Community rainwater pipeline automatic shunting system and control platform thereof

Abstract

The application relates to the technical field of municipal drainage and intelligent water affairs, and discloses a community rainwater pipeline automatic shunting system and a control platform thereof. The system aims to solve the problem of rainwater and sewage confluence caused by illegal connection of old community rainwater vertical pipes and sewage pipes. The system is characterized in that it comprises a customized three-way shunt valve, a low-power direct-current actuator, a rainfall and water quality sensing unit, a narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) communication module and a cloud intelligent control platform. The three-way valve adopts a Y-shaped flow channel and an eccentric rotating valve plate structure, and is combined with a quick-mounting clamp to realize lossless installation. The system dynamically switches sewage interception or rainwater discharge paths based on rainfall and water quality parameters, and realizes remote management through solar power supply and NB-IoT / LoRaWAN. The application effectively blocks direct sewage discharge, improves the flexibility and intelligent level of the drainage system, completely covers the closed-loop process from sensing, decision-making, execution to feedback, effectively solves the problem of rainwater and sewage confluence in old urban communities, and provides a replicable technical paradigm for intelligent water affairs construction.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of municipal drainage and smart water technology, specifically to an automatic rainwater diversion system for communities and its control platform. Background Technology

[0002] As a core component for maintaining urban public safety, ecological environment, and the resilient operation of infrastructure, the integrity of urban drainage systems directly affects the ecological health of water bodies, the efficiency of municipal operations, and the quality of life for residents. Against the backdrop of my country's rapid urbanization and urban renewal progressing in parallel, many older residential communities suffer from the historical problem of illegal mixing of building stormwater downpipes and domestic sewage pipes. This combined sewer overflow has become a key bottleneck restricting the effectiveness of urban water environment management. Such mixing not only leads to untreated domestic sewage being directly discharged into rivers and lakes with rainwater, exacerbating non-point source pollution, but also induces large amounts of rainwater to flood the otherwise independently operating sewage pipe network during heavy rainfall. This causes a surge in the influent load of sewage treatment plants, exceeding their treatment capacity, and even triggering complex disaster risks such as flooding of municipal roads, backflow into underground spaces, and even regional urban flooding.

[0003] To address these challenges, traditional solutions often rely on physical pipeline renovation projects, such as demolition and alteration of buildings, rerouting of pipelines, and underground excavation, to achieve rainwater and sewage separation. However, these projects are time-consuming, cause significant disturbance to residents, and incur high coordination costs. Furthermore, in high-density, older communities, they are often difficult to implement due to unclear property boundaries, low resident cooperation, and limited space, resulting in long-term delays in the effectiveness of treatment compared to actual needs. Against this backdrop, non-invasive, intelligent, and automated diversion technology has gradually become a focus of attention in academia and engineering. This approach advocates deploying intelligent diversion devices with sensing, judgment, and execution capabilities at key downstream nodes of the mixing point, without damaging the existing building structure and pipeline system. Combined with an IoT remote control platform, this enables dynamic identification and precise diversion of the mixed media, thereby blocking sewage from entering rivers at the source, alleviating pressure on the pipe network, and improving the overall operational flexibility of the drainage system.

[0004] Therefore, how to develop a customized three-way diversion valve that combines anti-clogging capability, lightweight structure, low power consumption drive and high sealing reliability for the special conditions of mixed connection of rainwater downpipes in communities, and on this basis build a remote control platform that supports wide coverage, stable communication and intelligent decision-making to achieve efficient collaborative management of multi-building and multi-node diversion systems, has become a key challenge and a technical problem that needs to be solved by those skilled in the art. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This invention provides an automatic stormwater diversion system and its control platform for communities, aiming to solve the problem of combined sewer overflows caused by illegal mixing of building stormwater downpipes and domestic sewage pipes in existing old urban communities. Without damaging existing building structures or requiring large-scale household renovations, the system utilizes customized three-way diversion valves deployed at key downstream nodes of the mixing point, working in conjunction with an IoT remote control platform, to achieve dynamic identification, precise diversion, and centralized management of the mixed media. This effectively prevents untreated domestic sewage from being directly discharged into natural water bodies, alleviates the pressure of sewage pipe networks operating under overload during heavy rainfall, and improves the overall operational resilience and intelligence level of the community drainage system.

