Drinking Water Hygiene via Sensor-Controlled Flushing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Drinking water pipe systems face challenges in maintaining hygiene due to stagnation, especially in rarely used areas like hotel rooms or guest toilets, where existing solutions like full or partial flushing do not meet ecological or economic requirements and incur high costs.
Innovation Solution
A drinking water pipe system with an electronic controller and sensor that detects water withdrawal, activating a valve to trigger a toilet or urinal flush after a predetermined time interval, ensuring time and demand-controlled flushing without the need for a ring line, thus preventing water stagnation and reducing material costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If full flushing or partial flushing is used to maintain drinking water hygiene, then water quality hygiene is improved, but water consumption increases and ecological requirements are not met
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts flushing behavior based on actual usage patterns detected by sensors. Instead of fixed periodic flushing, the system activates flushing only when stagnation is detected or after a period of no usage, making the flushing regime adaptive to actual conditions rather than static
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses sensors to detect water withdrawal and usage patterns, feeding this information back to the controller which then decides whether flushing is necessary. This closed-loop feedback mechanism prevents unnecessary flushing while ensuring hygiene when actually needed
2Reliability
If periodic flushing is implemented to prevent water stagnation, then drinking water hygiene is improved, but economic efficiency deteriorates due to unnecessary water consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The system monitors its own usage patterns and automatically determines when flushing is necessary without external intervention. The sensor network and controller work autonomously to detect stagnation conditions and trigger flushing only when required, eliminating the need for manual scheduling or conservative periodic flushing
3Reliability
If ring lines are installed to avoid water stagnation, then drinking water quality is improved, but device complexity and material costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential function of ring lines (preventing stagnation) from their complex physical structure. Instead of installing actual ring line pipelines, the system uses sensors and controlled flushing of existing single lines to achieve the same hygiene objective with simpler infrastructure
4Reliability
If taps remain open for long periods to achieve flushing flow, then water stagnation is prevented, but water consumption increases and usage habits are not met
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of usage patterns and water withdrawal before deciding on flushing action. By monitoring flow sensors and detecting when taps have been open or when water has been withdrawn, the system determines the optimal moment to initiate flushing without requiring taps to remain open for extended periods
Data Source
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AI summary
The system has a cistern (14) attached to an outlet of a cold water strand (7.1), and a valve opened to toilet or urinal flush. The cistern or the valve is arranged in a center of an area, when the strand is designed as a ring line. An electronic control unit (15) has a time measuring device, and a sensor detects withdrawal of drinking water from the strand. The sensor activates the measuring device during the water withdrawal. The control unit controls the valve or actuating device for activating the flush, when a preset time interval exceeds after the last water withdrawal. An independent claim is also included for a method for operating a drinking water supply system.