An intelligent cathodic protection system and method for water supply networks
By integrating photovoltaic power generation mechanisms into the water supply network and adopting an intelligent cathodic protection system, utilizing surplus electricity storage and automatic control modes, the problems of high electricity costs and frequent anode replacements in cathodic protection of the water supply network have been solved, achieving stable and reliable cathodic protection and electricity cost savings under fluctuating photovoltaic power generation conditions.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- WUXI HUA YAN WATER
- Filing Date
- 2026-05-07
- Publication Date
- 2026-06-05
Smart Images
Figure CN122147335A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] This invention relates to the technical field of cathodic protection for water supply pipelines, specifically to an intelligent cathodic protection system for water supply networks. This invention also provides a cathodic protection method for water supply networks. Background Technology
[0002] The construction of distributed photovoltaic power generation facilities along pumping stations, water plants, and pipelines in urban water supply systems has become a trend. However, in actual use, photovoltaic power generation exhibits significant intermittency and volatility, including intraday and seasonal fluctuations. Intraday fluctuations are characterized by power generation during the day and shutdown at night, while seasonal fluctuations are characterized by high output in summer and low output in winter. This results in a large amount of photovoltaic power not being consumed locally. The traditional approach is to feed surplus power into the grid or to curtail the power, which fails to fully utilize the energy.
[0003] Water supply pipelines are typically buried underground, facing risks such as soil corrosion and stray current interference. Although the pipelines have anti-corrosion coatings, these coatings inevitably suffer damage (pinholes, peeling) during construction and long-term operation. Existing cathodic protection is a necessary supplement to the coating protection system, specifically providing electrochemical protection for these "leak points" to prevent pipeline perforation and leakage. Existing technical specifications for cathodic protection of buried steel pipelines clearly record the methods of sacrificial anode method and impressed current method. Their principles, applicable conditions, and energy consumption characteristics are shown in the table below: The impressed current method incurs high electricity costs over long-term operation, while the sacrificial anode method requires periodic anode replacement. Therefore, there is an urgent need to research a system capable of intelligent cathodic protection of water supply pipes, taking into account the actual conditions of the existing water supply network, so as to ensure the long-term stable and reliable operation of the anode and save electricity costs. Summary of the Invention
[0004] To address the aforementioned problems, this invention provides an intelligent cathodic protection system for water supply networks. Based on the rational arrangement of photovoltaic power generation structures along the water supply pipeline, the system utilizes photovoltaic power for intelligent cathodic protection operations, ensuring long-term stable and reliable operation of the anode while saving electricity costs.
[0005] A smart cathodic protection system for water supply networks, characterized in that it comprises: The water supply pipeline has a sacrificial anode connected to its external side. And a photovoltaic power generation mechanism, which is arranged along the water supply pipeline; In addition to the grid connection line, the photovoltaic power generation mechanism is also equipped with a surplus electricity storage mechanism. The surplus electricity storage mechanism integrates a surplus electricity quantification model, which is connected to the sacrificial anode via a first line and to the water supply pipeline via a second line. When the photovoltaic power generation system has redundant power connected to the grid, it automatically selects to adopt intelligent cathodic protection for the water supply pipeline by using the sacrificial anode enhancement mode through the first line and the external current-dominated mode through the second line, depending on whether the surplus power is sufficient.
[0006] Its further features are: The surplus power quantification model classifies the surplus photovoltaic power according to availability and stability. When it reaches level A, the water supply pipeline can be intelligently protected by the external current-dominated mode through the second line. The first line is integrated with a controllable DC bias circuit, which injects a small auxiliary current into the sacrificial anode through the controllable DC bias circuit, thereby delaying the anode consumption rate, compensating for seasonal changes in soil resistivity, and maintaining the basic protection potential at night or on rainy days. The minute auxiliary current is 10-30% of the natural corrosion current; Multiple residual electricity storage mechanisms are installed along the water supply pipeline. When the residual electricity reaches level A, the multiple residual electricity storage mechanisms respectively apply current to the water supply pipeline through the second line. The multi-point power supply mode is used to reduce the load at a single point. Photovoltaic-anode ground bed integrated modules are arranged at intervals along the water supply pipeline. The photovoltaic power generation mechanism and sacrificial anode are arranged at intervals along the water supply pipeline to form several groups of photovoltaic-anode ground bed integrated modules. Each group of photovoltaic-anode ground bed integrated modules includes a tracking photovoltaic panel at the top, an intelligent junction box in the middle, a shallow buried auxiliary anode at the bottom, and a reference electrode at the bottom.
