FR2834981A1 - DEVICE FOR THE PURIFICATION AND CONTROLLED CONTROL OF WATER BY REVERSE OSMOSIS - Google Patents

Abstract

The device for the purification and controlled control of water by reverse osmosis comprises: - filtration and pre-filtration means (2), (3) and (4) of the water; - at least one reverse osmosis module (1) with a membrane with an inlet (1a), connected to the water inlet, and two outlets (1b) and (1c); - one of the outlets (1b) corresponds to pure reverse osmosis water and is connected to a storage means; - the other outlet (1c) corresponds to the concentrate loaded with impurities. The outlet (1c) corresponds to the concentrate, is connected to a buffer water reserve (13) or (15) in combination with means capable of managing the production of osmosis water according to the volume of said reserve.

Description

st_chiométriques. -

  The invention relates to the technical sector of water treatment.

  It is known to treat domestic or drinking water by means of purifiers operating by reverse osmosis and including a filtration membrane swept by a flow of rinsing said 5 to 9 times

  approximately greater than the amount of purified water produced.

  In order to avoid scaling of the membrane by carbonate salts, where the reverse osmosis module, also known as an osmosis unit, implements an anti-scale process with a filter loaded with polyphosphates crystals with slow dissolution or can be combined with

water softener.

  Upstream of the reverse osmosis module, so-called “sediment” filters and active carbon filters are generally arranged to reduce the chlorine content, to hold organic matter, etc. These elements are therefore connected by any means suitable for a raw water supply or a softened water supply These elements are also connected to an input presented by the reverse osmosis module and corresponding to the supply of the water to be osmosed. reverse osmosis also has two outlets, one of which corresponds to osmosce water by being connected to a storage means, while the other corresponds to the concentrate which is charged with impurities. This concentrate is discharged into the sewer through a calibrator

of debt.

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  Generally, for 1 liter of RO water produced, 3 to 10 liters of water (concentrate) must be discharged to the sewer. A pressure of approximately 3 bars is necessary to ensure the production of osmosis water in sufficient quality and quantity. An osmosoe water pressure sensor in the storage means ensures automatic operation by cutting

  raw water automatically.

  If the raw water pressure is not sufficient, some devices use a booster to increase the detoxification of RO water, as well as its quality. The booster is subject to a raw water pressure sensor preventing dry operation of the purge and to a reverse osmosis water pressure sensor, in order to put the system into operation as soon as the reverse osmosis water pressure has dropped following its racking. A solenoid valve ensures

the intake of raw water.

  Currently reverse osmosis water purifying devices

  put on the market, have certain disadvantages.

  As indicated, for 1 liter of pure osmosis water produced, it is necessary to discharge 3 to 10 liters of water down the drain. However, it is precisely in regions where water is not of good quality that the quantity of water

available is the lowest.

  For devices discharging little water into the sewer, there is a significant risk of fouling of the membrane which must therefore be changed. We also observe that the lower the water discharge, the more the

  osmosis water quality is reduced.

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  In addition, to allow water to be discharged to the sewer, the reverse osmosis module must be connected to the sewer by a pipe. However, when the device is not in operation, biological contamination tends to spread gradually in the connection pipe, in

  being likely to reach the osmosis membrane.

  The object of the invention is to remedy these drawbacks,

  simple, safe, efficient and rational way.

  The problem which the invention proposes to solve is that of no longer

discharge the concentrate down the drain.

  To solve such a problem, a device has been designed and developed for the purification and controlled control of water by reverse osmosis comprising: - means for filtering and pre-filtering water; - at least one membrane reverse osmosis module with one inlet, connected to the water supply, and two outlets; - one of the outlets corresponds to pure osmosoe water and is connected to a storage means;

  - the other outlet corresponds to the concentrate charged with impurities.

  According to the invention, the outlet corresponding to the concentrate is connected to a buffer water reserve in combination with means capable of managing the

  osmosoe water production according to the volume of said reserve.

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  In view of these provisions, the concentrate can be reintroduced into the sanitary installation of a house, for other uses requiring water of lower quality than that used for drinking, for example. In addition, the rejection quantity can be adjusted to a higher value, thus ensuring excellent longevity of the membrane and better water quality.

  uncluttered. Finally, the risks of biological contamination are eliminated.

