Field portable water purification system

• US 5,399,260 A
• Filed: 08/05/1992
• Issued: 03/21/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/1987
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Goodman Ball Incorporated (C.E. Niehoff & Co.)
• Original Assignee: Ronald C. Ball, William A. Eldredge
• Inventors: Eldredge, William A., Ball, Ronald C.
• Primary Examiner(s): CINTINS, IVARS C
• Application Number:
  US07/925,934
• Time in Patent Office: 958 Days
• Field of Search: 210/87, 210/97, 210/143, 210/193, 210/199, 210/241, 210/249, 210/250, 210/416.3, 210/105, 210/205, 210/411
• US Class Current: 210/87
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/281 using inorganic sorbents
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/76 with halogens or compounds of halogens C02F1/4674 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2201/008 Mobile apparatus and plants, e.g. mounted on a vehicle for biological treatment C02F2203/008
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 9/20 Portable or detachable small-scale multistage treatment devices, e.g. point of use or laboratory water purification systems

Abstract

A mobile water filtration and chlorination system in modular form provides a universal water treatment, pump and distribution system.

Claims

1. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus comprising:

a frame and removeably mounted therein

a power module including a water pump for providing pressurized water pumped from a water source, and a diesel engine for driving said water pump;

a filtration module including a water filter including filter leaves coated with a filter cake of diatomaceous earth;

a control module including a control panel, first interconnecting means for feeding said pressurized water received from said power module to said filtration module, and a treated water discharge port, and second interconnecting means for feeding filtered water from said filter module to said treated water discharge port;

said first interconnecting means including at least first controllable dispensing means for injecting first additives into said water flow, and second controllable dispensing means for injecting second additives to said water.

2. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said control module further comprising:

means for preparing a slurry of water and diatomaceous earth, including

a tank with an opening for receiving said diatomaceous earth and a water inlet for injecting pressurized water into said tank when preparing said slurry of said diatomaceous earth and said water;

third interconnecting means for supplying untreated water to said water inlet including a first controllable valve for directing said untreated water to said water inlet when preparing said slurry;

fourth interconnecting means for feeding said slurry from said tank to said water filter for precoating said filter leaves with said diatomaceous earth;

said fourth interconnecting means including an unidirectional valve.

3. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 2, further including a water bypass interconnecting said third interconnecting means and said fourth interconnecting means for having part of said untreated water bypass said tank.

4. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said control module further comprises

means for preparing a slurry of water and diatomaceous earth, including tank with an opening for receiving said diatomaceous earth and water;

means for feeding said slurry of water and diatomaceous earth to said first controllable dispensing means for injecting said slurry into the flow of said untreated water in said first interconnecting means.

5. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said control module further includes

a tank for preparing a slurry of diatomaceous earth and water having an opening for receiving said diatomaceous earth and water, a water inlet, an outlet, and a cover for closing said opening during pressurized operation;

third interconnecting means including a first controllable valve for directing said pressurized untreated water to said water inlet of said tank during precoat operation;

said tank having a water jet connected to said water inlet inside said tank for mixing a first grade of slurry by injecting said pressurize water into said tank containing diatomaceous earth;

said tank further including means for mixing a second grade of slurry from water and diatomaceous earth;

means for adding untreated water supplied by said third interconnecting means to said first grade slurry received from said tank thereby generating a precoat slurry;

fourth interconnecting means for feeding said precoat slurry to said water filter for precoating said filter leaves with said diatomaceous earth;

fifth interconnecting means for feeding said second grade of slurry from said tank to said first controllable dispensing means for injecting said second grade of slurry into the flow of said untreated water through said first interconnecting means;

said fourth interconnecting means including an unidirectional valve.

6. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein said tank has a circular cross-section and said water jet injects said untreated pressurized water tangential to said tank walls causing a circular motion of the mixture of said diatomaceous earth and said water.

7. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein said tank includes a water flow operated turbine mixer for preparing said second grade of slurry from said diatomaceous earth and said water.