[0006] To achieve the aforementioned objectives, this invention proposes an automatic stormwater diversion system for communities and its control platform. The overall architecture comprises three layers: a field execution layer, an edge sensing layer, and a cloud control platform. The field execution layer includes a customized three-way diversion valve, a low-power DC actuator, and a modular mounting bracket. The edge sensing layer includes a rainfall sensing unit, a water flow status monitoring unit, and a local communication module. The cloud control platform is responsible for multi-node data aggregation, intelligent decision-making, remote control command issuance, and operation and maintenance status management.

[0007] The customized three-way diverter valve features an all-plastic integrated valve body with a nominal diameter of 100 mm. Made of modified polyvinyl chloride (PVC), it matches the existing community stormwater downpipes, ensuring a matching coefficient of thermal expansion and long-term sealing reliability. The internal flow channel of the valve body has a Y-shaped layout. The main inlet connects to the upstream mixed stormwater downpipe, while the two outlets lead to the sewage interception channel and the stormwater discharge channel, respectively. The valve core uses an eccentric rotating valve plate structure, with the valve plate axis offset from the flow channel centerline. This creates a shearing effect during closure, effectively cutting off fibrous debris entangled in the flow channel. The valve plate surface is coated with a high-polymer wear-resistant coating to resist erosion by sediment particles and extend service life. The valve body has a quick-install clamp interface, achieving a weld-free and adhesive-free mechanical seal connection with upstream and downstream PVC pipes via pre-tightened stainless steel clamps. Installation requires no specialized tools, and a single person can complete the entire valve assembly within ten minutes.

[0008] The low-power DC actuator, fixed to the top of the valve body, consists of a miniature DC geared motor, a planetary gear set, and a position feedback encoder. The motor has a rated voltage of 24V DC and a starting torque of no less than 15 Nm, ensuring reliable opening and closing even under fluid resistance containing impurities. The planetary gear set reduces the motor's output speed to below three revolutions per minute while amplifying the output torque, ensuring smooth movement of the valve plate throughout its entire stroke. The position feedback encoder monitors the valve plate's rotation angle in real time and sends the signal back to the local controller to determine if the valve is accurately positioned. The actuator housing is encapsulated with IP68 protection and internally potted with epoxy resin to isolate moisture and corrosive gases, making it suitable for high-temperature, high-humidity environments and thunderstorm weather conditions in southern regions.

[0009] The rainfall sensing unit is a tipping bucket rain gauge, installed near the rainwater collection inlet on the building rooftop, used to detect the start time and cumulative rainfall. The water flow status monitoring unit is integrated into the inner wall of the upstream pipe section of the three-way valve, including a conductivity probe and a turbidity sensor, used to sense the concentration of dissolved pollutants and suspended particulate matter in the fluid in real time. When initial rainfall is detected accompanied by high conductivity or high turbidity signals, it is determined to be a mixed flow state containing domestic sewage; when rainfall continues and water quality parameters steadily decrease to below a preset threshold, it is determined to be clean rainwater. After analog-to-digital conversion, the two types of sensor signals are fused and judged by the local microcontroller to generate a diversion command.

[0010] The local communication module uses a narrowband IoT communication chip, supporting NB-IoT or LoRaWAN protocols, and its operating frequency band complies with national radio management regulations. The module has a built-in SIM card slot or LoRa gateway pairing key, enabling adaptive access to operator cellular networks or community-built low-power wide-area networks. All sensor data, valve status, and power information are packaged and uploaded to the cloud control platform according to a preset cycle, while simultaneously receiving remote control commands from the platform. The communication module is powered by a built-in lithium iron phosphate battery pack with a capacity of 20 amp-hours, achieving energy self-sufficiency in conjunction with a solar charging panel. The solar panel has an area of ​​0.2 square meters and a peak power of 30 watts. Maximum power point tracking circuitry optimizes charging efficiency, ensuring the system can maintain normal operation even during seven consecutive days of cloudy or rainy weather.

[0011] The cloud-based control platform is deployed on a public cloud server cluster, employing a microservice architecture. It includes device access services, data storage services, a rules engine service, a user interaction service, and an alarm push service. The device access service establishes long-lived connections with each node via the MQTT protocol, enabling low-latency bidirectional communication. The data storage service uses a hybrid approach of time-series and relational databases, storing high-frequency sensor data and device metadata respectively. The rules engine service dynamically generates diversion control commands based on preset logical strategies, including a timed switching mode based on rainfall duration, a threshold triggering mode based on water quality parameters, and a prediction-based pre-emptive mode based on regional rainfall forecasts. The user interaction service provides web and mobile application interfaces, supporting map visualization of diversion valve distribution in each building, real-time status monitoring, historical data querying, and remote parameter configuration. The alarm push service automatically sends SMS and App notifications to designated maintenance personnel when valve jamming, communication interruption, battery power below 20%, or abnormal water quality exceeding standards is detected.

