RU2736813C1 - Flow aqua vending unit - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: aqua vending apparatuses.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to flow aqua vending machines, i.e. to water distribution automatic devices taken from a water supply network subjected to multistage purification using reverse osmosis, and dispensing treated water into a water consumer container without its (water) intermediate accumulation. Technical result consists in significant increase of permeate output coefficient during reverse-osmosis treatment of water due to multistage series-parallel reverse osmosis (serial in concentrate permeate-parallel), which makes it possible to significantly reduce the amount of water discharged into the sewer (concentrate) and thereby increase the efficiency of using water from the water supply system, as well as to avoid use of a buffer reservoir for permeate in the apparatus design and thereby significantly reduce the weight of the apparatus and reduce requirements for the pump. Flowing aqua vending apparatus in the version with two-stage reverse osmosis comprises a water pre-treatment module 1, pump 2, first membrane module 3 of reverse osmosis with output 4 of permeate and outlet 5 of concentrate, second membrane module 6 of reverse osmosis with output 7 of permeate and output 8 of concentrate, drain pipeline 9, mixer 10 permeate flows, module 11 of ultraviolet water disinfection, module 12 for water dispensing into container of water consumer. Flow aqua vending apparatus in the version with three-stage reverse osmosis additionally contains the third membrane module 13 of reverse osmosis with output 14 of the permeate and outlet 15 of the concentrate.

EFFECT: technical problem consists in necessity of considerable increase of permeate output coefficient during reverse-osmosis treatment of water, which will make it possible to increase efficiency of water use from water supply network, to reduce requirements to pump, and also to not use buffer accumulation of permeate.

1 cl, 2 dwg

Description

The technical field to which the invention relates

The invention relates to a flow-through aqua vending apparatus, i.e. to vending machines for drinking water taken from the water supply network, which has undergone multi-stage purification using reverse osmosis and the delivery of purified water to the container of the water consumer without its (water) intermediate accumulation.

State of the art

Known machine for retail sale of water, containing a housing and installed in the housing hydraulically interconnected water pre-purification module, a reverse osmosis membrane module, a pump to create pressure at the inlet of this membrane module, a storage tank for purified water, a module for dispensing water into a container of a water consumer ... The machine also contains a control module and an associated user interface for controlling the process of dispensing water into a container of a water consumer (see the description of the invention to patent RU No. 2495496 C2, IPC G07F 7/02, C02F 9/00, publ. 27.08.2012 Bull. No. 24).

The features of the known automaton, common with the features of the claimed technical solution, are that it contains a housing and a pre-purification water module installed in the housing, a reverse osmosis membrane module, a pump for creating pressure at the inlet of this membrane module, a module for dispensing water into a container of a water consumer , a control module and a user interface for controlling the process of dispensing water into a container of a water consumer.

The reason that prevents the technical result obtained in the known machine, which is provided by the technical solution claimed for patenting, is the use of a one-stage reverse osmosis water purification, as a result of which, due to the low permeate yield characteristic of the reverse osmosis membrane, the use of a storage tank is required to create a buffer reserve of permeate.

Known machine for obtaining purified drinking water (prototype), which consists of a sequentially installed module for carbon filtration of incoming water (in our text: "a preliminary water purification module, made with the possibility of hydraulic connection of its inlet to the water supply network"), a high-pressure pump, a module reverse osmosis membrane water purification (in our text: "membrane module of reverse osmosis"), module for carbon filtration of permeate, module for pH correction, module for ultraviolet disinfection of water, module for dosed water filling consumer's container (in our text: "module for dispensing water into the container of water consumer ") Connected by appropriate pipelines. The known machine also includes an antiscalant dosing module, a permeate hydroaccumulator, a permeate domineralization module, an electronic control unit for dosing and receiving payment when selling water (in our text: “a control module and an electrically connected user interface for controlling the process of dispensing water into a container of a water consumer "), An additional pipeline, through which a part of the initial concentrate from the reverse osmosis water purification module is directed to the inlet of the high-pressure pump (description of the utility model to the patent RU No. 139197 U1, IPC C02F9 / 12, published: 10.04.2014 Bull. No. 10).

