlet to m disinfection boxes arranged in parallel, where m ≦ n, depending on one or more parameters.

As already disclosed, the one or more parameters relating to the flow of water through the water inlet may include one or more of: actual flow rate, average flow rate, total volume of water that has passed through the water inlet since the initial time t 0.

In at least some embodiments, the method is a computer-implemented method. The disclosed method may be performed by a processor.

The method according to the invention may be implemented at least partly using software, e.g. a computer program. It will thus be seen that the present invention, when viewed from a further embodiment, provides computer software adapted specifically for carrying out the methods described herein when installed on a data processor, a computer program element comprising computer software code portions for performing the methods described herein when the program element is run on the data processor, and a computer program comprising code adapted to perform all the steps of the methods described herein when the program is run on a data processing system. Accordingly, the present invention extends to a computer readable storage medium storing computer software code which, when run on a data processing system, performs the methods described herein.

The invention also extends to a computer software carrier comprising such software arranged to perform the steps of the method of the invention. Such a computer software carrier may be a physical storage medium such as a ROM chip, CD ROM, RAM, flash memory or magnetic disk, or a signal such as an electronic signal over a wire, an optical signal or a wireless signal such as to a satellite or the like.

It will be further appreciated that not all steps of the method of the present invention need be performed by computer software, and thus viewed from another broad embodiment, the present invention provides computer software installed on a computer software carrier for performing at least one step of the method described herein.

The present invention may accordingly suitably be embodied as a computer program product for use with a computer system. Such embodiments may comprise a series of computer readable instructions, optionally fixed on a tangible non-transitory medium, such as a computer readable storage medium, e.g., a floppy disk, CD ROM, RAM, flash memory, or hard disk. It may also include a series of computer readable instructions which may be conveyed to a computer system by a modem or other interface device, by a tangible medium, including but not limited to optical or analog communications lines, or intangibly using wireless techniques, including but not limited to microwave, infrared or other transmission techniques. A series of computer readable instructions embodies all or part of the functionality previously described herein.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that such computer readable instructions can be written in a number of programming languages for use with many computer architectures or operating systems. Further, such instructions may be stored using any memory technology, present or future, including but not limited to semiconductor, magnetic, or optical, or transmitted using any communications technology, present or future, including but not limited to optical, infrared, or microwave. It is contemplated that such a computer program product may be distributed as a removable medium with accompanying printed or electronic documentation, for example, shrink wrapped software, preloaded with a computer system, for example, on system ROM or fixed disk, or distributed from a server or electronic bulletin board over the network, for example, the internet or world wide web.

As can be appreciated from the discussion above, the various aspects and embodiments of the present invention may find particular use in treating and disinfecting water consumed by animals. In particular, it has been found that the release contains bromine oxide (Br)⁺) The germicidal species of (a) have the dual effect of contact disinfection and a sustained disinfection effect due to the presence of a certain amount of residual bromine in the treated water, which prevents biofilm build up in the downstream drinking water distribution system for animal consumption. Thus, when viewed from another aspect the invention provides a method of treating drinking water for an animal, the method comprising:

arranging an input feed water to pass through a water treatment system comprising at least one disinfection unit comprising a medium containing releasable biocidal species released into water in contact with said medium as water flows through said disinfection unit, wherein said biocidal species comprises bromine oxide (Br)⁺)；

An output water supply is arranged to be delivered from the water treatment system to a drinking water distribution system for consumption by the animal.

In at least some embodiments, the method can further comprise: the output water supply is arranged to be delivered from the water treatment system to a drinking water distribution system in a farm. The farm may be a livestock or poultry farm.

Drawings

Some embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a water treatment system according to one embodiment of the present invention in a parallel configuration;

FIG. 2 illustrates a water treatment system according to another embodiment of the present invention in a linear configuration;

FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of the sterilization system illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 in more detail;

FIG. 4 illustrates one exemplary configuration of a sterilization unit that forms part of the sterilization system shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 illustrates in more detail one exemplary configuration of the feed system shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 6 illustrates in more detail one exemplary configuration of the pre-processing unit shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 7 provides a more detailed overview of a water treatment system according to the parallel-type embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram of an apparatus for controlling a water treatment system according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing the amount of biocide within the sterilization cassette media as a function of the total volume of water passing through the system;

FIG. 10 illustrates a HaloPure^TMTypical bromine release profile of the sterilization cassette.

Detailed Description

As can be seen in fig. 1 and 2, the integrated

water treatment system

100, 102 is made up of a plurality of modular units (pretreatment unit 110, disinfection system unit 200, and dosing system unit 300) that may be arranged in any suitable or desired configuration. Fig. 1 shows an embodiment in which the sterilization system 200 and the feeding system 300 are arranged in parallel. Fig. 2 illustrates an embodiment in which the sterilization system 200 and the feeding system 300 are arranged in series.

