WO2011003141A1

WO2011003141A1 - Water purifying system

Info

Publication number: WO2011003141A1
Application number: PCT/AU2010/000867
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kenneth Padgett; Mark Anthony Sweet
Original assignee: H203 Pty. Limited
Priority date: 2009-07-07
Filing date: 2010-07-07
Publication date: 2011-01-13

Abstract

A water treatment and delivery system which is adapted to be connected to a reticulated water supply and which is provided with treatment means are provided whereby solid material, undesirable chemicals and smells, are removed from the water and means whereby bacteria, viruses and germs being carried in the water can be destroyed; and a distribution means whereby the treated water is supplied to a distribution means. The system includes means whereby a non- residual biocide and/or fungicide such as ozone can be used to ensure that the water after being treated is maintained pure and to prevent any build up of organic growths in the system. The system may have a transparent container for the water being delivered which can be maintained clean by the biocide/fungicide and which can be adapted to provide an aesthetic appearance. Means are also provided to automatically provide Information to a remote point relating to the status of the treatment system and the quantity of water delivered.

Description

WATER PURIFYING SYSTEM

Technical Area

This invention relates to a water purifying system to provide purified water from a potable source. It also relates to the marketing of such water.

Background to the Invention

Many cities and towns have reticulated water supplies in which the water is unattractive to drink, either because the smell, the colour or the taste, and many such supplies have high mineral concentrations and added chemicals which are undesirable for ingestion.

Over the last twenty-odd years, partially because of the unpalatable water from the reticulated supply, and partly from appearance, many users have developed a practice of purchasing bottled water and carrying the water with them whilst doing their daily tasks.

This water is extremely expensive and environmentally unsatisfactory as in many cases the water is bottled at a point very different to where it is drunk, often from different continents, and then freighted at great expense to the points of use.

Also, water in bulk containers, often 15 to 20 litre containers, which are generally locally bottled, either from spring water or treated reticulate water, are supplied to business and certain private premises and, whilst these have less impact on the environment than the bottled water previously referred to, they still necessitate substantial transport from the source to the end user which, on occasions, an intermediate stop to a distribution warehouse or the like.

There have been proposals to treat, by filtering and/or the use of biocides, water in situ.

Such water, even when treated, tends to have organic growths if the containers are continuously used and these growths can have an adverse effect on the taste of the water and are also are unsightly where the water is held in transparent containers.

Outline of the Invention

The object of the present Invention is to provide a method of supplying water which is very much cheaper and less stressful on the environment than these previous systems, and which presents the water in an attractive manner. At the same time the invention provides a method of water supply which is beneficial to sellers or the like and provides users with water from an end-use situation which is cheaper and of as good or better quality than bottled or other forms of water previously available.

The Invention in the first aspect provides a water treatment and delivery system which is adapted to be connected to a reticulated water supply and which is provided with treatment means are provided whereby solid material, undesirable chemicals and smells, are removed from the water and means whereby bacteria, viruses and germs being carried in the water can be destroyed; and a distribution means whereby the treated water is supplied to a distribution means.

Preferably the distribution means is a display device, which may includes a transparent container holding a certain quantity of water. The container is preferably provided with means whereby the water therein can be treated wittf a non-residual biocide and/or fungicide.

It is preferred that the biocide/f ungicide is ozone which is added to a recirculating arrangement which passes frbm and to the container, the arrangement being such that the ozone is brought into intimate contact with a substantial part of the water so that the water in the container can be heavily ozonated. The degree of ozonlsation can be monitored remotely and the ozoπisation automatically effected.

For appearance, the container may preferably have bubbles passing therethrough. The container could also be provided with a source of ultra violet light which can not only provide an attractive appearance to the container but also has sterilising properties.

It is also preferred that the system has a metering arrangement whereby the water being dispensed therefrom is dispensed in particular quantities.

The metering arrangement may incorporate a system whereby the quantity of water metered is maintained and may have means whereby this can automatically, or after polling, send an indication of this quantity to a remote position and the user of the water charged for the quantity of water dispensed.

At the same time, results can also give an indication of when servicing or replacement of the filter elements and other serviceable parts should be effected.

Description of an Embodiment of the Invention In order that the invention may be more readily understood, there will be described one system incorporating the various aspects of the Invention, but it is to be appreciated that these can be varied for particular applications.

This embodiment is illustrated, in a relatively schematic manner in the drawings, in which:

Fig 1 Shows the visible portion of the dispenser of one particular form of the device: and

Fig 2 Is a schematic of the parts of the system.

The system is adapted to have a dispensing arrangement 11 which is visible and acts as a display device which dispensing arrangement may include a container 11 of a transparent material which is designed to sit on a bar or counter or the like or to be a free standing unit and which has a delivery outlet 20 which will be described further later in this specification.

