WO2012141475A2

WO2012141475A2 - Water quality telemonitoring system

Info

Publication number: WO2012141475A2
Application number: PCT/KR2012/002716
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yeon-Gi KOO; Jun-Heung YI; Hong-Gyu YANG; Dong-Hee Jung; Tae-Seon Choi; Su-Han JO; Soo-Hyeong LIM; Seung-Yeun KIM; Kwang-Ho Baek
Original assignee: Korea Environment Corporation
Priority date: 2011-04-15
Filing date: 2012-04-10
Publication date: 2012-10-18
Also published as: WO2012141475A3; KR20120117429A

Abstract

A remote water quality monitoring system is provided. The remote water quality monitoring system includes: a measuring instrument that measures the concentrations of pollutant included in sewage/wastewater discharged from one or more outfalls in real time and that outputs a measured value signal and an instrument state signal; a data collector that transmits a remote control command transmitted from a control center monitoring or controlling the one or more outfalls to the measuring instrument, that collects the measured value signal and the instrument state signal in real time to create and store average data, and that transmits the average data to the control center; and an automatic sample pickup device that discontinuously or continuously picks up a sample of the sewage/wastewater from a sample pickup tank formed between the outfalls and the measuring instrument so as to allow the measuring instrument to continuously measure water quality.

Description

WATER QUALITY TELEMONITORING SYSTEM

The present invention relates to a sewage/wastewater monitoring system for outfalls of workplaces, and more particularly, to a remote water quality monitoring system that normally monitors the situation of discharging sewage/wastewater by measuring pollution levels of sewage/wastewater at outfalls by the use of measuring instruments and supplying the measurement results to a main computer of a control center in an on-line manner.

When an administrative organization monitored the discharging of water pollutants in workplaces and facilities in the past, a manual sampling method of causing government employees to periodically visit the workplaces and facilities was used.

The administrative organization took an administrative measure using the pollutant analysis results through the periodical sampling as administrative data of the workplaces and facilities.

Regarding SS (Suspended Solids) in the pollutants, for example, when the SS is 15 mg/L which is beyond the allowable discharge reference 10 mg/L, the concentration of pollutants is considered to be 15 mg/L from the date of excessive pollutant to the date of improvement completion and the surcharge for excessive discharge is imposed.

The analysis data through the periodical sampling are reflected as the basis of discharge characteristics of the workplaces and facilities in various policies of the government.

This water pollutant monitoring method using the periodical sampling does not serve as a fundamental measure for preventing the discharging of pollutants, since the situations of discharging pollutants in the workplaces and the like cannot be normally monitored.

In addition, there is a problem in that a basic discharge tax and an excessive discharge surcharge to be imposed as the one-time analysis result through the periodical monitoring are calculated regardless of the actual discharge of pollutants and a working burden due to the excessive surcharge is imposed on the workplaces.

The analysis data through the periodical sampling method is not representative of the variation and discharging characteristics of water pollutants in the workplaces discharging pollutants and running for 24 hours of 365 days.

Accordingly, there is a need in the technical field for development of a system capable of measuring, collecting, and monitoring the concentrations and the flow rates of pollutants in the workplaces and facilities in real time and capable of allowing the real-time measurement data to be used as administrative data.

In addition, there is a need for solution to the problems with the prevention of pollutant discharging accidents, the unreasonable calculation of surcharges, the accurate understanding of discharge characteristics of the workplaces, and the like by employing a 24-hour monitoring system using an automatic measuring instrument instead of the existing manual method of monitoring water quality.

The invention is made to solve the above-mentioned problems and an object thereof is to provide a remote water quality monitoring system which can monitor a situation of discharging sewage/wastewater for 24 hours by normally measuring a pollution level of the sewage/wastewater at an outfall through the use of a measuring instrument and supplying the measurement result to a main computer of a control center in an on-line manner.

Another object of the invention is to provide a remote water quality monitoring system which can switch a on-the-spot post management and regulation system to a precaution and self-control system by installing a measuring instrument and a flow meter in workplaces all over the country and normally monitoring sewage/wastewater discharged from the workplaces and which can utilize statistical pollution data as environmental policy data through scientific management.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a remote water quality monitoring system which can achieve the prevention of pollutant discharging accidents, the solution to the unreasonable calculation of surcharges, and the accurate understanding of discharge characteristics of the workplaces by employing a 24-hour monitoring system.