As shown in fig. 1, raw water to be disinfected (e.g., untreated water) enters the system 100 through a main line 105, the main line 105 being fluidly connected to an optional pretreatment unit 110. The pretreated water exits the pretreatment unit 110 through a water inlet line 115, which water inlet line 115 splits at a junction 120 into a water inlet line 130 and a feed line 140. Water inlet line 130 provides a source of water for sterilization system 200. In this embodiment, an optional pressure gauge 125 is disposed in the water inlet line 130 downstream of the junction 120 for measuring the pressure of the water supplied to the disinfection system 200. The disinfection system 200 outputs clean (e.g., disinfected) potable water to the potable water lines 135 for consumption by the poultry 150 (or other animals). Feed line 140 is connected to the same water inlet line 115 as disinfection system 200 to provide parallel water input to feed system 300. The feed system 300 outputs water containing additives to the feeder line 145 for consumption by the poultry 150 (or other animals).

The system 102 shown in fig. 2 is similar to the system 100 shown in fig. 1, with raw water entering the (optional) pretreatment unit 110 via main line 105 and exiting the pretreatment unit 110 via water inlet line 115. In this embodiment, the water inlet line 115 is not bifurcated prior to providing a source of water to the sterilization system 200. The water inlet line 115 has an optional pressure gauge 125 arranged to measure the pressure of the water supplied to the disinfection system 200. The disinfection system 200 outputs clean (e.g., disinfected) potable water to a clean water line 160, which clean water line 160 is then split downstream into a clean water line 132 and a feed line 142 at a junction 122. The clean water line 132 provides clean (e.g., sanitized) drinking water to the drinking line 135 for consumption by the poultry 150. Feed line 142 provides a liquid input to feed system 300. The feed system 300 outputs clean water containing additives to the feeder line 145 for consumption by the poultry 150. As will be described further below, with reference to fig. 5, the dosing system 300 may include suitable filters to substantially remove the biocidal species present in the sanitized water prior to addition of the additive, for example, where the presence of the biocidal species may reduce the efficacy of the additive, such as drugs, vitamins, minerals, nutritional supplements, and the like.

Figures 3 to 6 show modular assemblies of the units shown in figures 1 and 2.

Fig. 3 shows an example arrangement of a disinfection system 200 for treating animal-consumption water. As described above, the feed water is input to the sterilization system 200 through the feed water line 130 (or 115), the feed water line 130 being split at the bypass line input node 210 into the sterilization inlet 220 and the bypass line 215, the sterilization inlet 220 being arranged to supply a flow of water to the sterilization unit 400, the bypass line 215 being arranged to provide a backup water supply line that may be used, for example, when the sterilization unit 400 is serviced. The disinfection inlet 220 brings a water flow into a disinfection unit 400 comprising a plurality n (n ≧ 1) of water disinfection boxes 450n arranged in parallel. The sterilization species are released into the water before the water flowing through the sterilization unit 400 reaches the sterilization outlet 230. The bypass line 215 provides a bypass flow path that is output at a bypass output node 240 downstream of the disinfection outlet 230.

A flow meter (or other flow monitoring device) 225 is disposed in the water inlet line 220 downstream of the junction 210 to measure one or more parameters related to the flow of water into the disinfection unit 400.

A bypass valve 250 is located in the bypass line 215 and is arranged to control whether the bypass line 215 is active (valve 250 open) or inactive (valve 250 closed). Bypass valve 250 is preferably a fixed valve, such as a valve that may be configured to open or close. Fig. 8 shows that the bypass valve 250 is automatically controlled by the controller 700. However, the bypass valve 250 may also be a separate valve not controlled by the controller 700, such as a manually operated bypass valve 250. Typically, the bypass valve 250 is opened (automatically or manually) only when the disinfection unit 400 is not operating or needs to be disconnected for maintenance.

The disinfection unit 400 outputs clean (e.g., disinfected) drinking water containing residual sterilization species through the disinfection outlet 230 and is then directed through the bypass output node 240. The disinfection outlet line 230 optionally has a pressure gauge 260 downstream of the bypass output node 240 and arranged to measure the water pressure of the clean (e.g. disinfected) drinking water output from the disinfection system. The sterilized water is provided as potable water to the drinking line 135 for consumption by the poultry 150 (or other animals). The broken line shown in the path between the bypass output node 240 and the drink line 135 illustrates that clean water may pass through other modules or systems before it is at the consumption point of the drink line 135.