The features of the known automaton (prototype), common with the features of the claimed technical solution, are that it contains a preliminary water purification module, made with the possibility of hydraulic connection of its inlet to the water supply network, a pump, the inlet of which is hydraulically connected to the outlet of the preliminary water purification module, membrane module of reverse osmosis, the inlet of which is hydraulically connected to the outlet of the pump, drainage pipeline, a module for dispensing water into a container of a water consumer, as well as a control module and an electrically connected user interface for controlling the process of dispensing water into a container of a water consumer

The reason that prevents the technical result obtained in the known machine (prototype), which is provided by the technical solution claimed for patenting, is the use of a one-stage reverse osmosis water purification with partial recycling of the concentrate, which does not provide an effective increase in the permeate yield factor.

The technical problem to be solved by the technical solution claimed for patent is the need to significantly increase the permeate yield in the process of reverse osmosis water purification, which will increase the efficiency of using water from the water supply network, reduce the requirements for the pump, and also not use the buffer accumulation of permeate.

Disclosure of the essence of the invention

The technical result, which mediates the solution of this technical problem, consists in a significant increase in the permeate yield factor in the process of reverse osmosis water purification due to multistage series-parallel reverse osmosis (sequential in concentrate, parallel in permeate), which makes it possible to significantly reduce the volume of water discharged into the sewage system ( i.e. concentrate, which is a by-product of reverse osmosis) and thereby increase the efficiency of using water from the water supply system, as well as abandon the use of a buffer tank for permeate in the design of the apparatus and thereby significantly reduce the weight of the apparatus and reduce the requirements for the pump.

The technical result is achieved by the fact that the flow-through aqua vending apparatus contains a water pre-purification module made with the possibility of hydraulically connecting its inlet to the water supply network, a pump, the inlet of which is hydraulically connected to the outlet of the water pre-purification module, a reverse osmosis membrane module, the inlet of which is hydraulically connected to the outlet pump, drainage pipeline, a module for dispensing water into a container of a water consumer, a control module and an electrically connected user interface for controlling the process of dispensing water into a container for a water consumer, a permeate flow mixer with n inputs, as well as a group of reverse osmosis membrane modules consisting of n membrane modules, including the aforementioned membrane module, which is the first in this group for n> 1, while all these membrane modules are hydraulically connected in series with each other in a concentrate, so that the i-th membrane module, which is not the first, is its hydraulic input is connected with the concentrate outlet of the (i-1) -th membrane module, the n-th membrane module with its concentrate outlet is hydraulically connected to the inlet of the drainage pipeline, and the permeate outlets of all membrane modules are hydraulically connected to the corresponding inlets of the said mixer, the outlet of which is hydraulically connected to the module delivery of water to the container of the water consumer.

Brief Description of Drawings

FIG. 1 as an example, a functional diagram of a flow-through aquavending apparatus with a two-stage reverse osmosis (n = 2) is shown; in fig. 2 - with three-stage reverse osmosis (n = 3).

Implementation of the invention

The flow-through aquavending apparatus in the version with two-stage reverse osmosis contains (Fig. 1):

- module 1 for preliminary purification of water entering the input of this module from the water supply network during the operation of the apparatus;

- pump 2;

- the first membrane module 3 of reverse osmosis with a permeate outlet 4 and a concentrate outlet 5 (the first stage of reverse osmosis water purification);

- the second membrane module 6 of reverse osmosis with a permeate outlet 7 and a concentrate outlet 8 (the second stage of reverse osmosis water purification);

- drainage pipeline 9, made with the possibility of connecting its outlet to the sewer;

- mixer 10 of permeate streams, forming the total permeate, while in the embodiment in FIG. 1 mixer 10 is two-inlet;

- module 11 of ultraviolet disinfection of water (total permeate);

- module 12 for dispensing water (total permeate) into the container of the water consumer, i.e. water filling chamber.

A flow-through aqua vending apparatus in the version with three-stage reverse osmosis contains the same modules, and also additionally contains (Fig. 2) a third membrane module 13 of reverse osmosis with a permeate outlet 14 and a concentrate outlet 15 (the third stage of reverse osmosis water purification), while the mixer 10 is made respectively three-input.

In both versions, the apparatus also contains a module for controlling the operation of the apparatus, a user interface associated with this module for paying for water and randomly starting the process of dispensing water into the container of a water consumer, electrically controlled valves installed on the pipelines of the apparatus between its modules in the appropriate places due to the task of said control, as well as modules for correcting pH and dosed mineralization of the total permeate (not shown).