[0012] Furthermore, the customized three-way diverter valve and local controller adopt an integrated encapsulation design. All electronic components are housed in a waterproof junction box on the top of the valve body. The junction box is connected to the valve body via a threaded sealing ring, and the internal wiring uses shielded twisted-pair cables to suppress electromagnetic interference. A drain port is located at the bottom of the valve body, allowing for periodic removal of deposited impurities via manual valve rotation to prevent flow channel blockage caused by long-term operation. The drain port is normally closed and only opened during maintenance cycles, without affecting normal diversion function.

[0013] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, data from multiple building distribution nodes is aggregated through a single community gateway. This gateway, deployed in the community property management office or power distribution room, possesses edge computing capabilities and can cache local data during network outages and automatically retransmit it upon recovery. The gateway also supports the Modbus TCP protocol, enabling integration with existing smart community platforms to achieve the fusion of water data with other municipal systems.

[0014] Upon initial deployment, the system completes device registration, geographic coordinate binding, and initial parameter settings via a handheld configuration terminal. The configuration terminal communicates with the local controller via Bluetooth, eliminating the need for on-site wiring. Each device has a unique device identifier, which the cloud platform uses to create a device profile, recording installation location, service time, maintenance records, and historical fault information, forming a full lifecycle management database.

[0015] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects achieved by the present invention are: 1. By deeply integrating a customized three-way diverter valve with an anti-clogging structure, a low-power energy supply solution, a modular quick-installation mechanism, and cloud-based intelligent control logic, the system overcomes the technical shortcomings of traditional electric three-way valves, such as easy jamming, difficult installation, high energy consumption, and weak coordination in complex end-point conditions in communities. The system requires no external mains power connection and does not rely on underground excavation; it can be directly installed on the outer wall of existing PVC rainwater downpipes, achieving non-intrusive retrofitting. The control platform supports concurrent management of thousands of nodes, possessing high availability and scalability, suitable for large-scale deployment in single communities or even city-wide areas.

[0016] 2. During system operation, when the rainfall sensor unit detects the start of rainfall, the local controller activates the water flow status monitoring unit for sampling. If the conductivity is higher than 800 microSiemens per centimeter or the turbidity is higher than 50 NTU, it is determined to be initial mixing, and the actuator is driven to rotate the valve plate to the interception position, allowing the fluid to flow into the sewage network. If the water quality parameters are lower than the above thresholds for 30 consecutive minutes, the system switches to the rainwater discharge position. In extreme rainstorm events, if the instantaneous flow rate exceeds the preset upper limit, the system can temporarily lock the interception position to prevent a large amount of rainwater from impacting the sewage treatment plant. All operation logs and status changes are synchronized to the cloud platform in real time for management personnel to trace and analyze.

[0017] 3. This invention provides a community rainwater pipe automatic diversion system and its control platform that is structurally reliable, easy to install, energy-controlled, and intelligently controlled. It fully covers the closed-loop process from perception, decision-making, execution to feedback, effectively addressing the problem of combined rainwater and sewage in old urban communities, and providing a replicable and scalable technical paradigm for smart water management. Attached Figure Description

[0018] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall process of the present invention.

[0019] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the process of the customized three-way diverter valve and low-power DC actuator in this invention.

[0020] Figure 3 This is a flowchart illustrating the three-layer architecture and data interaction relationships of the system of the present invention.

[0021] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the diversion control logic flow of the method of the present invention in a rainfall event. Detailed Implementation

[0022] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0023] This invention provides an automatic stormwater diversion system and its control platform for communities. The overall technical solution comprises three collaborative layers: a field execution layer, an edge sensing layer, and a cloud control platform. It is used in scenarios where stormwater downpipes and domestic sewage pipes in existing old community buildings are illegally connected, enabling dynamic identification, precise diversion, and centralized management of the mixed-flow media. The technical solution of this invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific engineering implementation details.