8. A portable modular water flowthrough purification apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein said means for mixing a second grade of slurry is a part of said second interconnecting means.

9. A portable modular water flowthrough purification apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said control module further comprises:

hypochlorinator tank;

means for feeding chlorine to said second controllable valve for injecting said chlorine into the flow of said untreated water in said first interconnecting means.

10. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 1, said control module further comprising

means for continuously adding diatomaceous earth slurry to said filter leaves of said filter with said mixture of water and diatomaceous earth injected by said control module into said water flow,

11. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said filter includes

a first port,

a second port and

a backwash port for releasing water and used diatomaceous earth from said filter during backwash operation;

means for backwashing said filter in said filter module including a third controllable valve for directing said pressurized water to said second port.

12. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

semi-rigid suction hose segments for connecting said pump of said power module with said water source;

a suction strainer, connected to the water source end of said suction hose;

said frame including dummy hose connectors for removably mounting said hose segments during transportation of the water purification apparatus.

13. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said modules are interconnected by flexible hoses and quick-connect linkages.

14. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein said modules are interconnected by flexible hose segments and quick-connect linkages, and

wherein said hose segments are connected with each other via quick connect linkages of the same type as used with said modules for interconnection.

15. A portable modular water flowthrough purification apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further including means for hydraulically controlling said first and second feeders.

16. A modular portable water flowthrough purification apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising

means for selecting service operations including at least a filter precoat operation and a filter backwash operation, and

a waste discharge port for discharging water during said filter precoat operation and during said filter backwash operation.

17. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said frame is adapted for transport in small transport vehicles.

18. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said frame includes storage means for tools and storage means for fuel and supplies.

19. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first dispensing means includes first control means for setting the injection rate for said first additives;

and

said second dispensing means includes second control means for setting the injection rate for said second additives.

20. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 1, said purification system further including signal generating means for generating a first control signal proportional to the flow of untreated water through said purification system;

said first dispensing means including first control means for setting a first injection rate for said first additives and third control means for changing said first rate proportional to said first control signal supplied to said third control means;

said second dispensing means including second control means for setting a second injection rate for said second additives and fourth control means for changing said second rate proportional to said first control signal supplied to said fourth control means.

21. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 20 further comprising

means interconnecting said signal generating means with said first and second dispensing means for feeding said first control signal from said signal generating means to said third control means and said fourth control means;

said first control signal controlling said first and second dispensing means for dispensing additives and slurry respectively at rates proportionally to the rate of water flow through said signal generating means.

22. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein said first control signal is a first pulsed hydraulic signal with a pulse rate proportional to the flow of water through said purification apparatus.

23. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said frame further includes removable skids (14) adapted for moving said apparatus close to a source of untreated water.

24. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus comprising:

a pump for supplying water from a water source;

a water filter including filter leaves for receiving filter material;

a dual mode mixer for mixing filter material and water,

a sensor for determining the rate of water flow from said pump to said filter and generating a control signal proportional to said rate of water flow;

means for directing the flow of water through said purification system to perform selectively a filter coating operation, a water filtering operation or a filter backwash operation,

whereby said dual mode mixer receives either pressurized water for producing a mixture of diatomaceous earth and water at a high rate for filter coating, or unpressurized water for producing a mixture of diatomaceous earth and water at a low rate;

means for adding said mixture of diatomaceous earth and water to said flow of water,

first means for dispensing a liquid additive to said flow of water including a storage tank for said liquid additives and first means for injecting said liquid additives into said flow of water controlled by said sensor;

second means for dispensing slurry stored in said dual mode mixer to said flow of water including second means for injecting said slurry into said flow of water controlled by said sensor.

25. A portable modular water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 24, wherein said sensor generated control signal is a pulsed hydraulic signal with a pulse rate proportional to the flow of water through said sensor, and wherein said purification apparatus further includes:

means interconnecting said sensor with said first and second means for dispensing and feeding said hydraulic signal from said sensor to said first and second means for dispensing;

whereby said first means for dispensing provides additives to said first means for injecting at a first rate proportional to said pulse rate, and whereby said second means for dispensing provide said slurry to said second means for injecting at a second rate proportional to said pulse rate.

