Modular Wastewater Reactor Inside Structure for Compact Assembly
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current small wastewater treatment reactors face challenges in simplifying the internal structure for easier manufacture, assembly, storage, and transport while maintaining performance and cost-effectiveness.
Innovation Solution
The design features a pair of walls with specific concavities forming a separator and other functional elements, allowing for a stackable and modular structure that simplifies assembly and reduces costs, enabling efficient separation and treatment processes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a complete assembly is delivered as a single unit, then performance and reliability are ensured, but manufacturing cost and transportability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The reactor is divided into a tank and a separate inside structure that can be manufactured independently and then assembled on-site. The inside structure includes all functional compartments (separator, recirculation chambers, air-lift pumps) as integrated components, allowing for standardized mass production while maintaining system reliability through proper design integration.
Solution Approach 2:
The inside structure is designed to be inserted into the tank, with the separator and other functional elements nested within the tank volume. This nested arrangement allows the complete reactor to be assembled from smaller, more manageable components that can be manufactured and transported separately, then combined to form the functional complete assembly.
2Reliability
If a complete assembly is delivered as a single unit, then performance and reliability are ensured, but transportability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The reactor system is segmented into two main transportable components: the tank and the inside structure. This segmentation enables each component to be transported separately to the installation site, significantly improving transportability compared to delivering a complete large-scale assembly as a single unit.
Solution Approach 2:
The inside structure with its integrated separator and functional compartments is designed to nest within the tank volume. This nested configuration allows the complete reactor functionality to be achieved while maintaining compact dimensions for efficient storage and transport of the separate components.
3Ease of manufacture
If the internal structure is simplified for mass production, then manufacturing cost decreases, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple functional elements (separator, recirculation chambers, air-lift pumps) are merged into a single integrated inside structure that is inserted into the tank. This merging approach simplifies manufacturing by creating one standardized component for mass production, while the internal complexity of multiple functions is maintained through clever spatial integration rather than separate external components.
Solution Approach 2:
The inside structure serves multiple functions simultaneously: it creates the separator for solid-liquid separation, forms recirculation chambers for mixed liquor circulation, and incorporates air-lift pumps for fluid movement. This multi-functionality is achieved within a single integrated component, reducing the number of separate parts needed while maintaining complex treatment functionality.
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
This modular design enhances the ease of manufacture and assembly, reduces costs, and improves transportability and storage efficiency while maintaining effective wastewater treatment performance.
Implementation Method 1
a separator concavity having the form of a shell of an inverted truncated quarter cone or half cone... and being intended for delimiting an upwardly extending space of a separator
Implementation Method 2
the first recirculation concavities jointly delimit a first recirculation air-lift pump
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2
Figure 3A~3C
AI summary
Inside structure to insert into a tank in order to form a reactor for waste water treatment. The structure is obtained by assembling two matching modular elements or "walls". Each element comprises planar portions which are brought into abutment with each other. Each element comprises the shell of a half inverted cone, the two shells of the two elements matching so that a separation chamber in the form of an inverted truncated cone is formed when the two elements are assembled. The two elements can form other chambers or pipes when they are assembled, such as an inlet chamber into which a strainer basket can be inserted, or an air-lift recirculation pipe for instance. Together the two elements provide the functional components essential to the functioning of a reactor in a compact volume, and they can be inserted in a tank in order to construct a reactor. The reactor can be used to treat water by nitrification and denitrification. In an alternate embodiment, the two elements comprise a quarter cone each, instead of a half cone. When they are assembled, they form a half cone, which is fixed to a surface of the tank in which it is inserted. In the last embodiment, there is only a single modular element, which is a quarter cone, and can be inserted in the corner of a rectangular tank in order to form an inside structure.