The operation of the sterilization system 200 will be described below.

Fig. 4 shows an example of an arrangement of a sterilizing unit 400 comprising two parallel arranged sterilizing cassettes 450. Although this example depicts two sterilization cases, alternative embodiments may include any number of sterilization cases, such as six sterilization cases. The disinfection inlet 220 is arranged to supply a flow of water to the disinfection cassettes 450 arranged in parallel by diverging at a branch junction 430 to provide a separate flow path to the plurality of disinfection cassettes 450 arranged in parallel by parallel branches 440.

Each branch line 440 has a cassette control valve 445 positioned along its length, for example, between each sterilization cassette 450 and branch junction 430. The outputs from sterilization cassette 450 converge at another junction 460 to provide sterilization outlet 230.

The operation of the sterilizing unit 400 will be described below.

Fig. 5 illustrates one example arrangement of a feed system 300. As described above, fluid is input to the feed system 300 through the feed line 140 in parallel with the sterilization system 200 (fig. 1) or the feed line 142 branching off downstream from the sterilization system 200. In both cases, within feed system 300,

feed lines

140, 142 split into bypass line 315 and feed line 320 at bypass junction 310. The bypass line 315 provides an alternative flow path to another bypass junction 350. A bypass valve 340 is located in the bypass line 315. The bypass valve 340 may be manually operated to allow water to bypass the water treatment filter 330, for example, in the event of a blockage or filter replacement event.

In this embodiment, feed line 320 passes through a water treatment filter 330, such as a Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) filter. The input to the water treatment filter 330 is controlled by an automatic valve 325. The water treatment filter 330 outputs filtered water to the bypass junction 350 via line 360. At any point downstream of junction 350, a feed inlet 370 is provided for selectively adding one or more doses of an additive, such as vitamins, drugs, vaccines, etc., to the fluid stream before the fluid stream is directed to feeder line 145 for consumption by poultry 150. The broken line shown in the path between the feed-stock inlet 370 and the feeder line 145 illustrates that the clean/feed water may pass through other modules or systems before the consumption point of the feeder line 145.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the water treatment filter 330 is used to remove any unwanted contaminants from the water provided by the feed

water inlet lines

140, 142. When feed line 142 is connected downstream of dilution water outlet 160 of disinfection system 200, as shown in FIG. 2, water treatment filter 330 may remove at least some of the biocidal species prior to dosing. However, it will be appreciated that such an arrangement involves unnecessary waste and, therefore, a parallel arrangement may be preferred as shown in figure 1. In these embodiments, the water treatment filter 330 need not be sterile, and therefore a less efficient filter may be employed, or the water treatment filter 330 and its bypass line 315 may even be omitted entirely.

Fig. 6 shows an example arrangement of the preprocessing unit 110. As described above, raw water (i.e., potentially contaminated water) is input to the pretreatment unit 110 through the main line 105, which main line 105 splits at the bypass junction 510 into the bypass line 515 and the pretreatment filter line 520. Bypass line 515 provides an alternative flow path to another bypass junction 550. A bypass valve 540 is located in bypass line 515. The bypass valve 540 may be manually operated to allow water to bypass the pre-treatment filter 530, for example, in the event of a blockage or filter replacement event.

The pre-treatment filter line 520 provides a fluid input to a pre-treatment filter 530, such as a sand filter. The input to the pre-treatment filter 530 is controlled by an automated valve 525. Filter 530 outputs the pretreated water via output line 560 such that the fluid is directed through bypass junction 550 into water inlet line 115 connected to downstream disinfection system 200.

Fig. 7 shows a preferred embodiment of the invention by means of a more detailed view of the disinfection system 200, wherein the disinfection unit 400 comprises six disinfection cassettes 450a to 450f arranged in parallel between the disinfection inlet 220 and the disinfection outlet 230. In this embodiment, six controllable valves 445a to 445f are arranged in the flow of water from the disinfection inlet 220, each controllable valve 445n being arranged in series with an associated disinfection cartridge 450n in the disinfection unit 400. The input flow nodes 430a through 430f, and the output flow nodes 460a through 460d, form a parallel arrangement, with each sterilization cassette 450n and its associated valve 445n disposed in a respective parallel flow branch.

Fig. 8 shows a block diagram of an exemplary apparatus for controlling the sterilization system 200 shown in fig. 1-7. The system 100 may operate according to a series of pre-programmed instructions stored in the memory of the controller 700. The controller 700 performs operations by communicating with one or more modules in the system 100, where the communication may be wired or wireless (e.g., over a network). In the embodiment shown in fig. 8, the controller 700 communicates with all of the above-described modular units, i.e., the pre-treatment unit 110, the disinfection system unit 200, and the dosing system unit 300. However, it is understood that each modular unit may alternatively be controlled by a separate controller, such that the controller 700 communicates only with the components of the disinfection system unit 200 (e.g., valves 445a-445 f).

