Drinking water installation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing drinking water installations face challenges in maintaining desired system pressure and hygiene, particularly at downstream tapping points, due to varying volume flows and the inefficiency of flow resistance elements, which can lead to water stagnation and excessive pressure drops, and current solutions either waste water during flushing or fail to prevent user burns during thermal disinfection.
Innovation Solution
A drinking water installation with an automated actuator system that adjusts flow conditions by using sensors and actuators to manage flow resistance elements, ensuring regular flushing of ring lines while conserving water and maintaining system pressure, using temperature and volume flow parameters to initiate and control flushing cycles, and preventing unnecessary flushing during water usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a flow resistance element is provided between the inlet and return line to ensure flow through the ring main, then water stagnation in the ring main is prevented, but the system pressure within the pipeline is significantly reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The flow resistance element is designed with a variable nozzle opening that changes as a function of volume flow. At low flow rates, the nozzle opening is small to maintain flow through the ring main. At high flow rates, the nozzle opening increases to reduce pressure drop. This dynamic adjustment resolves the contradiction between ensuring ring main flow and maintaining system pressure.
Solution Approach 2:
The flow resistance characteristics of the element are changed based on operating conditions. The elastic restoring forces in the nozzle create different flow resistance levels depending on the pressure difference across the element, which varies with volume flow. This parameter change allows the system to maintain both adequate ring main flow and acceptable system pressure under different operating conditions.
2Speed
If the ring main has a larger flow diameter to reduce flow resistance, then flow rate through the ring main improves, but the line must be considerably longer and the flow resistance increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flow diameter of the ring main is optimized locally rather than uniformly increased throughout. The flow resistance element with variable nozzle opening provides localized flow control where needed, allowing the ring main to maintain adequate flow rate without requiring excessive length or uniform diameter increase throughout the entire system.
3Reliability
If flushing is performed to replace stagnant water with fresh water, then water hygiene is improved, but valuable drinking water is diverted into the wastewater disposal network and wasted
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses sensors to detect stagnation conditions (temperature, flow rate, time) and provides feedback to the control device. Flushing is only activated when stagnation is detected, rather than continuous flushing. This feedback control resolves the contradiction by maintaining water hygiene through targeted flushing while minimizing water waste by avoiding unnecessary flushing operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The flow resistance element with variable nozzle opening automatically adjusts to maintain flow through the ring main based on system conditions, reducing the need for manual intervention and continuous flushing. The system self-regulates to prevent stagnation while conserving water.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively maintains high water hygiene without wasting valuable water, ensuring sufficient system pressure and preventing user burns during thermal disinfection, while conserving resources by only flushing critical sections and optimizing water exchange.
Implementation Method 1
an expansion element (38) is provided which is thermally coupled to the drinking water provided in the ring main (10) in the return (16) area and which changes a volume of the actuator (40) as a function of a temperature
Implementation Method 2
a flow resistance element (36) is provided between the inlet (14) and the return (16) line... any flow on a downstream side of the ring main (10) in the branch (2) forces flow not only through the branch (2) but also through the ring main (10)
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~5
Figure 3
AI summary
The present invention relates to a drinking water installation with a transfer point for drinking water from a water supply system and a branch (2) from which a ring main (10) leading to at least one draw-off point extends, wherein the branch (2) and the ring main (10) are arranged parallel between an inlet (14) into the ring main (10) and a return (16) of the ring main (10) into the branch (2). According to the invention, a drinking water installation that meets the requirements for drinking water hygiene in an improved manner while simultaneously conserving the resource of water has an actuator (40) for changing the flow conditions in the ring main (10) and a sensor (42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 51) for detecting a flushing parameter, which is coupled to the actuator (40) for positioning depending on the flushing parameter.