Module 1 is, for example, a carbon filter for incoming water or several series-connected carbon-block filters or other filters in various combinations; Moreover, this module is made with the possibility of hydraulic connection of its inlet with the water supply network and is intended primarily for water purification from mechanical impurities, high-molecular organic substances and residual chlorine.

Pump 2 is a high-pressure pump, it provides an operating pressure of 0.5 to 1.5 MPa, required for water purification by the reverse osmosis method, and is connected to a power supply network with a voltage of 220 V. Pump 2 inlet is hydraulically (using a suitable pipeline) connected to the output of module 1.

Each reverse osmosis membrane module of the group of modules 3 and 6 (or 3, 6 and 13) can be of different design, but it is preferable to use a module consisting of a membrane holder and a membrane element of standard size "4040" or another. The use of a membrane element of the Filmtec XLE type as a membrane element of the membrane module 3, 6 and 13 ensures that each membrane module removes 99% of the impurities dissolved in it from the water being purified (entering the inlet of this module) at an operating pressure of 0.69 MPa and a water temperature of 25 ° C.

Generally, a group of reverse osmosis membrane modules consists of n membrane modules with n> 1. In the examples under consideration, n = 2 (these are modules 3 and 6 in Fig. 1) and n = 3 (these are modules 3, 6 and 13 in Fig. 2). Of these, module 3 is the first (main) in this group and its input is hydraulically (using a corresponding pipeline) connected to the outlet of pump 2. Moreover, all the indicated membrane modules of the considered group of reverse osmosis membrane modules are hydraulically connected in series with respect to the concentrate and in parallel permeate, so that the i-th membrane module of this group, which is not the first (i.e. not module 3), is hydraulically connected with its inlet to the concentrate outlet of the (i-1) -th membrane module. Specifically in the embodiment of the apparatus of FIG. 1, the second membrane module 6 is hydraulically connected with its inlet (using a corresponding pipeline) to the concentrate outlet 5 of the first membrane module 3, and its concentrate outlet 8 is connected to the inlet of the drainage pipeline 9; and in the embodiment of the apparatus shown in FIG. 2, where there is also a third membrane module 13, this third one is hydraulically connected with its inlet (using a corresponding pipeline) to the concentrate outlet 8 of the second membrane module 6, and its concentrate outlet 15 is connected to the inlet of the drainage pipeline 9. The apparatus is equipped with a mixer 10 streams permeate having n inputs, with which the corresponding membrane modules 3 and 6 are hydraulically (using the corresponding pipelines) connected by their outputs 4 and 7 (parallel connection of membrane modules 3 and 6 by permeate in the embodiment of the apparatus in Fig. 1), as well as their the permeate outputs 4, 7 and 14 correspond to the corresponding membrane modules 3, 6 and 13 (parallel connection of membrane modules 3, 6 and 13 over the permeate in the embodiment of the apparatus in Fig. 2).

Module 11 ultraviolet disinfection of water (total permeate) is an ultraviolet lamp enclosed in a cylindrical flask made of material that transmits ultraviolet light. In this case, this flask is located inside the pipeline and along this pipeline, through which the total permeate from the outlet of the mixer 10 enters the module 12 for dispensing water (total permeate) into the container of the water consumer.

The module 12 for dispensing water into a container of a water consumer is a box with an open side edge with or without a door. In the upper part of the box, there is a branch pipe for direct delivery of water to the container of the water consumer, installed in the box.

The control module ensures that pump 2 is turned on at a certain time and for a certain period, necessary and sufficient to fill the container of the water consumer temporarily located in module 12 with purified water (total permeate). The volume of water supplied is determined by the water consumer by entering the corresponding task through the user interface , and the control module measures the volume of water set in this way using a water volume counter.

The functioning of the flow-through aqua vending apparatus is as follows.

The consumer (buyer) of water installs his container for water (container, bottle) in the module 12 for dispensing water. In this case, the consumer makes a payment for water in one way or another (or the payment was made by him in advance), sets through the user interface the required volume of water delivery to the container of the water consumer and sends through this interface to the control module a command to supply water to the container of the water consumer. At this command, the control module opens the corresponding electrically controlled valves, turns on pump 2 and continuously monitors the volume of water delivered to the container of the water consumer using a water meter. When the volume of water delivered to the container of the water consumer reaches the value specified by the consumer, the control module turns off pump 2 and closes the corresponding electrically controlled valves, as a result of which the process of dispensing water into the container of the water consumer ends.

