Apparatus and method for controlling operation of storm sewage pump

• US 4,987,913 A
• Filed: 06/23/1989
• Issued: 01/29/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/1988
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Aoki, Shigeo, Kodate, Hidemi, Kato, Takao
• Primary Examiner(s): Chambers, A. Michael
• Application Number:
  US07/370,807
• Time in Patent Office: 585 Days
• Field of Search: 137/565, 137/78.1, 137/78.2, 137/78.3, 137/566, 137/567, 137/1, 417/7, 417/14, 417/36
• US Class Current: 137/1
• CPC Class Codes: E03F 5/22 Adaptations of pumping plants for lifting sewage wheeled apparatus for emptying sewers or cesspools E03F7/10; pumps, pumping plants, per se F04
• CPC Class Codes: E03F 7/00 Other installations or implements for operating sewer systems, e.g. for preventing or indicating stoppage; Emptying cesspools
• CPC Class Codes: F04D 15/029 for pumps operating in parallel
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/0318 Processes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/1842 Ambient condition change responsive
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/86163 Parallel

Abstract

Storm water pumps drain storm water in a pump well. In order to control the storm water pumps, a radar rain gage and ground raingages are set. Measurement data from the radar rain gage and the ground rain gages are supplied to a data processing unit. The data processing unit calibrates rainfall distribution data representing a two-dimensional rainfall distribtuion state obtained by the radar rain gate by the measurement data from the ground rain gages, and forecasts a rainfall in a predetermined time from the present from several sets of the calibrated rainfall distribution data. The data processing unit performs runoff analysis corresponding to characteristics of a drainage basin on the basis of the forecast rainfall to calculate a rainfall flow, thereby forecasting a flow of storm water flowing in the pump well. The data prcessing unit determines the number of pumps to be operated in consideration of the flow of storm water flowing in the pump well, a water level of a water level gauge, and the number of currently operating pumps, thereby controlling an operation of the storm water pumps.

Claims

1. A storm water pump operation control method of controlling an operation state of a plurality of storm water pumps for draining storm water flowing in a sewage treatment plant, comprising:

the step of acquiring rainfall distribution data representing a two-dimensional rainfall distribution state by using a radar rain gages;

the step of measuring actual rainfalls by using ground rain gages;

the rainfall forecasting step of calibrating the rainfall distribution data obtained by said radar rain gage by the rainfalls obtained by said ground rain gages, and forecasting a rainfall in a predetermined time from the present on the basis of several sets of the calibrated past rainfall distribution date; and

the pump number determining step of forecasting a flow of storm water flowing in a pump well on the basis of the forecast rainfall obtained in said rainfall forecasting step.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said pump number determining step comprising

the analyzing step of performing runoff analysis corresponding to characteristics of a drainage basin on the basis of the forecast rainfall obtained in said rainfall forecasting step to calculate a rainfall flow, and forecasting a flow of storm water flowing in said pump well;

and

the pump step of determining the number of pumps to be operated on the basis of the inlet flow of said pump well forecast in said analyzing step, a water level of a water level gauge, and the number of currently operating pumps.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein said rainfall forecasting step comprises:

the step of receiving time-serial rainfall distribution data and calculating a rainfall weighted centroid of each set;

the step of checking whether the centroid moves with a predetermined rule;

the step of obtaining a position of the centroid in a predetermined time from the present in accordance with a predetermined rule if the centroid moves with the predetermined rule or by calculating an average value and variance of past positions of the centroid if the centroid moves without a predetermined rule;

the rainfall increasing/decreasing rate acquiring step of acquiring an increasing/decreasing rate of a rainfall from an area average value of the rainfall; and

the step of, assuming that a latest rainfall distribution at a current computation time does not change for a predetermined period, moving the latest rainfall distribution to a position defined by the calculated centroid, calculating a rainfall in a area of a drainage basin of interest, and multiplying the rainfall by the increasing/decreasing rate to acquire a forecast rainfall.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein said pump number determining step comprises:

the step of obtaining a flow of storm water flowing in said pump well on the basis of a forecasted rainfall of a drainage basin of interest having a sewer pipeline network including confluent and branch points and a pipeline transfer time between junctions of said sewer pipeline network; and