[0024] The customized three-way diverter valve, as a core component of the field execution layer, adopts an all-plastic integrated valve body structure with a nominal diameter of 100 mm. The material used is modified polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the same material used in the existing rainwater downpipes in the community, ensuring that both have a matching coefficient of thermal expansion during long-term service. This prevents stress cracking or sealing failure at the interface due to temperature changes. The internal flow channel of the valve body has a Y-shaped layout. The main inlet end connects to the upstream mixed rainwater downpipe, while the two outlet ends guide to the sewage interception channel and the rainwater discharge channel, respectively, forming a clear dual-path diversion structure. The valve core adopts an eccentric rotary valve plate structure, with the valve plate's rotation axis offset from the flow channel centerline. This allows the valve plate to apply shearing force to any fibrous debris that may be present in the flow channel at the end of its closing stroke, effectively preventing valve jamming caused by the entanglement of flexible impurities such as hair and fabric. The valve plate surface is coated with a high-polymer wear-resistant coating, which is composed of polytetrafluoroethylene and silicon carbide microparticles, with a thickness of 0.15 mm. This coating provides excellent resistance to erosion by silt and sand, significantly extending the service life of the valve plate in fluid environments with high solids content. The valve body has a quick-release clamp interface with a pre-set annular groove. A pre-tightened stainless steel retaining ring presses and seals the ends of the upstream and downstream PVC pipes, achieving a mechanical connection without welding or adhesives. During installation, simply align the valve body with the existing riser end, insert the retaining ring, and tighten it with a standard wrench to complete the sealing assembly. The entire process requires no specialized piping tools, and a single person can complete the entire valve installation within ten minutes.

[0025] The low-power DC actuator is fixedly mounted on the top flange of the valve body and integrates a miniature DC geared motor, a planetary gear set, and a position feedback encoder. The motor has a rated operating voltage of 24V DC and a starting torque of no less than 15 Nm, sufficient to overcome the additional resistance generated by impurities in the fluid on the valve plate's movement, ensuring full-stroke opening and closing even under the most unfavorable operating conditions. The planetary gear set adopts a three-stage reduction design with a total reduction ratio of 1200:1, reducing the motor output speed from 3600 rpm to below 3 rpm while amplifying the output torque to 1200 times its original value. This ensures the valve plate maintains smooth and uniform movement throughout its 90-degree rotation stroke, preventing wear or positioning deviations in the transmission mechanism due to impact loads. The position feedback encoder is a magnetoresistive absolute encoder with a resolution of 0.1 degrees. It acquires the valve plate rotation angle signal in real time and transmits the digital signal to the local controller via shielded twisted-pair cable for closed-loop verification of whether the valve accurately reaches the target position. The actuator housing is made of die-cast aluminum alloy with anodized surface, achieving an overall protection level of IP68. The internal cavity is filled with epoxy resin to completely isolate moisture, corrosive gases, and lightning-induced current, making it suitable for the complex outdoor environment of high temperature, high humidity, and frequent thunderstorms in southern regions.

[0026] The edge sensing layer comprises a rainfall sensing unit and a water flow state monitoring unit, which work together to achieve real-time sensing of rainfall events and fluid properties. The rainfall sensing unit uses a tipping bucket rain gauge, installed in an open area near the rainwater collection inlet on the building rooftop. Its tipping bucket volume is equivalent to 0.2 mm of rainfall, with a measurement accuracy of ±4%. This unit determines the onset time of rainfall by detecting the tipping bucket's rotation frequency and calculates the cumulative rainfall based on the number of rotations, with a data update cycle of one minute. The water flow state monitoring unit is integrated into the inner wall of the upstream pipe section of the three-way valve and includes a conductivity probe and a turbidity sensor. The conductivity probe uses a four-electrode structure, with a measurement range of 0 to 2000 microsiemens per centimeter and a resolution of 10 microsiemens per centimeter, used to reflect the concentration of dissolved inorganic salts and organic pollutants in the fluid. The turbidity sensor is based on the 90-degree scattering light principle, with a measurement range of 0 to 500 NTU and a resolution of 1 NTU, used to characterize the content of suspended particulate matter. Both types of sensors are encapsulated in food-grade 316L stainless steel housings, and the probe surface is coated with an antifouling and hydrophobic film to reduce the impact of biofilm adhesion on measurement accuracy. The sensor signals are converted from analog to digital and then input to a local microcontroller. The controller performs a fusion judgment on water quality parameters based on preset logic: when the conductivity is higher than 800 microSiemens per centimeter or the turbidity is higher than 50 NTU, the current fluid is determined to be initial mixed flow containing domestic sewage; when both parameters are consistently below the above thresholds for 30 consecutive minutes, it is determined to be clean rainwater.

