Maintenance self-diagnosis and guide for a self-contained wastewater treatment system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017008775-A1
Application number	US-201615204829-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 7, 2016
Priority date	Jul 8, 2015
Publication date	Jan 12, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A self-diagnostic maintenance system for wastewater treatment employs unique environmental sensor configurations to link operational states of a water treatment system with unique failure modes of the system. Upon detection of failure modes, the maintenance system alerts users and operators via a short messaging service (SMS) of the problem, and can display step-by-step pictorial repair instructions for the operator to replace broken or malfunctioning parts, without the operator needing to diagnosis the problem or understand the detailed workings of the wastewater treatment system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A self-diagnostic maintenance system for a self-contained wastewater treatment system, comprising:
a data logger configured to gather data from a plurality of sensors mounted on the self-contained wastewater treatment system; a controller, operatively coupled to the data logger, configured to compare the data to a plurality of threshold values to determine whether a failure mode of the self-contained wastewater treatment system exists; and a communication interface, operatively coupled to the controller, configured to send a message through a communication network to alert a maintenance operator of the failure mode.

2 . The maintenance system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
upload the data from the data logger; time stamp the uploaded data; create a data object including the uploaded data, timestamps, and names recorded in a data structure; perform one or more arithmetic operations on the uploaded data to produce resultant data; check the resultant data against the threshold values to create a Boolean array of values, wherein each of the values in the Boolean array is associated with one of the sensors; and select which message to send to the maintenance operator based on one or more false values appearing in the Boolean array.

3 . The maintenance system of claim 1 , further comprising a server configured to receive information from the communication interface and route the message to the maintenance operator.

4 . The maintenance system of claim 3 , wherein the server comprises:
a database of information regarding a plurality of maintenance operators; and means for selecting one of the maintenance operators to be a recipient of the message, based on information stored in the database.

5 . The maintenance system of claim 3 , wherein the server comprises:
a database of information regarding a plurality of self-contained wastewater treatment systems; and means for communicating with the self-contained wastewater treatment systems.

6 . The maintenance system of claim 1 , further comprising the sensors, wherein at least one of the sensors is selected from the group consisting of: a leak sensor, a water level sensor, a fluid pressure sensor, a turbidity sensor, a clarity sensor, a pH sensor, an oxygen sensor, an air quality sensor, a specific gas sensor, a magnetic sensor, an oxidation/reduction potential sensor, a chlorine sensor, a voltage sensor, a current sensor, light sensor, a single wavelength light sensor, and any suitable combination of the foregoing.

7 . The maintenance system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a memory storing instructional repair images.

8 . The maintenance system of claim 1 , further comprising
a display configured to display repair instructions to the maintenance operator.

9 . The maintenance system of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is located at the self-contained wastewater treatment system.

10 . The maintenance system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
initialize instances of the sensors; create a list of the initialized sensors; and define one or more failure modes of the self-contained wastewater treatment system based on the list.

11 . A method of maintaining a self-contained wastewater treatment system lacking a connection to a municipal wastewater treatment system, comprising:
gathering data from a plurality of sensors mounted on the wastewater treatment system; comparing the data to a plurality of threshold values to determine whether a failure mode of the self-contained wastewater treatment system; and sending a message through a wireless communication network to alert a maintenance operator of the failure mode.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
uploading the data from a data logger to a computer; time stamping the uploaded data; creating a data object including the uploaded data, timestamps, and names recorded in a data structure; checking the uploaded data of the data object against the threshold values to create a Boolean array of values, wherein each of the values in the Boolean array is associated with one of the sensors; and selecting which message to send to the maintenance operator based on one or more false values appearing in the Boolean array.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the message includes the location of the wastewater system.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
identifying at least one replacement part to the maintenance operator.

15 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
displaying repair instructions to the maintenance operator.

16 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving an input from the maintenance operator that the wastewater treatment system has been repaired; and executing a self-test of the system in response to the input.

17 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
sending a second message through the wireless communication network to alert users of the wastewater system that the wastewater system is broken.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the second message includes a location of the nearest working public toilet.

19 . The method of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the sensors is selected from the group consisting of: a leak sensor, a water level sensor, a fluid pressure sensor, a turbidity sensor, a clarity sensor, a pH sensor, an oxygen sensor, an air quality sensor, a specific gas sensor, a magnetic sensor, an oxidation/reduction potential sensor, a chlorine sensor, a voltage sensor, a current sensor, light sensor, a single wavelength light sensor, and any suitable combination of the foregoing.

20 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the wastewater treatment system is selected from the group consisting of an electrochemical unit and an anaerobic bioreactor unit.

Assignees

• California Inst Of Techn

Inventors

• Finke Cody E
• Cid Clement A
• Hoffmann Michael R
• Hanan Anastasia K
• Pinkston Iii Donald Harvey
• Vanier Michael Christopher

Classifications

• G05D7/0676

  by action on flow sources (G05D7/0688, G05D7/0694 take precedence) · CPC title

• C02F1/008 Primary

  Control or steering systems not provided for elsewhere in subclass C02F · CPC title

• C02F2209/06

  pH · CPC title

• C02F2209/11

  Turbidity · CPC title

• C02F2209/22

  O2 · CPC title