Sewer Network Control via Contamination Index
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current sewer systems lack effective control over wastewater flow during Combined Sewer Overflow events, often discharging heavily contaminated sewage into the environment while sending less contaminated sewage to treatment plants, due to reliance on volume-based control strategies that do not account for pollution levels.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method that estimates a contamination index for each Combined Sewer Overflow unit based on wastewater inflow, drinking water consumption, and sewer network state information, using this index to prioritize wastewater flows and control actuators to direct more polluted wastewater to treatment plants and allow less polluted wastewater to overflow into surface waters.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If volume-based control strategies are used to manage CSO units, then the control system is simple and easy to operate, but the pollution level of discharged wastewater cannot be optimized
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the control parameter from volume-based to contamination-index-based. The contamination index is calculated using multiple parameters including wastewater flow rate, drinking water consumption, and sewer network state information. This parameter change enables the system to prioritize discharge of less contaminated wastewater while maintaining operational simplicity through automated index calculation and actuator control.
2Productivity
If CSO units are equipped with monitoring and control systems, then the ability to optimize wastewater management is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention introduces a control unit as an intermediary that calculates the contamination index and determines actuator positions based on multiple input parameters. This intermediary component consolidates the complexity of processing multiple data sources (wastewater flow, drinking water consumption, network state) into a single decision-making module, thereby improving management efficiency without proportionally increasing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit performs multiple functions: it calculates the contamination index, determines optimal actuator positions, and controls wastewater flow prioritization. By making the control unit multi-functional, the system achieves improved wastewater management efficiency without requiring separate dedicated components for each function, thus managing device complexity effectively.
3Ease of operation
If all CSO units discharge wastewater based on fixed thresholds, then the system operation is simplified, but the environmental impact varies and cannot be optimized
Solution Approach 1:
The invention transitions from fixed discharge thresholds to dynamic, real-time control based on calculated contamination indices. The system continuously monitors wastewater flow, drinking water consumption, and network state to dynamically adjust discharge decisions. This dynamic approach allows the system to simplify operation through automated real-time calculations while optimizing environmental impact by prioritizing discharge of less contaminated wastewater.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2a~2b
Figure 3
AI summary
The invention relates to a computer implemented method for operating a sewer network system comprising a wastewater treatment plant, WWTP, (12) a plurality of combined sewer overflow, CSO, units (16) having one or more basins (16.1), a plurality of actuators (16.5) for influencing wastewater flow through said sewer network. The method implements a wet weather control strategy wherein, for at least some CSO units, respective contamination index is estimated, which represents the current pollutant load at each of the CSO units based on: - the wastewater inflow; - drinking water consumption information in a target zone of a water supply network; - state information representative of a current state of parts of said sewer network corresponding to said target zone of water supply network, in particular linked to and/or geographically adjacent to the latter; and sewage information relating to sewage generated by users connected to the sewer network system, in particular based on a sewage generation model; determining, at a network control unit, set pointset-points for said actuators based on the contamination indexes associated with said CSO units.