[0007] A cathodic protection method for water supply networks, characterized in that it employs an intelligent cathodic protection system for water supply networks, comprising: When the photovoltaic power generation system has redundant power connected to the grid, if the surplus power is insufficient, cathodic protection is performed by using the sacrificial anode enhancement mode through the first line; if the surplus power is sufficient, cathodic protection is performed by using the external current-dominated mode through the second line for the water supply pipeline.
[0008] Its further features are: When the sacrificial anode adopts a distributed auxiliary anode arrangement, when there is sufficient residual power, the sacrificial anode and the impressed current can work together. At this time, the distributed auxiliary anode arrangement can reduce the grounding resistance of the main anode and improve the uniformity of current distribution. When the residual power quantification model detects a large amount of residual power available, it automatically switches to the impressed current method for cathodic protection. At this time, the constant potential control uses -850mV (CSE) as the target potential, PID regulation output, and amplitude limiting protection to ensure that the potential does not fall below -1200mV, preventing hydrogen evolution embrittlement. In addition, segmented power supply is adopted so that the power supply points along the pipeline can operate simultaneously, reducing the load on a single point. It also employs a protection method based on water load prediction. Summer is the peak season for both water consumption and photovoltaic power generation, during which time surplus electricity is available. The surplus photovoltaic power is used to compensate for the external current applied to the water supply pipeline, with a current density of 0.8-1.0 mA / m. 2 During winter, which is a low-water and low-photovoltaic season, a cathodic protection method is used, primarily employing sacrificial anodes supplemented by mains current compensation. In this situation, the current density is reduced by 0.3-0.5 mA / m². 2 .
[0009] By adopting this invention, corrosion protection of urban water supply networks is combined with photovoltaic power generation mechanisms. When the photovoltaic power generation mechanism has redundant power connected to the power grid, it automatically selects to adopt intelligent cathodic protection for the water supply pipeline through the sacrificial anode enhancement mode of the first line and the external current-dominated mode of the second line, depending on whether the surplus power is sufficient. According to the reasonable arrangement of photovoltaic power generation mechanisms along the water supply pipeline, the photovoltaic power is used for intelligent cathodic protection operations, ensuring the long-term stable and reliable operation of the anode and saving electricity costs. Attached Figure Description
[0010] Figure 1 This is a logic flowchart of the method of the present invention. Detailed Implementation
[0011] A smart cathodic protection system for water supply networks includes water supply pipelines and a photovoltaic power generation mechanism; Sacrificial anodes are connected to the water supply pipeline; photovoltaic power generation mechanisms are arranged along the water supply pipeline. In addition to the lines connecting to the power grid, the photovoltaic power generation system is also equipped with a surplus electricity storage mechanism. The surplus electricity storage mechanism integrates a surplus electricity quantification model, which is connected to the sacrificial anode via a first line and to the water supply pipeline via a second line. When the photovoltaic power generation system has redundant power connected to the grid, it automatically selects to adopt intelligent cathodic protection for the water supply pipeline by using the sacrificial anode enhancement mode through the first line and the external current-dominated mode through the second line, depending on whether the surplus power is sufficient.
[0012] The surplus power quantification model classifies the surplus photovoltaic power according to availability and stability. When it reaches level A, the water supply pipeline can be intelligently protected by the external current-dominated mode through the second line. The first line integrates a controllable DC bias circuit, which injects a small auxiliary current into the sacrificial anode to slow down the anode consumption rate, compensate for seasonal changes in soil resistivity, and maintain the basic protection potential at night or on rainy days. In practice, the small auxiliary current is 10-30% of the natural corrosion current, which slows down the anode consumption rate by 15-25% and extends the service life of the sacrificial anode.