In some embodiments, the operations may be performed at a predetermined frequency or in response to sensor data received by the controller 700, such as data communicated to the controller 700 from the flow meter 225. Alternatively, the system 100 may perform operations controlled in response to user input, such as input through the user interface 710.

Once the controller 700 determines the operations to be performed by the system 100, the controller 700 performs the operations by sending control signals (e.g., electrical signals) to one or more of a plurality of valves within the system 100 that are in communication with the controller 700 and that are used to control the flow of water through the system. For fixed valves, such as

valves

250, 445a-445f, 340, and 540, the controller 700 sends a signal causing the valves to be configured to open or close. The electrical inputs received by the

automatic valves

325 and 525 from the controller 700 configure the valves to operate in one of three possible modes: a filtration mode, a backwash mode and a filtration flush mode.

The controller 700 may also output data related to the operating conditions of the system 100 to the user interface 710. For example, the actual (or average) flow rate of water through the system or the total amount of water that has passed through the system may be displayed and used by a user to determine if the system is operating abnormally, e.g., a drop in flow rate may indicate a blockage. In some embodiments, the user interface 710 may graphically represent the status of the water sanitizer cartridges 450a-450f, such as the percentage of biocidal species consumed, so that a user can identify when the water sanitizer cartridges 450a-450f are nearing replacement or replenishment.

Each of the

constituent units

110, 200, 300, 400 of the system 100 described above with respect to fig. 3 through 6 may be activated or deactivated by opening or closing of a valve controlled by the controller 700 according to a desired operation. The method of operation of the system 100 will now be described in conjunction with fig. 7 and 8.

Raw water enters the system 100 through a main line 105, which main line 105 provides an input to a pre-treatment unit 110. If the pre-processing unit 110 is operationally active, it is configured such that the bypass valve 540 is closed and the automatic valve 525 is set to normally open filter operation. When the valve 540 is closed, water entering the pre-treatment unit 100 through the main line 105 is directed into the sand filter 530 through the pre-treatment filter line 520. Upon output from filter 530, the pretreated water passes along line 560 through junction 550 into water inlet line 115.

If the pre-treatment unit 110 is operationally disabled, for example if the filter 530 is being serviced, or there is a blockage in one of the

lines

520 or 560, the automatic valve 525 is closed and the bypass valve 540 is opened, such that raw water instead flows through the bypass line 515 via node 510 and is output back into the water inlet line 115 via output node 550.

The water pressure is measured by a first pressure gauge 125 located in the water inlet line 130 before the water reaches the bypass junction 210, the bypass junction 210 providing an input to a bypass line 215 and a disinfection inlet line 220.

If bypass valve 250 is closed, water enters disinfection unit 400 through disinfection inlet 220. One or more parameters, such as the flow rate of the water supply, are measured by the flow meter 225 before the water supply reaches the disinfection unit 400.

Water passes through disinfection inlet line 220 toward a plurality of disinfection boxes 450a-450f in disinfection unit 400 via nodes 430 a-430 f defining a parallel arrangement. In a preferred embodiment, the sterilization cassette is selected to include a cassette containing a releasable oxidizing bromine-containing medium, such as HaloPure containing brominated polystyrene hydantoin beads^TMAnd (5) a box.

The sterilization unit 400 may be configured such that any suitable or desired number of sterilization cases 450n may be used for the passage of water by opening or closing the valves 445a to 445 f. When the sterilization case 450n is first installed into the system, the amount of sterilization species (e.g., bromine) released from the sterilization case into the water passing through the system (e.g., controllably releasing oxidized bromine from brominated polystyrene hydantoin beads) will be at a maximum level because the initially rapidly released sterilization species (e.g., oxidized bromine) is not stably incorporated into the medium (e.g., polystyrene hydantoin beads).

If all of the controllable valves 445a-445f are set open so that all of the sterilization cases can be supplied with water, the volumetric flow rate of water in each branch will effectively be one sixth of the flow rate measured at the flow meter 225. Since the release of the fungicide is determined by the dissociation constant, which is an equilibrium constant, the high flow rate results in the equilibrium moving to the right, and the dissociation degree of the fungicide increases as the water carries the fungicide more quickly. Conversely, when the water flow through the cartridge is slower, the equilibrium is further to the left than at higher flow rates due to the longer contact time (and thus the establishment of equilibrium), resulting in a reduced release of the biocidal species (e.g., bromine oxide) from the medium (e.g., polystyrene hydantoin beads). The concentration of residual disinfectant in the water output from the disinfection unit 400 increases when all disinfection cassettes are available, for example, as compared to an equivalent system in which only one disinfection cassette is active.