Associated with the dispensing arrangement there is a treatment unit 30 which is connected directly to the reticulated supply 32 for the premises and may be remote from the dispensing unit and this includes filters, both to remove solids and also to remove smells and chemicals and these filters may depend on the water being treated.

These filters could include all of, or some of:

Activated carbon;

Pre-filter- preferably sub-micron size;

Reverse osmosis membrane filter;

A second activated carbon filter. The water, after leaving the filters, may optionally pass through a transparent pipe or the like 31 where it can be treated with ultra-violet light or other source which acts to kill any viruses or germs which may be carried by the water and which have not been removed by the filters. Alternatively or additionally, sterilisation can be effected at 31' just before delivery.

This water is then delivered on demand to the display device 11.

In order to maintain the container in an optically clear condition and to further maintain the water quality, there is provided a recirculating arrangement whereby water is removed from the container and passes through a pipe 12 or the like into which there is injected ozone sourced from an ozone generator 14. This recirculation is effected by pump 13 By injecting the ozone in this way, a high concentration of ozone can be added to the water and when it returns to the container, by diffusion, the ozone permeates the whole of the water in the container. The degree of o≥oπisatioπ is monitored either by the operator of the device, or remotely; to ensure that the total ozone concentration reached a required level and is maintained at that level for a time sufficient to ensure the destruction of any organic growth. This means that the whole of the inner surfaces of the container are contacted by highly ozonated water and this ensures that any incipient build up of organic growth is destroyed so that not only is the interior of the container kept extremely clean, there is no build up of growth which could taint the water. This will only be necessary once or twice a day and would normally be done when water is not being delivered from the device, as before the business with the device opens for business, as the ozone level drops substantially once further ozone is not being added to the water. When there is a relatively steady movement of water from the.device, then the water entering the device will be in a pure condition and ready for distribution and would not be held in the device for long enough for contamination to occur. The physical arrangement of the ozonisation is that there is a circulating pump 13 which is in the pipe which passes from and to the container, an ozone generator which produces ozone gas and means to inject this air into the pipe. There is also a metering arrangement which could check the water upstream of the ozone generatorfor level of ozonation of the water in the tank 11 and control the operation of the ozone generator so that once the required time is reached, the generator is controlled to maintain this level for the require time before being shut off.

If the device is in a premises where coffee is prepared and served, an outlet from the device may be fed directly to the coffee machine. This serves two purposes, firstly the treated water can provide coffee which is tastier than using the available water and, secondly, it can ensure increased life of the coffee machine as scale and other build up Is minimised.

The device has delivery means 20 whereby either fixed or variable quantities of the water can be effected and these can either enable a pre-determined quantity of water be delivered to a glass or the like or, if the water is to be supplied to be taken away, then appropriate containers can be provided. It is preferred that these containers be of polycarbonate or steel but, if required, they could be PET bottles as used in many soft-drink and other applications or aluminium containers. These latter forms are not a preferment.

Delivery by either under gravity from the storage tank or by means of a .dispensing pump 21 can can also be a metering pump.

The system may have a number of metering arrangements. These can either be in situ with the device or could be remotely monitored so that a substantial number of systems can be monitored at a central point Firstly, the filtering arrangement can be metered for effective operation of the filters. This can give an indication as to whether the filters need to be replaced or whether, say, some of the filter components need to be removed and backwashed.

Secondly, as mentioned previously, the ozonation system is metered to ensure the level of ozonation of the water when the ozone treatment is being effected reaches the required value for effective kill of organic growths.

Thirdly, if required, the delivery means can be metered to provide a basis forthe supply from the unit to charge the user of the unit on a volume basis for the amount of water delivered, tt can also include means whereby the quantities delivered can be forwarded automatically to a remote position where charging can be effected, either by the preparation of invoices or the like or automatic payment from the user's bank, as required.

Also, the quantity of water can be monitored by the supplier so that routine change or cleaning of the filters and other serviceable parts can be effected on the basis of the use thereof rather than to await an indication as set out above that the filters need service or to service these at particular time-periods which may mean that a filter is replaced when it is not necessary or that filters are not replaced when they should be replaced.

It will be seen that the water delivered from the system is always in an optimum condition and, by ensuring that this is fully aerated, this overcomes what is often a relatively flat taste of a water which has been treated to remove all impurities.

As indicated, the various components of the system can be modified for particular purposes. For example, where water is being prepared for internal use by an organisation it may not be necessary to have the display arrangement described as the water could simply be passed to the required final use position.

Also, for use with waters with various impurities the types and number of filters can be varied to ensure that an optimum output is required. For example, Melbourne, which is generally accepted as having pure water, has 50 to 150 parts per million of total dissolved solids and after passing through a typical system optimised for Melbourne, the output water could have 0 to 6 parts per million of total dissolved solids. In Brisbane the water can have about 380 parts per million of total dissolved solids and the output water can have some 6 parts per million of total dissolved solids.