the step of acquiring a flow of storm water flowing in said pump well including overflow of weirs if said sewer pipeline network includes the weirs.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein said pump number determining step comprises:

the step of considering a water level correction amount to a middle water level in said pump well when a water level in said pump well approaches an uppermost or lowermost water level, and determining the number of pumps to be operated for draining a total of the correction amount and an inlet flow assuming that the total corresponds to a flow to be drained; and

the pump number changing step of increasing the number of pumps to be operated by one when the determined number of pumps to be operated is larger by one or more than the number of currently operating pumps under the condition that the water level is higher than the middle water level, and decreasing the number of pumps to be operated by one when the number of pumps to be operated is smaller by one or more than the number of currently operating pumps under the condition that the water level is lower than the middle water level.

12. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said rainfall forecasting means comprises:

means for receiving a static rainfall forecast representing that a certain amount of rain falls within a certain time; and

means for forecasting a rainfall within a predetermined time range for a certain rainfall event on the basis of a plurality of sets of past rainfall distributions and the static rainfall forecast.

6. A storm water pump operation control apparatus for controlling an operation of a plurality of storm water pumps for draining storm water flowing in an urban area to rivers, which includes:

a pump well, connected to a sewer pipe, for receiving storm water;

storm water pumps for draining storm water in said pump well from said pump well;

a water level gauge located in said pump well; and

pump number determining means for determining the number of pumps to be operated in consideration of a water level of said water level gauge and the number of currently operating pumps,

a radar rain gage for observing a two-dimensional rainfall distribution state for each predetermined observation period;

ground rain gages, located at a plurality of points on a ground for measuring actual rainfalls on the ground;

rainfall forecasting means for calibrating rainfall distribution data obtained by said rader rain gage by the rainfalls obtained by said ground rain gages, and forecasting a rainfall in a predetermined time from the present on the basis of several sets of calibrated rainfall distribution data; and

runoff analyzing means for performing runoff analysis corresponding to characteristics of a drainage basin on the basis of a forecasted rainfall obtained by said rainfall forecasting means to calculate a rainfall flow, and forecasting a flow of storm water flowing in said pump well,

said pump number determining means determining the number of pumps to be operated in consideration of the flow of storm water flowing in said pump well calculated by said runoff analyzing means, the water level of said water level gauge, and the number of currently operating pumps.

7. An apparatus according to claim 6, where in said rainfall forecasting means comprises:

calibrating means for calibrating the rainfall distribution data obtained by said radar rain gage by the rainfalls obtained by said ground rain gages;

means for receiving several sets of the calibrated rainfall distribution data from said calibrating means to calculate a rainfall weighted centroid of each set, thereby obtaining a locus of the centroid;

means for using a moving direction and a moving velocity of the centroid when the moving direction of the centroid obtained from the locus of the centroid falls within a predetermined angle, and calculating an average value and variance of past centroids to acquire a moving direction and a moving velocity of the centroid when the moving direction of the centroid falls outside the predetermined angle;

rainfall increasing/decreasing rate acquiring means for acquiring an increasing/decreasing rate of a rainfall from an area average value of the rainfall;

means for, in order to forecast a rainfall in consideration of temporal and spatial variations of the rainfall, calculating a rainfall in an area of a drainage basin of interest assuming that a latest rainfall distribution at a current computation time does not change in several future computation periods and moves in the above moving direction at the above moving velocity; and

forecast rainfall means for multiplying the rainfall calculated by said rainfall calculating means by the increasing/decreasing rate to acquire a forecasted rainfall.

8. An apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said runoff analyzing means comprises:

means for obtaining a flow of storm water flowing into said pump well in accordance with a forecasted rainfall of a drainage basin of interest having a sewer pipeline network including confluent and branch points and a pipeline transfer time between junctions of said sewer pipeline network; and

means for acquiring a flow of storm water flowing in said pump well including an overflow of a weir if said sewer pipeline network has the weir.