[0013] In practice, multiple residual electricity storage mechanisms are installed along the water supply pipeline. When the residual electricity reaches level A, the multiple residual electricity storage mechanisms will apply current to the water supply pipeline through the second line. The multi-point power supply mode is used to reduce the load at a single point.
[0014] In specific implementation, photovoltaic-anode ground bed integrated modules are arranged at intervals along the water supply pipeline. The photovoltaic power generation mechanism and sacrificial anode are arranged at intervals along the water supply pipeline to form several groups of photovoltaic-anode ground bed integrated modules. Each group of photovoltaic-anode ground bed integrated modules includes a top tracking photovoltaic panel, a middle intelligent junction box, a lower shallow buried auxiliary anode, and a bottom reference electrode. The tracking photovoltaic panel is a single-axis tracking photovoltaic panel with adjustable tilt angle, which combines power generation and shading and evaporation reduction functions. The intelligent junction box includes an MPPT, DC / DC converter, and control unit; the shallow-buried auxiliary anode is made of high-silicon cast iron or a flexible anode, with a shallow burial depth of 15m; the reference electrode is a long-life copper sulfate electrode, used for real-time potential monitoring.
[0015] The cathodic protection method for water supply networks employs an intelligent cathodic protection system for water supply networks, which includes the following process (see...). Figure 1 ): When the photovoltaic power generation system has redundant power connected to the grid, if the surplus power is insufficient, cathodic protection is performed by using the sacrificial anode enhancement mode through the first line; if the surplus power is sufficient, cathodic protection is performed by using the external current-dominated mode through the second line for the water supply pipeline.
[0016] In practice, when the sacrificial anode adopts a distributed auxiliary anode arrangement, and there is sufficient residual power, the sacrificial anode and the applied current can work together. In this case, the distributed auxiliary anode arrangement can reduce the grounding resistance of the main anode and improve the uniformity of current distribution.
[0017] When the residual power quantification model detects a large amount of residual power available, i.e., when the residual power reaches level A, it automatically switches to the impressed current method for cathodic protection. At this time, the constant potential control uses -850mV (CSE) as the target potential, adjusts the output with PID regulation, and simultaneously provides amplitude limiting protection to ensure that the potential of each reference electrode is not negative to -1200mV, preventing hydrogen evolution embrittlement. Furthermore, segmented power supply is adopted to allow power supply points along the pipeline to operate simultaneously, reducing the load on a single point.
[0018] In its implementation, it also employs a protection method based on water load prediction. Summer is the peak season for both water consumption and photovoltaic power generation, during which time there is a surplus of electricity available. This is compensated by using photovoltaic points for external current, with a current density of 0.8-1.0 mA / m². 2 During winter, which is a low-water and low-photovoltaic season, a cathodic protection method is used, primarily employing sacrificial anodes supplemented by mains current compensation. In this situation, the current density is reduced by 0.3-0.5 mA / m².2 .
[0019] It combines corrosion protection of urban water supply networks with photovoltaic power generation. When the photovoltaic power generation is connected to the grid with redundant power, it automatically selects to use the sacrificial anode enhancement mode through the first line and the external current-dominated mode through the second line to carry out intelligent cathodic protection of the water supply pipeline, depending on whether the surplus power is sufficient. According to the reasonable layout of photovoltaic power generation institutions along the water supply pipeline, the photovoltaic power is used for intelligent cathodic protection operations, ensuring the long-term stable and reliable operation of the anode and saving electricity costs.
[0020] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the details of the exemplary embodiments described above, and that the invention can be implemented in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. Therefore, the embodiments should be considered in all respects as exemplary and non-limiting, and the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description. Thus, all variations falling within the meaning and scope of equivalents of the claims are intended to be included within the present invention. No reference numerals in the claims should be construed as limiting the scope of the claims.
[0021] Furthermore, it should be understood that although this specification describes embodiments, not every embodiment contains only one independent technical solution. This narrative style is merely for clarity. Those skilled in the art should consider the specification as a whole, and the technical solutions in each embodiment can also be appropriately combined to form other embodiments that can be understood by those skilled in the art.