  To solve the problem posed of allowing the operation of the reverse osmosis unit taking into account the sufficient renewal of the buffer water reserve, the means capable of managing the production of osmosoe water are constituted by means of volumetric counting of the at the inlet or outlet of the buffer reserve, so that the production of reverse osmosis water is authorized for a defined time after each renewal

of the volume of the said reserve.

  According to another embodiment, the means capable of managing the production of osmosce water consist of means for measuring the electrical conductivity, so that a high set value stops the production of osmosoe water until renewal reserve volume

  buffer and return to an acceptable set value.

  In a simplified embodiment, the buffer reserve is constituted by any functional water storage point such as a storage tank.

  raw sanitary water production, flushing reserve, ..

  According to another characteristic, the device as described is combined with a softener. In this case, the buffer reserve is constituted

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  by the interstitial volume of ion exchange resins contained in a

bottle or bottle.

  The entire softener is connected, on the one hand, to the raw water inlet and the outlet corresponding to the concentrate and, on the other hand, to the inlet of the filtration and prefiltration means of the module. reverse osmosis and

a softened water outlet.

  To solve the problem of increasing the osmosoe water flow and its quality, the reverse osmosis module is subjected to a booster in combination with in particular a raw water pressure sensor, a

  osmosis water pressure sensor and a solenoid valve.

  The invention is set out below in more detail with the aid of the figures of the appended drawings in which: - Figure 1 illustrates the hydraulic schematic diagram of an embodiment of the purification device by reverse osmosis; - Figure 2 is a block diagram of a device with a booster; - Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing the coupling

  of the osmosis device with a softener.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the device according to the invention implements an osmosis module of any known type. This set includes a module (1) with reverse osmosis membrane. The input (la) of the module (1) is connected to the raw water inlet (Figure 1) or to a softened water inlet

  as will be indicated in the following description (Figure 3). This

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  connection to the water supply is made via a set of filters and prefilters. For example, the device implements an anti-scale means in the form of a filter (2) with polyphosphate crystals with slow dissolution, in order to reduce the scaling of the membrane of the module (1) by carbonate salts. In series with the filter (2), one or more so-called "sediment" pre-filters (3) and one or more pre-filters (4) with active carbon can be arranged to retain the chlorine content in the materials.

organic for example.

  In view of the problem posed of increasing the relaxation of osmosis water, the reverse osmosis module (1) is subject to a booster known in the technical field of the invention under the name of "booster>. As shown in the 2, this booster comprises a raw water pressure sensor (5) prohibiting the operation of the device when there is no water pressure. An osmosis water pressure sensor (6) is intended for commission or stop the device according to the osmosce water pressure. Between the two pressure sensors (5) and (6), there is a pump (7) attached to a solenoid valve (8) to increase the pressure Advantageously, the booster assembly as defined is

  disposed between the filters (3) and (4).

  The module (1) with reverse osmosis membrane has two

outputs (lb) and (lc).

  The outlet (lb) corresponds to pure osmosis water connected to a storage means (9). For example, this storage means is constituted by a balloon with a capacity of 10 to 20 liters subject to a bladder under air pressure (10). The osmosis water stored in the balloon (9) passes into a

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  purifying filter station (11), for example "with activated carbon", to refine

  the quality of the water to be consumed (12).

  According to the invention, the outlet (1c) corresponding to the concentrate charged with impurities, is connected to a buffer reserve (13) in combination with any means capable of managing the production of osmosis water, depending on the

volume called "reserve".

  The means capable of managing the production of reverse osmosis water are constituted by means of volumetric water metering, arranged at the inlet or at the outlet of the buffer reserve. As a result, the production of reverse osmosis water is authorized for a defined time after each renewal of the volume of the buffer reserve. These counting means can be constituted by a turbine, or propeller arranged axially or vertically, in the direction of the passage of water and more generally by all

liquid movement sensors.

  In another embodiment, the means capable of managing the production of osmosis water consist of means for measuring the electrical conductivity. A high setpoint stops osmosis water production until the buffer reserve volume is renewed

  until a return to an acceptable setpoint.

  The buffer reserve (13) is constituted by any functional water storage point, such as a domestic water production tank. Note that, in the case where the buffer reserve is constituted by a domestic hot water accumulator, the device may include an exchanger

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  cooling the raw water arriving at the reverse osmosis unit and refilling the concentrate

returned to the accumulator.