The concentration of the sterilization species in the water output from the disinfection unit 400 is preferably sufficiently high so that pathogenic microorganisms and/or biofilm buildup in the water lines downstream of the disinfection unit can be effectively inactivated or prevented. Thus, a very low concentration of disinfectant released from the disinfecting system 200 is undesirable because there may not be a sufficient dose of residual disinfectant to inactivate pathogens and biofilm present between the output of the disinfecting system and the drinking line. In embodiments of the invention, the disinfectant released into the water by the disinfecting unit 400 is selected to be residual bromine (e.g., from HaloPure)^TMHalogenated polystyrene hydantoin beads in a cartridge), it is envisaged that concentrations below 0.5ppm are too low for effective disinfection. In embodiments of the invention, the disinfectant released into the water by the filtration system is selected to be residual bromine (e.g., from HaloPure)^TMHalogenated polystyrene hydantoin beads in a box), the desired concentration of residual bromine for animal consumption is about 1 ppm.

FIG. 9 shows, by way of example, a schematic of the amount of releasable sterilant species within the sterilization cassette medium as a function of the total volume of water that has passed through the sterilization cassette (e.g., the total volume of water in contact with the sterilization cassette medium). As discussed above, when water comes into contact with the disinfection box media, the biocide species is released into the water. Thus, when the total volume of water passing through the sterilization case is low, the amount of sterilization species included in the medium is high (e.g., the left case of fig. 9) because only a small amount of sterilization species is released into the water. As the volume of water increases (e.g., moving from left to right in fig. 9), the amount of sterilization species decreases (e.g., non-linearly) due to increased contact with the sterilization medium. Once only a relatively low amount (e.g., 25%) of the sterilization species remains, the medium can be replaced or refilled with the sterilization species.

For example, when the sterilization case medium is N-halamine polymer resin beads and the releasable sterilization medium is bromine, the complete supplement (e.g., the germicidal active medium) has bromine chemically bonded to the amide nitrogen and/or imine nitrogen of the N-halamine polymer resin beads. Thus, when water is contacted with the charged biocidal medium, bromine dissociates from the imine nitrogen and/or the amide nitrogen and is released into the water. Since imine-halogen bonds are weaker (have a higher dissociation constant) than amide-halogen bonds, bromine will be released from less stable (e.g., imine) sites initially (e.g., when the total volume of water in contact with the media is lower) and the concentration of bromine bound to the media (e.g., the concentration of charged polymer beads) remains higher (e.g., the left box in fig. 9). As the total volume of water increases, dissociation at the imine sites continues, while the dissociation of bromine at the amide sites increases, thereby depleting the amount of bromine (e.g., the amount of charged polymer beads) bound to the germicidal medium (e.g., moving from left to right in fig. 9).

Thus, it will be appreciated that the amount of releasable biocide species as the water flows through the cartridge is dependent upon the total volume of water in contact with the medium.

Example 1

FIG. 10 shows a single HaloPure for a single HaloPure comprising 30kg of halogenated polystyrene hydantoin beads^TMThe box expected typical bromine release profile as a function of the total volume of water (metric tons) passed through the box. The different traces represent different water flow rates (metric tons/hour) through the cartridge. It can be seen that initially, when the beads are fully dosed, and the total volume of water passing through the system is low, there will be a higher bromine release in the water passing through the cartridge. This is because there is a relatively large amount of bromine that is unstably bound to the hydantoin beads and is thus preferentially released. This leads firstly to residues in the waterThe bromine concentration is high, i.e. greater than 1ppm, but this "high bromine" phase is brief, for example only lasting through the first 400 tons of water in the disinfection box. However, it will be appreciated that the total volume of water corresponding to the "high bromine" stage will vary depending on the size of the cartridge and the amount of halogenated polystyrene hydantoin beads.

As shown in FIG. 10, HaloPure^TMThe concentration of residual bromine released by the cartridge was initially very high (the "high bromine" stage), but rapidly dropped below 1ppm as the total volume of water increased. After the residual bromine concentration drops below 1ppm, the release curve flattens out, showing a controlled steady release of residual bromine as the volume of water increases, in this case in a "steady bromine" phase between about 400 and 3000T. The residual bromine concentration began to drop below 0.5ppm at approximately 3000T of water, and then for water passing through the last 3000-5000T of the cartridge, a "low bromine" phase could be defined where the beads became scarce.