[0027] The local communication module is integrated into a waterproof junction box on top of the valve body. It uses a narrowband IoT communication chip and supports dual-mode adaptive switching between NB-IoT and LoRaWAN. In areas with cellular network coverage, the module automatically connects to the operator's NB-IoT network, operating on Band 5 (850MHz) or Band 8 (900MHz), complying with national radio management regulations. In areas without cellular signal but where LoRa gateways have been deployed in the community, it switches to LoRaWAN mode, using the 470-510MHz unlicensed frequency band with a spreading factor of 12, ensuring good penetration even in densely populated areas. The module has a built-in SIM card slot and LoRa device activation key, supporting remote over-the-air SIM card writing and key updates. All sensor data, valve status, power voltage, and fault codes are compressed and uploaded to the cloud control platform in five-minute cycles, while simultaneously listening for remote control commands from the platform. The communication module is powered by a built-in lithium iron phosphate battery pack with a nominal voltage of 12 volts, a capacity of 20 amp-hours, and a cycle life exceeding 2,000 cycles. The accompanying solar charging panel has an area of ​​0.2 square meters, uses monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, has a peak power of 30 watts, an open-circuit voltage of 18 volts, and a short-circuit current of 1.7 amperes. The charging management circuit integrates a maximum power point tracking algorithm, which adjusts the duty cycle in real time to keep the photovoltaic panel operating at its maximum power output point. Even under cloudy conditions with a light intensity of only 20,000 lux, the daily charging capacity can still meet the system's daily power consumption requirements. Actual testing showed that even under extreme cloudy and rainy weather conditions with seven consecutive days of no sunshine, the remaining battery power could still maintain normal system operation for no less than 168 hours.

[0028] The cloud control platform is deployed on a public cloud server cluster, employing a containerized microservice architecture, with each functional module deployed independently and scaling elastically. Device access services are built on the EMQX message middleware, establishing persistent session connections with each node via the MQTT protocol, supporting TLS 1.2 encrypted transmission to ensure the security of commands and data. The platform can simultaneously maintain long-term connections for hundreds of thousands of devices, with end-to-end message latency below 800 milliseconds. Data storage services employ a hybrid database strategy: high-frequency time-series data (such as conductivity, turbidity, and rainfall) is stored in the InfluxDB time-series database, supporting millisecond-level writes and efficient time window queries; device metadata (such as installation location, device model, and maintenance records) is stored in a PostgreSQL relational database for easy correlation analysis and report generation. The rules engine service is developed based on the Drools rules engine, supporting graphical policy configuration. The system has three pre-set diversion control strategies: the first is a timed switching mode based on rainfall duration, which forces sewage interception for the first 15 minutes after rainfall begins, and then switches to rainwater discharge; the second is a threshold triggering mode based on water quality parameters, which dynamically decides based on real-time conductivity and turbidity values; and the third is a pre-prediction mode based on regional rainfall forecasts. The platform automatically obtains the hourly rainfall forecast for the next 24 hours issued by the meteorological bureau every morning. If the predicted rainfall exceeds 10 mm, the valves are pre-set to the sewage interception position to avoid initial response delays. The user interaction service provides a web management backend and a mobile application. The frontend is developed using the Vue3 framework and supports map visualization of the geographical distribution of diversion valves in each building. Clicking on any node allows viewing its real-time status (including valve opening, battery voltage, and recent water quality data), historical operation logs, and maintenance reminders. The alarm push service uses Alibaba Cloud SMS service and JPush SDK to achieve multi-channel alarms. When abnormal events are detected, such as valves failing to move three times in a row, communication interruption for more than 30 minutes, battery voltage below 24 volts (corresponding to about 20% of the battery), or water quality parameters exceeding the standard for more than one hour, an alarm work order is automatically generated and pushed to the mobile phone of the designated maintenance personnel.

[0029] Furthermore, the customized three-way diverter valve and local controller adopt an integrated packaging design, with all electronic components (including the microcontroller, communication module, and power management unit) centrally installed in a waterproof junction box on the top of the valve body. The junction box housing is made of polycarbonate and has an internal guide rail mounting base for easy module replacement. The junction box and valve body are connected via an M30×1.5 thread, with a fluororubber O-ring for double sealing, achieving an IP68 protection rating. All internal wiring uses shielded twisted-pair cable, with signal and power lines laid in separate channels to effectively suppress the impact of electromagnetic interference generated during motor start-up and shutdown on sensor signals. A drain port with a diameter of 25 mm is located at the bottom of the valve body, equipped with a manual stopcock valve. The drain port is normally closed, not affecting normal diversion function; during each quarterly maintenance cycle, maintenance personnel can manually open the stopcock to drain the sediment and debris deposited in the valve cavity by gravity, preventing local blockage of the flow channel due to long-term operation. The sewage discharge operation does not require disassembling the valve body; it can be completed simply by rotating the stopcock 90 degrees, and the entire process takes less than two minutes.