The invention is not limited to the above-mentioned objects, but other objects can be apparently understood from the following description by those skilled in the art.

According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a remote water quality monitoring system including: a measuring instrument that measures the concentrations of pollutant included in sewage/wastewater discharged from one or more outfalls in real time and that outputs a measured value signal and an instrument state signal; a data collector that transmits a remote control command transmitted from a control center monitoring or controlling the one or more outfalls to the measuring instrument, that collects the measured value signal and the instrument state signal in real time to create and store average data, and that transmits the average data to the control center; and an automatic sample pickup device that discontinuously or continuously picks up a sample of the sewage/wastewater from a sample pickup tank formed between the outfalls and the measuring instrument so as to allow the measuring instrument to continuously measure water quality.

The control center may collect the measured value signal and the instrument state signal in real time, may create and store average data and real-time data, and may manage the data collector, and the control center may monitor and control the one or more outfalls by performing one or more of a remote control function, a data collecting/analyzing/storing function, an automatically-measured data managing function, a general data collecting/storing/managing function, a forecasting/warning function, a function of confirming administrative data of automatically-measured data, and a system failure preventing function.

The control center may transmit to the data collector one or more remote control commands selected from a data transmission request (DATA), an instantaneously-measured data request (RDAT), a stored data request (DUMP), a correction execution command (RCHK), a correction value search command (CCHK), an automatic sample pickup device control (SAMP), a time change request (SETT), a password change request (SETP), a data collector initialization command (RSET), and an additional information request (INFO) to monitor the one or more outfalls and to analyze data.

The remote water quality monitoring system may further include: when the number of the data collector is one or more, an intermediate data collector that collects data of the one or more data collectors and that transmits the data to the control center; and a self output device that is disposed in each of the data collectors so as to output the measured value signal measured by the measuring instrument.

The remote water quality monitoring system may further include air conditioning equipment that maintains the temperature and humidity of the measuring instrument in preset ranges. The automatic sample pickup device may sample a constant amount of pollutant from the sewage/wastewater sample picked up from the sample pickup tank and stores the sampled pollutant so as to allow the measuring instrument to measure the pollutant of the picked-up sewage/wastewater sample.

The remote water quality monitoring system may further include a flow meter that is disposed in the one or more outfalls, that measures an amount of water discharged from the corresponding outfall, and that transmits discharge water data to the data collector, thereby monitoring the flow rate of the sewage/wastewater.

By employing the remote water quality monitoring system according to the aspect of the invention, it is possible to monitor a situation of discharging sewage/wastewater for 24 hours by normally measuring a pollution level of the sewage/wastewater at an outfall through the use of a measuring instrument and supplying the measurement result to a main computer of a control center in an on-line manner.

By employing the remote water quality monitoring system according to the aspect of the invention, it is possible to switch a on-the-spot post management and regulation system to a precaution and self-control system by installing a measuring instrument and a flow meter in workplaces all over the country and normally monitoring sewage/wastewater discharged from the workplaces and which can utilize statistical pollution data as environmental policy data through scientific management.

By employing the remote water quality monitoring system according to the aspect of the invention, it is possible to achieve the prevention of pollutant discharging accidents, the solution to the unreasonable calculation of surcharges, and the accurate understanding of discharge characteristics of the workplaces by employing a 24-hour monitoring system.

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating a forecasting and warning system of a remote water quality monitoring system according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating a remote water quality monitoring system according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating the functions of a control center of the remote water quality monitoring system shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating the inside of a measuring place in the remote water quality monitoring system shown in Fig. 2.