It will be appreciated that the volume of water corresponding to the "high bromine", "stable bromine" and "low bromine" stages depends on the size of the cartridge (e.g., the quality of the sterilising medium contained in the cartridge). For example, if the cartridge is larger than represented by the data shown in fig. 10, i.e., contains more mass of the germicidal release medium, the volume range corresponding to each stage will be larger.

However, it will be appreciated that the release profile will observe the same behavior profile (e.g., the same release trend as a function of volume) regardless of the size of the cartridge, as the release profile is determined by the physical dissociation constant of the bactericidal species in water. Thus, the data shown in fig. 10 may be scaled up or down (e.g., linear, e.g., non-linear) to represent a desired release profile and range of phases for any suitable or desired cassette size (e.g., mass of the sterilising medium).

In general, HaloPure^TMThe cartridge will be installed and used for high bromine and stable bromine phases. Once a cartridge has been sterilized with a volume of water that exceeds the beginning of the "low bromine" phase, i.e., the residual bromine concentration falls below 0.5ppm, the cartridge is refilled or replaced. However, this requires interruption of the sterilization systemAnd (4) using the system.

Thus, as can be appreciated from the example of FIG. 10, a single HaloPure containing 30kg beads^TMThe cartridge may only be able to provide the desired concentration of bromine for disinfection for up to about 3000 tons of total volume water passing through the cartridge, resulting in an undesirably low residual bromine concentration for water delivered at volumes greater than 3000 tons. This leads to the problem that the water is not sufficiently sterilized in the low bromine stage.

It can be seen that the low bromine, stable bromine and high bromine stages described above are generally applicable regardless of the flow rate of water through the cartridge. However, it can also be seen from figure 10 that the flow rate affects the speed at which the cartridge moves between stages, for example a maximum flow rate of 60t/hr will result in a high bromine stage (>1ppm) lasting only the first 300t of water, whereas the stable bromine stage will last for a shorter period, for example between about 300t and 2000t, and the cartridge will need to be refilled or replaced before the residual bromine concentration falls to 0.5 ppm. Thus, flow rate is another parameter to consider.

The problems discussed above apply to any type of disinfection cartridge that includes a medium that includes a releasable biocidal species that is released into water in contact with the medium as the water flows through the disinfection cartridge, as the amount of biocidal species released may depend on the total volume of water in contact with the medium and/or the flow rate of water through the disinfection cartridge.

It would therefore be beneficial to adjust the amount of biocide released by selectively controlling the number of parallel arranged disinfection cartridges through which the water passes, so as to bring the concentration of residual disinfectant to an effective level to inactivate pathogens and biofilm formation downstream of the disinfection system (e.g., residual bromine concentrations above 0.5ppm) while maximizing the efficacy of the disinfection cartridges over their entire useful life. Furthermore, it is also beneficial to ensure that the water supply at the point of consumption has the desired concentration, regardless of fluctuations in flow rate.

To help achieve this, the disinfection unit 400 is configured such that the number of cartridges 450n arranged in parallel available for input water supply at any time can be controlled by the controller 700. In addition, the controller 700 may ensure that each cartridge 450n is depleted of its sterilization seeds, typically in a uniform and coordinated manner.

Example 2

An example control scheme for the sterilization system 200 shown in fig. 7 will now be described.

As mentioned above, the release of the sterilization species from the medium will be high at an early stage of the cartridge's useful life, and therefore a high flow rate through the cartridge is preferred, and only one cartridge is effective in the sterilization unit 400. Thus, the controller 700 will configure the system to operate in one cassette cycle. In one cassette cycle, only one sterilization cassette may have water passing through, and therefore, the controller 700 configures the system so that valve 445a is open and all other valves 445b to 445f are closed. Then, the controller 700 monitors the flow rate of water input into the sterilizing unit 400 through the flow meter 225, so that the total volume of water having passed through the cartridge 450a can be monitored. When the volume of water that has passed through cassette 450a is determined to exceed the preset threshold level for one cassette cycle, controller 700 closes valve 445a and opens valve 445b so that water input to disinfection unit 400 is now directed through the second cassette 450b, and the process is repeated.

Once all of the cartridges 450n have an equal amount of water passing through the system, the controller 700 may decide whether to repeat one cartridge cycle or change operation to another n cartridge cycles, such as three cartridge cycles. In an n-cassette cycle, the controller 700 will configure the system so that the n valves 445n are open at any one time. For example, in a three-box cycle, the controller 700 may first open

valves

445a, 445b, and 445 c. When the volume of water passing through the system exceeds a preset threshold level for the three-box cycle, the controller 700 closes

valves

445a, 445b, and 445c and opens

valves

445d, 445e, and 445f and repeats the process.