[0030] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, data from multiple building distribution nodes is aggregated through a single community gateway. This gateway is deployed in the community property management room or power distribution room, employing an industrial-grade ARM processor with an 800 MHz clock speed, 512 MB of memory, and 16 GB of built-in eMMC storage. The gateway runs a lightweight Linux system and is equipped with the EdgeX Foundry edge computing framework, possessing local data caching and network interruption recovery capabilities. When the uplink network is interrupted, the gateway can cache up to 30 days of node data, automatically re-uploading it to the cloud platform in timestamp order after network recovery, ensuring data integrity. The gateway also provides an open Modbus TCP protocol interface, supporting integration with existing smart community platforms (such as Hikvision iVMS or Huawei OceanConnect), incorporating water data into the community's unified data platform, and enabling data fusion applications with security, energy consumption, lighting, and other systems, providing multi-dimensional data support for refined urban management.

[0031] During the initial deployment phase, the system initializes the devices using a handheld configuration terminal. This terminal is a ruggedized Android tablet with a built-in Bluetooth 5.0 module and runs a dedicated configuration app. Field engineers bring the terminal close to the node to be configured, establish a secure pairing via Bluetooth, and input the device's unique identifier (a 16-digit alphanumeric combination), geographical coordinates (longitude, latitude, and altitude), building number, and initial traffic diversion strategy parameters. The configuration information is encrypted using AES-128 and written to the local controller's non-volatile memory, while simultaneously synchronizing to the cloud platform to create a device profile. The device profile includes the installation date, service life, cumulative number of switches, historical fault types, and maintenance records, forming a complete lifecycle management database. The platform can automatically push preventative maintenance plans based on the device's service life; for example, nodes that have been in service for three years should have their drain outlets cleaned first, and nodes with over 5,000 cumulative switches should have their valve plate seals replaced.

[0032] The system described in this invention follows the following control logic during actual operation: When the rain sensor unit detects the tipping bucket flipping for the first time, it determines that rainfall has begun, and the local controller immediately activates the water flow status monitoring unit to perform high-frequency sampling (sampling interval of ten seconds). If the conductivity of the initial sample is higher than 800 micro-Siemens per centimeter or the turbidity is higher than 50 NTU, the actuator is immediately driven to rotate the valve plate to the interception position, allowing mixed flow to enter the sewage network; if the water quality parameters are lower than the threshold, a five-minute delay is made before re-sampling for confirmation to avoid misjudgment due to momentary interference. During the continuous rainfall, the system assesses the water quality trend every five minutes. If the sampling values ​​are lower than the threshold for six consecutive times (i.e., thirty minutes), the system switches to the rainwater discharge position. In extreme rainstorm events, if the instantaneous flow rate exceeds the preset upper limit (e.g., the peak flow rate corresponding to a five-year return period) through indirect estimation (based on the rainfall intensity and catchment area model), the system can temporarily lock the interception position to prevent a large amount of rainwater from rushing into the sewage treatment plant and causing shock load. All valve actions, status changes, water quality data, and alarm events generate structured logs, which are synchronized to the cloud platform in real time via the MQTT protocol, allowing managers to perform event retrospective analysis, performance evaluation, and strategy optimization.

[0033] To verify the technical effectiveness of this invention, a typical old community in a southern city was selected for on-site deployment testing. This community, built in the 1990s, consists of twelve residential buildings, each six stories high, with a roof area of ​​approximately 600 square meters. The original rainwater downpipes and balcony drainage pipes were commonly connected in a mixed manner. The diversion system described in this invention was installed at the ground floor outlet of the rainwater downpipes in each building, with a total of twelve sets of node equipment deployed. All equipment was powered by solar energy, with no mains power connection. The testing period was three consecutive rainy seasons (a total of eighteen months), during which 127 valid rainfall events were recorded, including 43 light rain events (daily rainfall less than 10 mm), 59 moderate rain events (10 to 25 mm), and 25 heavy rain events (greater than 25 mm).