9. An apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said pump number determining means comprises:

determining means for considering a water level correction to a middle water level when a water level of said pump well approaches an uppermost or lowermost water level, and determining the number of pumps to be operated for pumping up a total of a corrected amount and an inlet flow assuming that this total corresponds to a flow to be drained; and

a pump number changing means for increasing the number of pumps to operated by one when the number of pumps to be operated determined by said determining means is larger by one or more than the number of currently operating pumps under the condition that the water level is higher than the middle water level, and decreasing the number of pumps to be operated by one when the number of pumps to be operated is smaller by one or more than the number of currently operating pumps under the operation that the water level is lower than the middle water level.

10. A storm water pump operation control apparatus for controlling an operation state of a plurality of storm water pumps for draining storm waster flowing into a sewage treatment plant to rivers, comprising:

a radar rain gage for observing a two-dimensional rainfall distribution state;

ground rain gages for measuring actual rainfalls on a ground;

rainfall forecasting means for calibrating two-dimensional rainfall distribution data obtained by said radar rain gage by the rainfalls obtained by said ground rain gages, and forecasting a rainfall in a predetermined time from the present in accordance with several sets of the calibrated past rainfall distribution data; and

pump number determining means for forecasting a rainfall of storm water flowing in said pump well on the basis of the forecast rainfall obtained by said rainfall forecasting means, and determining the number of pumps to be operated.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said pump number determining means comprises:

analyzing means for performing runoff analysis corresponding to characteristics of a drainage basin on the basis of the forecast rainfall obtained by said rainfall forecasting means to calculate a rainfall flow, thereby forecasting a flow of water flowing in said pump well; and

means for determining the number of pumps to be operated on the basis of an inlet flow of said pump well forecast by said analyzing means, a water level of a water level gauge, and the number of currently operating pumps.

13. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said rainfall forecasting means comprises:

means for calculating a position of a weighted centroid of a rainfall distribution to obtain a locus of the centroid;

means for forecasting a position of the centroid in a predetermined time from the present on the basis of the locus of the centroid; and

increasing/decreasing rate acquiring means for acquiring an increasing/decreasing rate of a rainfall on the basis of past rainfall data of a current rainfall event;

means for moving a latest rainfall distribution to the forecasted position; and

means for calculating a rainfall in a drainage basin to be observed and multiplying the calculated rainfall by the increasing/decreasing rate to acquire a forecast rainfall on the basis of the moved rainfall distribution.

14. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said rainfall forecasting means comprises;

means for receiving time-serial rainfall distribution data and calculating a rainfall weighted centroid of each set of data;

means for checking whether the centroid moves with a predetermined rule;

means for calculating a position of the centroid in a predetermined time from the present in accordance with a predetermined rule if the centroid moves with the predetermined rule or by calculating an average value and variance of positions of the past centroid if the centroid moves without a predetermined rule;

rainfall increasing/decreasing rate acquiring means for acquiring an increasing/decreasing rate of a rainfall on the basis of an area average value of the rainfall; and

means for, assuming that a latest rainfall distribution at a current computation time does not change in a predetermined period, moving the latest rainfall distribution to a position defined by the calculated centroid, calculating a rainfall in an area of a drainage basin of interest, and multiplying the calculated rainfall by the increasing/decreasing rate to acquire a forecast rainfall.

15. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said pump number determining means comprises:

means for obtaining a flow of storm water flowing in said pump well on the basis of a forecast rainfall of a drainage basin of interest having a sewer pipeline network including confluent and branch points and a pipeline transfer time between junctions of said sewage pipeline network; and

means for acquiring a flow of storm water flowing in said pump well including an overflow of a weir if said sewer pipeline network, includes the weir.

16. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said pump number determining means comprises:

determining means for considering a water level correction amount to a middle water level when a water level of said pump well approaches an uppermost or lowermost water level, and determining the number of pumps to be operated for pumping up a total of correction amount and an inlet flow assuming that this total corresponds to a flow to be drained; and

pump number changing means for increasing the number of pumps to operated by one when the number of pumps to be operated determined by said determining means is larger by one or more than the number of currently operating pumps under the condition that the water level is higher than the middle water level, and decreasing the number of pumps to be operated by one when the number of pumps to be operated is smaller by one or more than the number of currently operating pumps under the condition that the water level is lower than the middle water level.