The controller 700 may determine the n cartridge cycles by any suitable or desirable method, for example, the cartridge cycle sequence may be preprogrammed using simulated or theoretical cartridge depletion studies to vary the cartridge cycles as a function of the total volume of water passing through the system.

To further illustrate this procedure described above, the following table provides a theoretical exemplary run time table for the sterilization system 200 controlled by the controller 700 in an embodiment in which the total volume in metric tons (T) and flow rate in metric tons/hour (T/hr) of the phases of the system (corresponding to the amount of sterilant species releasable) are defined by the flow meter 225. The numerical values included in this table are exemplary only to illustrate the principles behind the invention disclosed herein. The included numbers and ranges are not intended to be limiting in any respect.

In some embodiments, a schedule (e.g., as defined by the table) may be preprogrammed into the controller 700 such that the controller 700 receives data from the flow meter 225 indicative of the total volume of water from which at least the main stage is determined. For example, if the controller 700 determines from the data received by the flow meter 225 that the total volume is 500T, the controller 700 will determine that the sterilization system 200 should be configured to meet the stage 2 requirements.

In some embodiments, the main stage may be determined by comparing the total volume to a reference curve (e.g., a curve plotting residual sterilant concentration as a function of total volume).

In some embodiments, the sub-stages may be determined by the (actual or average) flow rate of the water measured by the flow meter 225. In some embodiments, the flow rate may be determined by drinking needs, for example, the flow rate is faster during the day and slower during the night. For each main phase relating to the total volume, several sub-phases relating to different ranges of flow rate can be defined.

Once the controller 700 determines the stages and sub-stages, the controller 700 can configure the system to achieve the desired concentration by setting the desired number of sterilization cassettes (e.g., n cassette cycles) to be used at any given time.

For example, if the controller 700 determines from the data received by the flow meter 225 that the total volume that has currently passed through the system is 150t, the controller 700 determines that the system should currently be in phase 1, e.g., a high bromine phase. For most flow rates, a single cartridge in the high bromine phase will provide enough sterilization species to achieve the desired disinfectant concentration level, e.g., at least 1 ppm. Thus, the controller 700 operates only one of the valves 445a-445f to select one cartridge cycle (n ═ 1). However, if the flow rate is particularly high (e.g., 25-50T/hr), then the contact time is reduced and a single cartridge may not be sufficient, so the controller 700 operates two of the valves 445a-445f to select two cartridge cycles (n-2) in phase 1, sub-phase 4.

In some embodiments, the sub-phase is determined by the flow rate, and the controller 700 may determine the sub-phase from measurements received by the flow meter 225. For example, at 15:00, the poultry demand for potable water would be high, and to accommodate this demand, the flow rate could be 40T/hour, so the system is configured to be in stage 1.4 (stage 1, sub-stage 4). In contrast, during the night, the demand for potable water is reduced, such that the flow rate of water through the system is reduced to 3T/hour, and the system is configured to be in phase 1.1 (phase 1, sub-phase 1). Thus, the controller 700 is arranged to selectively open or close one or more of the valves 445a-445f at different times to select the number of cartridges n that are active in the parallel arrangement.

Once the phase and sub-phase are determined, the controller 700 may send control signals to the valves 450a-450f to arrange the number of valves that are opened or closed as desired according to the n cartridge cycles of the phase. When the controller 700 determines that a phase has changed (e.g., the total volume exceeds a threshold for the determined phase, or the flow rate has decreased or increased beyond a threshold), the sub-phases may be immediately updated (regardless of the position in the cassette cycle) so that the new configuration of the cassette is configured to open to correspond to the requirements of the next sub-phase.

For example, at stage 1, when the volume of water exceeds a threshold (e.g., 400t), the system immediately updates to stage 2. If the system is in phase 1.2 immediately before the total volume exceeds 400T (e.g., the sub-phase is determined by the flow rate which in turn is determined by the demand), then after exceeding 400T the system will immediately update to phase 2.2 (assuming the same supply demand and thus the desired flow rate) so that the system is configured to perform two cassette cycles, e.g., open a second cassette valve 445n in addition to the one that was already configured to be open in phase 1.2 (one cassette cycle phase). In addition, the controller 700 may be configured to query the position in the cassette cycle before updating to the next phase or sub-phase, and communicate the update to the system only upon completion of one complete cassette cycle to ensure that all cassettes have an equal volume of water flow therethrough, and thus are exhausted to an equal degree.