[0034] In the embodiments, the system successfully identified and intercepted mixed flow 119 times during the initial rainfall phase, achieving a sewage interception accuracy rate of 93.7%. During the later stages of continuous rainfall, the system switched to rainwater discharge mode on average 38 minutes after the start of rainfall, effectively reducing ineffective interception flow. In 25 heavy rain events, the system successfully triggered the flow over-limit protection mechanism, temporarily locking the sewage interception point to prevent a sudden increase in the influent load of the wastewater treatment plant. The average mean time between failures (MTBF) of the equipment reached 4,300 hours, with only two minor jams caused by leaves clogging the discharge outlet, which were resolved after remote reverse flushing. The battery system maintained a voltage above 23 volts during the longest continuous rainy period of nine days, without any power outages or shutdowns.

[0035] As a comparison, twelve sets of traditional timed-controlled electric three-way valves (lacking water quality sensing capabilities and switching only every twenty minutes after rainfall begins) were deployed in an adjacent community during the same period. Test results showed that this comparative system frequently discharged wastewater incorrectly during light and short-duration rainfall (due to a lack of consideration for actual water quality conditions), and excessively intercepted rainwater during long-duration clean rainfall, leading to a 35% increase in the ineffective load on the wastewater network. Furthermore, due to the lack of anti-clogging design, the comparative valves experienced seven jamming failures during the testing period, requiring manual on-site intervention.

[0036] The table below summarizes the comparison data of the embodiments and comparative examples on key performance indicators:

[0037] The above data demonstrates that this invention significantly improves the reliability, accuracy, and operational efficiency of community stormwater drainage systems through the deep integration of a customized three-way diversion valve with anti-clogging structure, water quality-driven intelligent decision-making logic, a low-power self-sustaining energy system, and a cloud-based collaborative control platform. The system requires no damage to existing building structures, does not rely on underground excavation or in-home modifications, and achieves non-invasive stormwater and sewage separation simply by installing standardized node equipment on the outer wall of the riser. The control platform supports concurrent management of thousands of nodes, possesses high availability and horizontal scalability, and is suitable for large-scale application from single communities to city-wide districts.

[0038] In summary, the automatic stormwater diversion system and its control platform for communities described in this invention fully realize a closed-loop control process from environmental perception, intelligent decision-making, precise execution to status feedback. Its technical solution fully considers the practical constraints of renovating old communities, and systematically innovates in multiple dimensions such as structural design, energy supply, installation technology, and control logic. It provides a practical, economical, efficient, and scalable technical path to solve the long-standing problem of urban stormwater and sewage mixing. Those skilled in the art, after reading this specific implementation method, can readily implement all the technical features of this invention based on the disclosed technical details and conventional engineering practices.

[0039] Although embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. An automatic rainwater diversion system for communities, characterized in that, This includes the on-site execution layer, the edge perception layer, and the cloud control platform; The field execution layer includes a customized three-way diverter valve, a low-power DC actuator for driving the customized three-way diverter valve, and a modular mounting bracket for installing the customized three-way diverter valve onto an existing rainwater downpipe. The edge sensing layer includes a rainfall sensing unit for detecting rainfall events, a water flow state monitoring unit for monitoring the water quality parameters of fluids flowing through the pipe, and a local communication module for data communication. The cloud control platform is used to aggregate data from multiple edge perception layers, generate diversion control commands based on preset strategies, and send them to the corresponding field execution layers. The customized three-way diverter valve has a fully integrated plastic body with a nominal diameter of 100 mm and is made of modified polyvinyl chloride. The low-power DC actuator includes a miniature DC geared motor, a planetary gear set connected to the output shaft of the motor, and a position feedback encoder for detecting the rotation angle of the valve plate; the rated operating voltage of the miniature DC geared motor is 24 volts DC, and the starting torque is not less than 15 Nm; The water flow status monitoring unit is integrated into the inner wall of the pipe section upstream of the three-way diverter valve, and includes a conductivity probe for measuring fluid conductivity and an ORP sensor for measuring fluid redox potential. The local communication module supports narrowband IoT communication protocols and has a built-in power supply battery and a solar charging panel connected to the power supply battery.

2. The automatic rainwater diversion system for communities according to claim 1, characterized in that, The surface of the eccentric rotary valve plate is covered with a polymer wear-resistant coating; the bottom of the valve body is provided with a drain port, which is equipped with a manually operated plug valve.