* REFERENCE SIGN LIST

10: WATER POLLUTANT TREATMENT FACILITY

20: OUTFALL

30: MEASURING PLACE

31: SAMPLE PICKUP TANK

32: FLOW METER

33: MEASURING INSTRUMENT

34: AUTOMATIC SAMPLE PICKUP DEVICE

35: DATA COLLECTOR

36: ELECTRICAL CONTROLLER

37: AIR CONDITIONING EQUIPMENT

40: INTERMEDIATE DATA COLLECTOR

41: SELF OUTPUT DEVICE

42: FIRST VPN

43: AUTOMATIC SAMPLE PICKUP DEVICE

44: INTERNET

45: SECOND VPN

46: CONTROL CENTER

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. When it is determined that specific description of known functions and configurations associated with the description of the invention makes the concept of the invention vague, the detailed description thereof will not be made.

In this specification, if an element “transmits” data or signals to another element, it means that an element may directly transmit data or signals to another element or may transmit data or signals to another element via at least one still another element.

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating a forecasting and warning system of a remote water quality monitoring system according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to Fig. 1, necessary items of sewage/wastewater discharged from an outfall of a workplace are measured in real time by a measuring instrument 33 and the measured values are transmitted to a data collector 35.

A main computer (HOST) 46 is installed in a control center 46, collects the measured values of the necessary items from the data collector 35 and an intermediate data collector 40, and automatically warns a self-governing body with a telephone, a mobile phone, a facsimile, or a terminal through the use of an automatic transmission system connected to the Internet when the measured values excess allowable criteria.

Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating a remote water quality monitoring system according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to Fig. 2, the remote water quality monitoring system is a system that can always monitor the pollutant discharging situations for 24 hours by normally measuring water pollutants discharged from workplaces considered to discharge the water pollutants and linking automatic measuring instruments to the main computer (HOST) of the control center 46 in an on-line manner and that can pick up samples through the use of automatic sample pickup devices when the water pollutants are excessive or the possibility of excessive water pollutants is present.

The remote water quality monitoring system includes a water pollutant treatment facility 10, outfalls 20, a measuring place 30, an intermediate data collector 40, self output devices 41, and a control center 46. The measuring place 30 measures water pollutants and transmits data to the control center 46 collecting and managing data from the data collectors via virtual private networks (VPN) 42 and 46 taking charge of communication and security of the measuring places 30 and the Internet 44. The elements will be specifically described below.

The water pollutant treatment facility 10 includes a biological treatment facility 11, a physical treatment facility 12, and a chemical treatment facility 13 biologically, physically, and chemically reducing sewage/wastewater including pollutants and discharging the treated sewage/wastewater to the outfalls 20 and is connected to at least one outfall 20.

The outfall 20 is a sewage/wastewater discharge port of the workplaces or the like and discharges the sewage/wastewater with reduced pollutants from the water pollutant treatment facility 10.

The measuring place 30 includes a sample pickup tank 31, a flow meter 32, a measuring instrument 33, an automatic sample pickup device 34, and a data collector 35 and serves to measure water pollutants discharged from the water pollutant treatment facility 10 including the biological treatment facility 11, the physical treatment facility 12, and the chemical treatment facility 13.

The sample pickup tank 31 stores a sewage/wastewater sample discharged from the outfall 20 for the analysis using the measuring instrument 33, and equalizes and stabilizes the sewage/wastewater sample.

The flow meter 32 is disposed in the outfall 20 and serves to measure the amount of water discharged from the outfall 20 and to transmit discharged water data to the data collector 35.

The measuring instrument 33 receives a sample from the sample pickup tank 31, measures the “concentrations of pollutants” in the sample in real time, and transmits the measured signal and a “state signal” of the measuring instrument 33 to the control center 46.

The automatic sample pickup device 34 samples a constant amount of pollutants from the sewage/wastewater sample picked up from the sample pickup tank 31 in response to a command from the control center 46 and allows the measuring instrument 33 to measure the pollutants of the sewage/wastewater sample.

The automatic sample pickup device 34 is a device used to discontinuously or continuously pick up sewage/wastewater samples and is used to measure the concentrations of pollutants, to analyze the picked-up samples for a long period of time, and to pick up and store a sample for accidental discharge in rivers, and end-point sewage/wastewater treatment facilities.