26. A portable modular water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 24, wherein said first and second means for dispensing include manual controls for setting the amount of liquid to be dispensed for a given rate of water flow through said sensor.

27. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus with at least a filter precoat mode and a filtration mode of operation comprising:

a filtration module including a water filter including filter leaves coated with a filter cake of diatomaceous earth;

a control module including a control panel, a pressurized water intake port, first interconnecting means for feeding said pressurized water received from an external source at said water intake port to said filtration module, a treated water discharge port, and second interconnecting means for feeding filtered water from said filter module to said treated water discharge port;

said first interconnecting means including at least first controllable dispensing means for injecting first additives into said water flow, and second controllable dispensing means for injecting second additives to said water.

28. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 27, wherein said control module further comprises:

means for preparing a slurry of water and diatomaceous earth, including a tank with an opening for receiving said diatomaceous earth and a water inlet for injecting pressurized water into said tank and preparing said slurry of said diatomaceous earth and said water;

third interconnecting means for supplying a flow of untreated water to said water inlet including a first controllable valve for directing said untreated water to said water inlet during filter precoat operation;

fourth interconnecting means for feeding said slurry from said tank to said water filter for precoating said filter leaves with said diatomaceous earth;

whereby said first controllable valve directs all untreated water from said intake port to said filtration module during filtration operation;

said fourth interconnecting means including an unidirectional valve.

29. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 28, further including a water bypass interconnecting said third interconnecting means and said fourth interconnecting means for having part of said untreated water bypass said tank.

30. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 27, wherein said control module further comprises:

means for preparing a slurry of water and diatomaceous earth, including a tank with an opening for receiving said diatomaceous earth and water;

means for feeding said slurry of water and diatomaceous earth to said first controllable dispensing means for injecting said slurry into the flow of said untreated water in said first interconnecting means.

31. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 29, wherein said control module further includes

a tank for preparing a slurry of diatomaceous earth and water having an opening for receiving said diatomaceous earth and water, a water inlet, an outlet, and a cover for closing said opening during pressurized operation;

third interconnecting means including a first controllable valve for directing said pressurized untreated water to said water inlet;

said tank having a water jet connected to said water inlet inside said tank for mixing a first grade of slurry by injecting said pressurize water into said tank containing diatomaceous earth, and means for mixing water and diatomaceous earth for preparing a second grade of slurry from said water and said diatomaceous earth;

fourth interconnecting means for feeding said first grade of slurry from said tank to said water filter for precoating said filter leaves with said diatomaceous earth;

fifth interconnecting means for feeding said second grade of slurry from said tank to said first controllable dispensing means for injecting said slurry into the flow of said untreated water through first interconnecting means;

said fourth interconnecting means including an unidirectional valve;

whereby said first grade of slurry is prepared during said precoating operation, and said second grade of slurry is prepared during said purification operation.

32. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus comprising:

a pump for supplying water from a water source;

a water filter including filter leaves for receiving filter material;

a dual mode mixer for providing a slurry by mixing filter material and water

a sensor for determining the rate of water flow from said pump to said filter and generating a control signal proportional to said rate of water flow;

first dispensing means controlled by said control signal for adding said slurry to said flow of water;

a backwash water outlet;

means for selecting a mode of operation, including

means for directing at least a part of the flow of water through said purification system through said dual mode mixer during a pre-coating operation;

means for directing the flow of water past said first dispensing means to said water filter during a water purification operation, and

means for directing the flow of water in reverse direction through said water filter to said backwash water outlet during a backwash operation.

33. A modular portable water flow-through purification apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein said dual mode mixer includes a mixer tank having a water inlet, a slurry outlet, and a water bypass pipe connected between said water inlet and said slurry outlet of said mixer tank, thereby providing a first water flow into said mixer tank for producing a primary slurry, and

a second water flow through said tank bypass pipe, whereby said water from said bypass mixes with said primary slurry to provide a bodyfeed slurry.