(за счет суммирования) расходом, что повышает коэффициент полезного использования водопроводной воды и, кроме того, позволяет не применять в данном аппарате промежуточное накопление пермеата в специально предназначенном для этого резервуаре, что существенно снижает массу и габариты аппарата.In the process of dispensing water into the container of the water consumer, the input water from the water supply system is supplied to the module 1 for preliminary water purification, where it is purified from mechanical impurities, high-molecular organic substances and residual chlorine. From the outlet of the module 1, water is supplied to the inlet of the high-pressure pump 2, where the water acquires the pressure required for water purification by the reverse osmosis method. Further, this water is supplied to the inlet of the membrane module 3 of the first stage of reverse osmosis water purification. In the membrane module 3, the tap water entering this module (previously purified in module 1) is divided into two streams - permeate (water purified by reverse osmosis), entering the permeate outlet 4 of module 3, and a concentrate (water containing dissolved impurities that were delayed by the membrane of the module 3), entering the outlet 5 of the concentrate of the module 3. The permeate from the outlet 4 of the membrane module 3 through the mixer 10 and the ultraviolet disinfection module 11 is fed into the container of the water consumer installed in the module 12. The concentrate from the outlet 5 of the membrane module 3 is fed to the inlet membrane module 6 of the second stage of reverse osmosis water purification. In the membrane module 6, the concentrate entering this module (obtained from the membrane module 3) is divided into two streams - the permeate entering the permeate outlet 7 of the module 6, and the concentrate entering the concentrate outlet 8 of the module 6. Permeate from the outlet 7 of the membrane module 6 through the mixer 10 and the ultraviolet disinfection module 11 is supplied to the container of the water consumer installed in the module 12. The concentrate from the outlet 8 of the membrane module 6 in the embodiment of the apparatus in FIG. 1 is fed through the drainage pipeline 9 into the sewer, and in the embodiment of the apparatus in FIG. 2 - at the inlet of the membrane module 13 of the third stage of reverse osmosis water purification. In the membrane module 13, the concentrate entering this module (obtained from module 6) is divided into two streams - the permeate entering the permeate outlet 14 of the module 13, and the concentrate entering the concentrate outlet 15 of the module 13 and then from this outlet through the drain line 9 this concentrate goes down the drain. The permeate from the outlet 14 of the membrane module 13 through the mixer 10 and the ultraviolet disinfection module 11 is fed into the container of the water consumer installed in the module 12. Thus, two streams of permeate (in the variant of the apparatus in Fig. 1) or three streams of permeate enter the container of the water consumer (in the variant of the apparatus in Fig. 2), thereby forming the total flow of permeate with

(due to the summation) consumption, which increases the efficiency of tap water and, in addition, makes it possible not to use in this device the intermediate accumulation of permeate in a specially designed reservoir, which significantly reduces the weight and dimensions of the device.

The considered two variants of the flow-through aqua vending apparatus (with two- and three-stage reverse osmosis) do not limit the scope of the claimed patent claims, because, in accordance with the declared patent formula, the required scope of patent claims covers any number of reverse osmosis steps in the flow-through aqua vending apparatus, which is only technically and expediently possible. economically, as well as the possibility of bringing the total permeate to the required condition in terms of its pH and mineral composition by methods widely known in this field.

Claims (1)

A flow-through aqua vending machine containing a water pre-treatment module, made with the possibility of hydraulic connection of its inlet with a water supply network, a pump, the inlet of which is hydraulically connected to the outlet of the water pre-treatment module, a reverse osmosis membrane module, the inlet of which is hydraulically connected to the pump outlet, a drainage pipeline, a module for dispensing water into a container of a water consumer, as well as a control module and an electrically connected user interface for controlling the process of dispensing water into a container for a water consumer, characterized in that it contains a permeate flow mixer having n inputs, as well as a group of reverse osmosis membrane modules consisting of n membrane modules, including the aforementioned membrane module, which is the first in this group for n> 1, while all these membrane modules are hydraulically connected in series with each other in a concentrate, so that the i-th membrane module, which is not the first, is its own hydraulic input eski is connected to the concentrate outlet of the (i-1) -th membrane module, the n-th membrane module by its concentrate outlet is hydraulically connected to the inlet of the drainage pipeline, and the permeate outlets of all membrane modules are hydraulically connected to the corresponding inlets of the said mixer, the outlet of which is hydraulically connected to the module delivery of water to the container of the water consumer.

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