Adelaide which is recognised as having

hard water, water with a substantial quantity of calcium-carbonate, can be specifically treated to ensure that this is removed.

In a preferred form the container may have air bubbles which are provided by an air pump 33 passing there-through which bubbles serve a dual purpose. Firstly, they make the container interesting and attractive to view and, at the same time, they act to provide continual aeration of the water in the container which assists in giving it some life after prior treatments.

It may be preferred that the container is lit to appear to be lit internally and this may be well done with ultra violet or blue LED lights which also assist in ensuring maintenance of purity of the device.

If required, the container may be associated with cniiiing means to control the temperature of the water delivered. The chilling means could be associated with the treatment unit to be described later herein, could be in the delivery line or there could be a recirculatiπg system where the water in the container is maintained at a desirable temperature.

The dispensing means could also have associated therewith a carbonation system whereby the water can be delivered either still or carbonated.

The metering arrangement ensures that the purchaser obtains the quantity of water for which, they are paying and, at the same time, maintains an indication of the total quantity of water delivered.

There may be provided, in association with the system of the invention is a bottle washing device which uses o∑onated water so that containers which are to be filled can be sanitised before being refilled.

It can thus be seen that the concept of the present invention has a number of features.

Firstly, it treats reticulated water in situ to turn this into a pleasantly tasting pure water. This saves the expenses involved in freighting water, either locally or from another state or another country overseas as the water used has already been reticulated to the point of use.

Secondly, it provides a method of displaying water to entice people to purchase water from a bulk supply which can be attractively presented with a colour passing through the water and preferably the water having bubbles passed there -through which water can be delivered either to a drinking vessel or to a bottle. Bottles supplied by the water supplier, can be of a material which ensures the water is maintained in its extremely good condition, preferably glass with staiπless steel and polycarbonate, or can be used to fill a purchaser's own bottle with a specific quantity of water for which they can be charged,

Thirdly, it provides an arrangement whereby the supplier of the equipment to produce the treated water can make charges to the user of the equipment which is based on the quantity of water dispensed and which, at the same time, can effect automatic charging or removal of the amount from the bank account of the user, whilst also providing a monitor on the quantity of water used to en$ure that the filters and other elements are serviced at appropriate times.

These various aspects can be combined in different combinations, depending upon the applications for the water produced.

Claims

We claim:

1. A water treatment and delivery system which is adapted to be connected to a reticulated water supply and which is provided with treatment means are provided whereby solid material, undesirable chemicals and smells, are removed from the water and means whereby bacteria, viruses and germs being carried in the water can be destroyed; and a distribution means whereby the treated water is supplied to a distribution means.

2. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the distribution means is a display device, which includes a transparent container holding a certain quantity of water.

3. A system as claimed in claim 2 wherein the container is provided with means whereby the water therein can be treated with a non-residual biocide and/or fungicide,

4. A system as claimed in claim 3 wherein the water is treated by ozone which is added to a recirculating arrangement which passes from and to the container, the arrangement being such that the ozone is brought into intimate contact with a substantial part of the water so that the water in the container can be heavily ozonated.

5. A system as claimed in claim 4 wherein the degree of ozonation can be monitored remotely and the ozonation automatically effected.

6. A system as claimed in claim 5 wherein the automatic ozonation can be timed to occur during quiescent periods in the use of the system.

7. A system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the treatment means includes a filter arrangement having a plurality of steps of filtering which can be varied to provide optimum treatment for the particular water being treated.

8. A system as claimed in claim 7 wherein the filter steps may include activated carbon filters, pre filter which preferably removes solids to sub- micron size and reverse osmosis membrane filter(s).

9. A system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the condition of the treatment means can be monitored remotely so that the means can be serviced at intervals such, that the dispensed water maintains a required quality.

10. A system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the container has air bubbles passing therethrough to effect aeration and for aesthetics.

11. A system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the dispensing means is pressurised to ensure rapid and effective dispensing of water.

12. A system as claimed in any preceding claims wherein the dispensing means has means whereby the water being dispensed can optionally be delivered carbonated or still.

13. A system as claimed in any preceding claim which includes a metering arrangement whereby the water being dispensed therefrom is dispensed in particular quantities.

14. A system as claimed in claim 13 wherein the metering arrangement incoφorates a system whereby the quantity of water metered is maintained and includes means whereby this can automatically, or after polling, send details of this quantity to a remote position.

15. A system as claimed in claim 14 wherein the user of the water can be charged for the quantity of water dispensed.

16. A water treatment and delivery system substantially as hereinbefore described.