Control of a centralized air production system for a wastewater treatment plant

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11111167-B2
Application number	US-201716094196-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 14, 2017
Priority date	Apr 18, 2016
Publication date	Sep 7, 2021
Grant date	Sep 7, 2021

Abstract

A system for supplying air to at least one biological water treatment basin, the system includes at least one air production machine; at least one air distribution system of the biological basin, the system comprising: an air distribution means connecting the air production machine to the biological basin; a first control means for controlling the pressure of the air distribution system, the first control means receiving a pressure value from the air distribution means and a time-variable setpoint determined on the basis of a prediction of the air demand of the biological basin and delivering, in response, a pressure value sent to the air distribution means.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for supplying air to at least one biological water treatment basin, said system comprising:
at least one air production machine;
at least one air distribution system of the at least one biological water treatment basin, said system comprising:
an air distribution means connecting the at least one air production machine to the at least one biological water treatment basin;
a first control means for controlling the pressure of the at least one air production machine, said first control means receiving a pressure value from the air distribution means and a time-variable setpoint determined from a prediction of an air demand of the at least one biological water treatment basin and delivering, in response, a pressure value sent as a pressure setpoint to the at least one air production machine.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the air distribution system of the at least one biological water treatment basin comprises an air diffusion means connecting the air distribution means to the at least one biological water treatment basin, the prediction of the air demand of the at least one biological water treatment basin being computed based on an air flow in the air diffusion means over a predetermined time period.

3. The system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the air distribution system of the at least one biological water treatment basin comprises a means for measuring a flow of the air diffusion means, said flow measuring means being connected to the first control means of the at least one air production machine.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first control means comprises:
a means for time series analysis of an air flow measured by an air flow measuring means over a predetermined time period, said means for time series analysis delivering, for a plurality of predetermined time intervals during the predetermined time period:
a temporal occurrence of a maximum air demand of the at least one biological water treatment basin;
a rate of increment of the air demand of the at least one biological water treatment basin.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1 , comprising a computation means, said computation means being adapted to deliver the pressure value for at least one time interval of a plurality of predetermined time intervals, said pressure value being computed for the at least one time interval based on a temporal occurrence of a maximum air demand of the at least one biological water treatment basin and of a rate of increment of the air demand of the at least one biological water treatment basin delivered by a time series analysis means for a predetermined time interval.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein:
the air distribution means comprises a supply valve;
the air distribution system of the at least one biological water treatment basin comprises a second means for controlling the opening of said supply valve, said second control means receiving a measurement of a physico-chemical parameter of the at least one biological water treatment basin and a predetermined setpoint of the opening of the supply valve and delivering, in response, a degree of opening of the supply valve.

7. The system as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the second means for controlling the opening of said supply valve comprises a controller of the “proportional integral derivative” type.

8. The system as claimed in claim 6 wherein the second means for controlling the opening of said supply valve comprises a controller of the “model-free control” type.

9. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a predetermined setpoint for the opening of the supply valve is between 50% and 90% of the opening of the supply valve.

10. A method for controlling an air supply with the system of claim 1 , said method comprising:
determining the air demand of the at least one biological basin over a predetermined time period;
computing a control pressure value to be sent to the at least one air production machine as a function of the air demand of the at least one biological basin; and
delivering, in response to the computing, a pressure value sent as a pressure setpoint to the at least one air production machine.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein determining the air demand of the at least one biological basin comprises, over the predetermined time period, determining:
a temporal occurrence of a maximum oxygen demand of the at least one biological basin; and
a rate of increment of an oxygen demand of the at least one biological basin.

12. The method as claimed in claim 10 , further comprising characterizing a supply valve of the air distribution means.

13. A non-transitory computer program product that can be directly loaded into the internal memory of a computer, comprising portions of software code for executing the method as claimed in claim 10 , when said program is executed on a computer.

Assignees

• Suez Int

Inventors

• Mas Thibaut
• Fliess Michel

Classifications

• C02F2209/006

  comprising a software program or a logic diagram · CPC title

• C02F2209/03

  Pressure · CPC title

• C02F3/006

  Regulation methods for biological treatment · CPC title

• C02F2209/001

  Upstream control, i.e. monitoring for predictive control · CPC title

• C02F2209/38

  Gas flow rate · CPC title