It will be appreciated that while a three-stage and four sub-stage system is described above, the schedule may include any suitable and desirable combination of stages and sub-stages, and each stage may have the same or a different number of sub-stages. It will also be appreciated that the total volume that can pass through the system in each stage is dependent upon the number of cassettes present in the system, for example, a greater number of cassettes means a greater volume of water can pass through the system in any given stage or sub-stage.

It will be appreciated that the systems and methods described herein provide an intelligent system and method for providing a controlled concentration of sterilization seeds to disinfect microbial pathogens present in raw water and provide a clean water supply for consumption by animals.

Claims

1. A system for treating water for consumption by an animal, the system comprising:

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters related to water flow through the water inlet include one or more of: actual flow rate, average flow rate, total volume of water.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to selectively operate at least one of the controllable valves in response to a total volume of water that has flowed through the water inlet since an initial time t 0.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the controller is configured to selectively operate at least one of the controllable valves to close concurrent water flow from the water inlet to the associated disinfection cartridge in a first phase corresponding to a total volume of water below a volume threshold and to open concurrent water flow from the water inlet to the associated disinfection cartridge in a second phase corresponding to a total volume of water above the volume threshold.

5. The system of claim 1, comprising: a plurality of n disinfection cassettes arranged in parallel and a plurality of n controllable valves each arranged in series with one of the n disinfection cassettes, wherein the controller is configured to selectively operate the plurality of m controllable valves to open or close parallel water flow from the water inlet to the m disinfection cassettes arranged in parallel according to a total volume of water flowing through the water inlet since an initial time t0, where m ≦ n.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to selectively operate at least one of the controllable valves in response to an actual or average flow rate of water through the water inlet.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to selectively operate at least one of the controllable valves to close concurrent water flow from the water inlet to the associated disinfection cartridge in a first phase corresponding to an actual or average flow rate below a flow rate threshold and to open concurrent water flow from the water inlet to the associated disinfection cartridge in a second phase corresponding to an actual or average flow rate above the flow rate threshold.

8. The system of claim 1, comprising: a plurality of n disinfection cassettes arranged in parallel and a plurality of n controllable valves each arranged in series with one of the n disinfection cassettes, wherein the controller is configured to selectively operate the plurality of m controllable valves to open a parallel flow of water from the water inlet to the m disinfection cassettes arranged in parallel according to an actual or average flow rate of water through the water inlet, wherein m ≦ n.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to receive measurements made by the flow monitoring device to determine:

(i) a volume parameter representing a total volume of water flowing through the water inlet from an initial time t 0; and

(ii) a flow rate parameter representing an actual or average flow rate of water through the water inlet;

wherein the controller is configured to assign a volume phase based on the volume parameter and a flow rate sub-phase based on the flow rate parameter.

10. The system of claim 9, comprising: a plurality of n disinfection cassettes arranged in parallel and a plurality of n controllable valves each arranged in series with one of the n disinfection cassettes, wherein the controller is configured to selectively operate the plurality of m controllable valves to open parallel water flow from the water inlet to the m disinfection cassettes arranged in parallel according to the assigned volume and flow sub-phases, wherein m ≦ n.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sterilization cases includes an even number of sterilization cases arranged in parallel, wherein a first half of the sterilization cases are arranged in a first parallel branch and a second half of the sterilization cases are arranged in a second parallel branch.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the amount of biocidal species released as water flows through each disinfection cartridge tends to decrease as the total volume of water in contact with the medium increases.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the biocidal species released by each sterilization case comprises an oxidizing halogen, such as oxidizing bromine (Br)⁺)。

14. The system of claim 1, wherein each sterilization case (450n) includes a medium comprising germicidal halogenated (e.g., brominated) polymer resin beads.

15. The system of claim 13 or 14, wherein the bactericidal species comprises 5 to 90% by weight halogen oxide, preferably 30-35% halogen oxide.

16. A method of treating water for consumption by an animal, the method comprising:

the method comprises the following steps:

17. The method of claim 16, comprising: the number m of one or more controllable valves that are open at any given time is determined to achieve a constant amount of sterilization species released per unit volume as water flows through the parallel arrangement of sterilization cassettes.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the system comprises a plurality of n sterilization cassettes arranged in parallel and a plurality of n controllable valves each arranged in series with one of the n sterilization cassettes, the method comprising:

operating a plurality of m controllable valves to open parallel water flows from the water inlet to m disinfection boxes arranged in parallel, where m ≦ n, depending on one or more parameters.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the one or more parameters related to water flow through the water inlet include one or more of: actual flow rate, average flow rate, total volume of water that has passed through the water inlet since the initial time t 0.

20. A method of treating water for consumption by an animal, the method comprising:

21. The method of claim 20, comprising:

the output water supply is arranged to be delivered from the water treatment system to a drinking water distribution system in a farm.