The data collector 35 receives data transmitted from the flow meter 32, the measuring instrument 33, and the automatic sample pickup device 34, collects and stores the data measured by the flow meter 32 and the measuring instrument 33, and transmits data to the control center 46 and commands to the automatic sample pickup device 34 in response to the commands from the control center 46.

The intermediate data collector 40 receives data from plural data collectors 35 when plural data collectors 35 are provided, and serves to transmit the received data to the control center 46.

The self output device 41 is connected to the measuring instrument 33 or the intermediate data collector 40 and is a system for allowing the corresponding workplace itself to search for the measured data created by the measuring instrument 33 and to utilize the data for businesses.

The control center 46 provides a data collecting/analyzing/storing function from the measuring places 30, a remote control function, an automatically-measured data managing function, a general data collecting/storing/managing function, a forecasting/warning function, a function of confirming administrative data of automatically-measured data, and a system failure preventing function (see Fig. 3).

The creation, storage, and transmission of data will be described in more detail below. The measured data transmitted from the measuring instrument 33 to the data collector 35 as a data log is stored in real time.

The stored measured data is created in 5-minute average data and time average data which are stored in the data collector 35. At this time, the “state information of the measuring instrument 33” is also transmitted to and stored in the data collector 35.

The data collector 35 stores the received measured data and state information for 30 days or more and transmits the received measured data and state information to the control center 46 on the demand of the control center 46 or at a predetermined time interval.

In this case, when data is not transmitted due to the traffic jam of the virtual

private networks

42 and 45 and the Internet 44 or the like, the control center 46 transmits a retransmission request for non-transmitted data to the data collector 35 or the intermediate data collector 40.

Here, the control center 46 can cause the data collector 35 or the intermediate data collector 40 to execute various commands, and examples of the commands include a data transmission request (DATA), an instantaneously-measured data request (RDAT), a stored data request (DUMP), a correction execution command (RCHK), a correction value search command (CCHK), an automatic sample pickup device control (SAMP), a time change request (SETT), a password change request (SETP), a data collector initialization command (RSET), and an additional information request (INFO) to monitor the one or more outfalls and to analyze data, which are shown in Fig. 3. On the other hand, the control center 46 can transmit commands such as a “non-transmitted data request”, a “water pickup command to an automatic sample pickup device”, and a “data collector restart command”, in addition to the commands shown in Fig. 3, to the data collector 35 or the intermediate data collector 40.

On the other hand, as shown in the drawings, the control center 46 and the data collector 35 or the intermediate data collector 40 communicate with each other using the wired/wireless Internet 44 and virtual private networks including a first VPN 42 and a second VPN are used for the security of the measured data.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating the inside of the measuring place 30 in the remote water quality monitoring system shown in Fig. 2. Referring to Fig. 4, the remote water quality monitoring system according to the invention measures items such as the pH, organic materials (BOD or COD), SS, T-N, T-P, and the flow rate and includes the sample pickup tank 31, the measuring instrument 33, the electrical controller 36, the air conditioning equipment 37, and the data collector 35. Accordingly, the measuring place 30 receiving these elements is necessary.

The sample pickup tank 31 includes a sampling pump, a balancing tank pre-processing the picked-up sample, and a storage tank. The sampling pump can selectively employ a submersible pump and a suction pump depending on the sampling time of a sample or the spot situation of the measuring instrument. In the sample pickup tank 31, a filter of 100 ㎛ or more for removing adulterations included in an organic sample can be attached before the inlet of the measuring instrument, but should not affect the concentrations of water pollutants.

The measuring instrument 33 is an instrument measuring the pH, the organic materials (BOD or COD), SS, T-N, T-P, and the flow rate. A pre-processing apparatus filtering an analysis sample may be provided depending on the characteristics of the measuring instrument 33. In this case, the automatically-measured value should be finally identical to the concentration of a pollutant at the outfall 20 through the use of management of a conversion formula or the like.

The electrical controller 36 is a part supplying power necessary for running the remote water quality monitoring system or controlling the power. Since the remote water quality monitoring system is normally run in an unmanned manner, an earth leakage breaker, a temperature relay, and the like should be used for provision against emergencies.