  A temperature sensor with integrated contact prohibits the production of RO water if the raw water exceeds an excessive temperature for the RO. Note also that the buffer reserve can be constituted by a

  specific tank on which the various organs will be connected.

  According to a preferred embodiment, the device as described is

  combined with a softener. We refer to Figure 3.

  In a known manner, this softener comprises a salt tank (14) with float and brine bath, a bottle with ion exchange resins (15) subject to a multi-way valve (16) and to a softened water outlet (17) in combination with a counting means (18) such as a turbine allowing the initiation of regenerations. In this case, the buffer reserve is constituted by the interstitial volume of the ion exchange resins contained in the bottle (15), the volumes of the pipes and the free volume corresponding to the purification of the resins, ie for example 5 to liters d raw water for a family type softener loaded with 20

  liters of ion exchange resins.

  The raw water inlet pipe (19) is connected via a valve (20) to the outlet (l c) of the membrane module (1)

reverse osmosis.

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  The softened water line (17) is connected via a valve (21) to the inlet (la) of the osmosis unit (1), in combination with the filtration elements and the booster. The softened water outlet pipe (17) presents the metering turbine (18) which is combined with an electrical controller controlling the commissioning or stopping of

the entire reverse osmosis unit.

  The operating principle of the device is as follows: When the user has drawn off a large quantity of purified water, the pressure in the storage tank (9) of RO water will have greatly decreased and the pressure sensor (10) will order the commissioning of osmosoe water production for a fixed period. This hardness will take into account the osmosis water production rate of the system, the maximum admissible concentration for the purification system or for the use of non-osmosis water and the volume of water in the buffer reserve, consderce. For the reverse osmosis system to function again, the water in the buffer reserve must have been completely replaced. As indicated, this water renewal will be controlled by the water metering system. For example, if the volume of water contained in the buffer reserve is 8 liters, the controller will authorize the water purifier to return to service, after verifying that the user has consumed

  minus 8 liters of raw water or water laden with impurities.

  Note that, in the case where the buffer reserve is constituted by the free volumes of a water softener, additional security

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  integrate the functioning of the entire device during regenerations. For this purpose, a position sensor has a sensor of the

  regeneration control, can be installed on the water softener.

  The advantages are apparent from the description, in particular one

  emphasizes the volumetric control of the coupling of a purification system

  reverse osmosis water, combined with a water softener.

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Claims (1)

CLAIMS -1- Device for the purification and the controlled control of water by reverse osmosis comprising: - means of filtration and prefiltration (2), (3) and (4) of water; - at least one membrane reverse osmosis module (1) with an inlet (la), connected to the water inlet, and two outlets (lb) and (lc); - one of the outlets (lb) corresponds to pure osmosis water and is connected to a storage means; - the other outlet (lc) corresponds to the concentrate charged with impurities, characterized in that: the outlet (lc) corresponding to the concentrate, is connected to a reserve of buffer water (13) or (15) in combination with means able to manage the production of reverse osmosis water according to the volume of said reserve. -2- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the means capable of managing the production of osmosis water are constituted by means of volumetric metering of the water at the inlet or at the outlet of the buffer reserve (13 ) - (15), so that the production of osmosis water is authorized for a defined time after each renewal of the volume of said reserve. -3- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the means capable of managing the production of osmosce water are constituted by means of measuring the electrical conductivity, so that a set value 12 2834981   high stops osmosis water production until the renewal of the   buffer reserve volume and return to an acceptable set value.   -4- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that it is combined with a softener (15). -5- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the buffer reserve (13) is constituted by any functional water storage point such   a raw sanitary water production tank, flushing reserve, etc.   -6- Device according to claim 4, characterized in that the buffer reserve is constituted by the interstitial volume of exchange resins   of water contained in a bottle or bottle.   -7- Device according to claim 4, characterized in that the entire softener is connected, on the one hand, to the raw water inlet (19) and to the outlet corresponding to the concentrate and, on the other hand, at the inlet of the filtration and prefiltration means of the reverse osmosis module (1) and at an outlet softened water (17).   -8- Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the reverse osmosis module (1) is subject to a booster in combination with in particular a raw water pressure sensor (5), a pressure sensor   osmosce water (6) and a solenoid valve ().