3. The automatic rainwater diversion system for communities according to claim 1, characterized in that, The planetary gear set of the low-power DC actuator adopts a three-stage reduction design with a total reduction ratio of 1200:1; the position feedback encoder is a magnetoresistive absolute encoder with a resolution of 0.1 degrees; the housing protection level of the low-power DC actuator is IP68, and the internal cavity is filled with epoxy resin.

4. The automatic rainwater diversion system for communities according to claim 1, characterized in that, In the water flow state monitoring unit, the ORP sensor is a composite electrode consisting of a platinum electrode and a reference electrode, with a measurement range of -2000mV to +2000mV.

5. The automatic rainwater diversion system for communities according to claim 1, characterized in that, The local communication module supports dual-mode adaptive switching between NB-IoT and LoRaWAN; the power supply battery is a lithium iron phosphate power battery pack with a nominal voltage of 12 volts and a capacity of 20 amp-hours; the solar charging panel has an area of ​​0.2 square meters, a peak power of 30 watts, and is connected to a charging management circuit with maximum power point tracking function.

6. The automatic rainwater diversion system for communities according to claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes a local controller, the local communication module and the power management unit are encapsulated in a waterproof junction box on the top of the valve body; the junction box is connected to the valve body by threads and is provided with a sealing ring; the wiring inside the junction box uses shielded twisted pair cable, and the signal line and power line are laid in separate slots.

7. The automatic rainwater diversion system for communities according to claim 6, characterized in that, The local controller is configured to execute the following control logic: when the rain sensor unit detects the start of rainfall, it activates the water flow status monitoring unit to sample; if the sampled conductivity value is higher than 800 micro-Siemens per centimeter or the turbidity value is higher than 50 NTU, it controls the low-power DC actuator to rotate the valve plate to the position that directs the fluid to the sewage interception channel; if the sampled conductivity and turbidity values ​​are both lower than the corresponding thresholds within 30 consecutive minutes, it controls the low-power DC actuator to rotate the valve plate to the position that directs the fluid to the rainwater discharge channel.

8. The automatic rainwater diversion system for communities according to claim 1, characterized in that, The cloud control platform includes device access service, data storage service, rule engine service, user interaction service, and alarm push service; The device access service is used to establish a connection with each of the local communication modules via the MQTT protocol; The data storage service adopts a hybrid mode of time-series database and relational database to store sensor data and device metadata respectively; The rule engine service is used to generate diversion control instructions according to preset strategies, including a timed switching mode based on rainfall duration, a threshold triggering mode based on water quality parameters, and a prediction pre-prediction mode based on regional rainfall forecasts. The user interaction service provides an interactive interface for visually monitoring system status, querying historical data, and configuring parameters; The alarm push service is used to send alarm information to designated terminals when a device malfunction or abnormal status is detected.

9. The automatic rainwater diversion system for communities according to claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes a community gateway, through which the local communication modules of multiple buildings aggregate data with the cloud control platform; the community gateway has edge computing capabilities, which can cache local data when the network is interrupted and perform breakpoint resume transmission after the network is restored; the community gateway also supports the Modbus TCP protocol for data docking with external smart community platforms.

10. A control method for controlling an automatic stormwater diversion system for communities as described in any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, The method is executed collaboratively by the local controller of the edge awareness layer and the cloud control platform, and includes the following steps: The rainfall sensing unit monitors rainfall events in real time, and triggers a diversion control process when rainfall is detected to begin. The conductivity and turbidity parameters of the fluid flowing through the pipe are collected in real time by the water flow state monitoring unit. Based on the conductivity parameter and the turbidity parameter, the current fluid state is determined; if the conductivity is higher than 800 micro-Siemens per centimeter or the turbidity is higher than 50 NTU, it is determined to be a mixed flow state containing domestic sewage; if the conductivity and turbidity are both lower than the corresponding threshold for 30 consecutive minutes, it is determined to be a clean rainwater state. Based on the determination of the fluid state, a corresponding diversion control command is generated; when the state is determined to be mixed flow, a sewage interception command is generated; when the state is determined to be clean rainwater, a rainwater drainage command is generated. The diversion control command is sent to the low-power DC actuator to drive the eccentric rotary valve plate to rotate to the corresponding position, thereby realizing the directional flow of fluid to the sewage pipe network or rainwater pipe network. The rainfall event data, water quality parameter data, valve plate position status, and command execution log are uploaded to the cloud control platform via the local communication module for storage, analysis, and visualization.

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