The air conditioning equipment 37 maintains the temperature and humidity of the measuring instrument 33 in a preset range. More specifically, since the measuring instrument 33 is affected by surroundings such as the temperature and humidity, a constant temperature and a constant humidity are preferable and the environmental temperature of the measuring instrument 33 is preferably maintained in the range of 10℃ to 30℃ in consideration of a cost. Since samples or chemical reagents may be modified due to the freezing of samples in winter, the abnormal high temperature in a measurement room in summer, and the like depending on the places, air conditioning equipment such as a ventilating fan should be provided.

The data collector 35 is controlled by the control center 46 in constructing the remote water quality monitoring system. More specifically, in constructing the remote water quality monitoring system, the data collector 35 should be able to transmit data measured by the measuring instrument 33 and state information to the control center 46 and should be able to remotely control the automatic sample pickup device 34 in response to a remote command from the control center 46.

The measured data is mainly transmitted through a wired network, but may be transmitted through a wireless network in inevitable cases.

On the other hand, the measuring place 30 should have environmental conditions capable of blocking rain and wind and being suitable for the measuring instrument 33 and should be designed in consideration of a space for maintenance. As the measuring place 30 is located closer to the outfall 20, it is more advantageous for measuring the water quality of discharged water. When the measuring instrument is located apart from the outfall 20 for some geographical reasons, the nature of the transported wastewater in the sample pickup tank 31 may be changed due to the influence of alga generated in a transport pipe or the like and thus an error may be caused in the measurement result.

The exemplary embodiments of the invention have been described hitherto in the specification and the drawings. Specific terms have been used, but the terms are intended to help easy description and easy understanding of the invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. In addition to the embodiments described above, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention can be modified in various forms without departing from the technical concept of the invention.

Claims

A water quality telemonitoring system comprising:

a measuring instrument that measures the concentrations of a pollutant included in sewage/wastewater discharged from one or more outfalls in real time and that outputs a measured value signal and an instrument state signal;

a data collector that transmits a remote control command transmitted from a control center monitoring or controlling the one or more outfalls to the measuring instrument, that collects the measured value signal and the instrument state signal in real time to create and store average data, and that transmits the average data to the control center; and

an automatic sample pickup device that discontinuously or continuously picks up a sewage/wastewater sample from a sample pickup tank formed between the outfalls and the measuring instrument so as to allow the measuring instrument to continuously measure water quality.
The water quality telemonitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the control center collects the measured value signal and the instrument state signal in real time, creates and stores average data and real-time data, and manages the data collector, and

wherein the control center monitors and controls the one or more outfalls by performing one or more of a remote control function, a data collecting/analyzing/storing function, an automatically-measured data managing function, a general data collecting/storing/managing function, a forecasting/warning function, a function of confirming administrative data of automatically-measured data, and a system failure preventing function.
The water quality telemonitoring system according to claim 2, wherein the control center transmits to the data collector one or more remote control commands selected from a data transmission request (DATA), an instantaneously-measured data request (RDAT), a stored data request (DUMP), a correction execution command (RCHK), a correction value search command (CCHK), an automatic sample pickup device control (SAMP), a time change request (SETT), a password change request (SETP), a data collector initialization command (RSET), and an additional information request (INFO) to monitor the one or more outfalls and to analyze data.
The water quality telemonitoring system according to claim 1, further comprising: when the number of the data collector is one or more,

an intermediate data collector that collects data of the one or more data collectors and that transmits the data to the control center; and

a self output device that is disposed in each of the data collectors so as to output the measured value signal measured by the measuring instrument.
The water quality telemonitoring system according to claim 1, further comprising air conditioning equipment that maintains the temperature and humidity of the measuring instrument in preset ranges.
The water quality telemonitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the automatic sample pickup device samples a constant amount of pollutant from the sewage/wastewater sample picked up from the sample pickup tank and stores the sampled pollutant so as to allow the measuring instrument to measure the pollutant of the picked-up sewage/wastewater sample.
The water quality telemonitoring system according to claim 1, further comprising a flow meter that is disposed in the one or more outfalls, that measures an amount of water discharged from the corresponding outfall, and that transmits discharge water data to the data collector.