Adaptive fuzzy logic-based rainwater quality routing system for intelligent initial flushing water collection

Abstract

An adaptive, fuzzy logic-based system (100) for controlling rainwater quality for the intelligent detection of first runoff, comprising: a roof water inlet connection (102) designed to receive rainwater runoff from the roof; a removable dirt filter assembly (104) arranged downstream of the roof water inlet connection (102) to remove coarse contaminants from the incoming runoff; a sealed sensor chamber (106) hydraulically connected to the dirt filter assembly (104); a plurality of sensor units (108) arranged within or connected to the sensor chamber (106), the sensor units comprising at least a turbidity sensor, a conductivity or total dissolved solids sensor, a flow sensor, a storage tank level sensor, and optionally a pH sensor;a programmable controller (110) comprising a processor, memory, and a fuzzy inference engine (112) configured to receive sensor readings, normalize the received readings, generate fuzzy membership values, execute a stored fuzzy rule base, and continuously calculate a rainwater suitability value corresponding to the quality of the collected runoff water; an electronically actuated three-way valve (114) functionally coupled to the programmable controller (110) and designed to selectively direct the collected rainwater, according to the continuously updated rainwater suitability value, to a discharge outlet (116), a secondary use outlet (118), and a primary storage outlet (120);wherein the programmable controller (110) continuously adjusts the diversion decision during a rainfall event in response to changing runoff quality and the availability of storage tanks, thereby maximizing the amount of recoverable rainwater while preventing contaminated runoff from entering a primary storage tank.