Claims
1. An intelligent cathodic protection system for water supply networks, characterized in that, It includes: The water supply pipeline has a sacrificial anode connected to its external side. And a photovoltaic power generation mechanism, which is arranged along the water supply pipeline; In addition to the grid connection line, the photovoltaic power generation mechanism is also equipped with a surplus electricity storage mechanism. The surplus electricity storage mechanism integrates a surplus electricity quantification model, which is connected to the sacrificial anode via a first line and to the water supply pipeline via a second line. When the photovoltaic power generation system has redundant power connected to the grid, it automatically selects to adopt intelligent cathodic protection for the water supply pipeline by using the sacrificial anode enhancement mode through the first line and the external current-dominated mode through the second line, depending on whether the surplus power is sufficient.
2. The intelligent cathodic protection system for water supply networks according to claim 1, characterized in that: The surplus power quantification model classifies the surplus photovoltaic power according to availability and stability. When it reaches level A, the water supply pipeline can be intelligently protected by the external current-dominated mode through the second line.
3. The intelligent cathodic protection system for water supply networks according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first line integrates a controllable DC bias circuit, which injects a small auxiliary current into the sacrificial anode to slow down the anode consumption rate, compensate for seasonal changes in soil resistivity, and maintain the basic protection potential at night or on rainy days.
4. The intelligent cathodic protection system for water supply networks according to claim 3, characterized in that: The minute auxiliary current is 10-30% of the natural corrosion current.
5. The intelligent cathodic protection system for water supply networks according to claim 2, characterized in that: Multiple residual power storage mechanisms are installed along the water supply pipeline. When the residual power reaches level A, the multiple residual power storage mechanisms respectively apply current to the water supply pipeline through the second line. The multi-point power supply mode is used to reduce the load at a single point.
6. The intelligent cathodic protection system for water supply networks according to claim 1, characterized in that: Photovoltaic-anode ground bed integrated modules are arranged at intervals along the water supply pipeline. The photovoltaic power generation mechanism and sacrificial anode are arranged at intervals along the water supply pipeline to form several groups of photovoltaic-anode ground bed integrated modules. Each group of photovoltaic-anode ground bed integrated modules includes a tracking photovoltaic panel at the top, an intelligent junction box in the middle, a shallow buried auxiliary anode at the bottom, and a reference electrode at the bottom.
7. A cathodic protection method for water supply networks, characterized in that, It employs an intelligent cathodic protection system for water supply networks as described in any one of claims 1-6, comprising: When the photovoltaic power generation system has redundant power connected to the grid, if the surplus power is insufficient, cathodic protection is performed by using the sacrificial anode enhancement mode through the first line; if the surplus power is sufficient, cathodic protection is performed by using the external current-dominated mode through the second line for the water supply pipeline.
8. The cathodic protection method for water supply networks according to claim 7, characterized in that: When the sacrificial anode adopts a distributed auxiliary anode arrangement, and there is sufficient residual power, the sacrificial anode and the applied current can work together. In this case, the distributed auxiliary anode arrangement can reduce the grounding resistance of the main anode and improve the uniformity of current distribution.
9. The cathodic protection method for water supply networks according to claim 7, characterized in that: When the residual power quantification model detects a large amount of residual power available, it automatically switches to the impressed current method for cathodic protection. At this time, the constant potential control uses -850mVCSE as the target potential, adjusts the output with PID regulation, and simultaneously provides amplitude limiting protection to ensure that the potential does not fall below -1200mV, preventing hydrogen evolution embrittlement. Furthermore, segmented power supply is adopted to allow power supply points along the pipeline to operate simultaneously, reducing the load on a single point.
10. The cathodic protection method for a water supply network according to claim 7, characterized in that: It also employs a protection method based on water load prediction. Summer is the peak season for both water consumption and photovoltaic power generation, during which time surplus electricity is available. The surplus photovoltaic power is used to compensate for the external current applied to the water supply pipeline, with a current density of 0.8-1.0 mA / m. 2 During winter, which is a low-water and low-photovoltaic season, a cathodic protection method is used, primarily employing sacrificial anodes supplemented by mains current compensation. In this situation, the current density is reduced by 0.3-0.5 mA / m². 2 .