The invention is applied preferably, but not necessarily exclusively, to the roads and highways sector, such as roads and motorways that are subject to natural disasters, particularly heavy rain, but also, and above all, in the event of road accidents that lead to, or provoke, spills of pollutants or toxic or dangerous liquids.

Background Art No efficient system is currently available or used in the aforementioned circumstances, apart from traditional drainage systems, such as the type of paving system used or other means for conveying and collecting water.

Drawbacks This type of solution is not able to overcome the problems brought about in emergency situations, such as very heavy rainfall or spillage of pollutants from tankers, for example following a road accident.

The aim of the invention The aim of the invention herein described is to overcome the aforementioned problems.

Essence of the invention The aforementioned problems are resolved as claimed by means of an apparatus with a system of separators connected with inflatable sectors, which are activated by a sensor that detects the presence of unacceptable fluid, in order to hold the aforementioned unacceptable liquid in dedicated compartments.

Advantages of the invention The advantages of this system are, principally, that the toxic and/or pollutant materials are detected and held in compartments, from where they can be recovered or eliminated, to avoid pollution of the surrounding environment.

Description of a typical means of applying the system These and other advantages, with the aid of the attached drawings, will be outlined in the following description of a typical application of the system, although it is not to be considered exhaustive but merely a typical example.

Figures I is a three-dimensional view of a disposal system with the apparatus described in this invention.

Figure 2 is a three-dimensional view of the mouth of the apparatus for the discharge water, downstream of the said separator means.

Figure 3 is a three-dimensional view of the said separator means.

Figure 4 is a three-dimensional view of a containment and separator (storage) tank.

Figures 5 to 7 and 8 to 10 represent two different types of the said containment and storage tank with, respectively, two internal dividers or one internal divider.

Figures 11 to 14 are, respectively, a three-dimensional view, a front view, a plan view and a side view of the conveyor means of figure 2..

Figure 15 is a three-dimensional view of a separator means for materials different to water (e. g. deoiler).

Going back to figure 1, along the discharge channel at the side of the road (CA), the equipment includes at least two separator barriers (1) with a sensor between them (7) to detect the presence of pollutants.

Downstream of this set-up, there is a conveyor (2) with a shell- shaped mouth (21), an upper lip (24) and a grill to capture solid materials such as twigs and leaves (22). The front duct (34) is joined to the lower rear discharge duct (25) which leads to a confluence duct (3) and a storage unit, (4) made up of two box-shaped halves which can be closed and sealed (41, 42), with various openings for access, discharge and maintenance, internal sector dividers (43), a collecting well (44), recesses for multipurpose holes (45, 46) and structural and sedimentation sects (47) of a widely used design.

An overflow pipe (61) protrudes from the storage unit (4) to skim- off floating substances (oil etc.) into a collector unit at the side (5).

There is also a discharge pipe (6) that is used to recover the clean water after the sedimentation process in the storage unit (4).

The solution described herein represents only one of the alternatives possible with the components described, and is to be considered neither limiting nor exclusive.

Operation of the equipment The system automatically chooses, according to certain parameters, which purification process to use or whether to hold the liquid which is particularly contaminated.

Process a. The normal purification process is carried out according to

current standards and norms by using the following equipment: 1. prefabricated conveyor (3), and collectors for the contaminated water (2) etc.

2. prefabricated volumetric units made of multifunction modules for sedimentation (e. g. storage unit 4), measurement of the volume, removal of suspensions (e. g. 5), suction of the liquid to be purified or regulation of the outlet flow ; 3. deoiler according to various market standards (5).

The procedure leads to 90-95% of the flowing water being treated and brought back to normal levels. b. The emergency procedure uses the following equipment: 1. sensors and monitors (7) calibrated according to current standards and norms and re-set according to periodic sampling, that send signals to the control unit to determine whether to give its consent on the basis of mathematical models ; 2. actuators such as separator units ()) which allow a continuous flow of the liquids, or remove the consent by physically blocking the flow with inflatable barriers (11) which are built into the unit (1).

The actuators (1), which are located in the hydraulic conveyors flush with the motorway ditch, are positioned at a certain distance from each other in order to reduce the amount of contamination, and come into operation according to different levels of emergency and by a remote command. The actuator (I) is made up of an inflatable barrier (1 1).

Going into detail, a trap has been designed (catch-spill-trap) that can raise a barrier in the ditch. They are placed at a pitch of 50 m

and have the following characteristics: the bladder is completely hidden and flexible (1 1) to avoid hostile foreign bodies in case of road accidents; the bladder is located in a protective unit (11) which is perfectly stable under normal or operating conditions, and contains an electrovalve and a gas generator to inflate the bladder.

The density of the CAP depends on the dimensions of the ditch, and is positioned at the base of the ditch.

The following components are contained inside the internal chamber of the trap (separator): a trapezoidal shell and a valve for the container in synthetic material, joined by a TIR-line, with the diaphragm (inflatable ball) inside made up of a bladder in warp-woven silicon-nylon, and with the desired shape according to the gas capacity.

On the head of the container (12) there is a chamber where the generator for the smokeless gas is located (He-H type in various mixtures, with a volume from 1 It. to 1. 5 lt.) which is rapidly set-off in a pre-determined time by a spark. The generator has a pressure gauge in bars, and has a self guaranteed capacity of up to 15 years.

Following an emergency detected by the sensor, the trap (11) has to be reloaded with gas and a new bladder.

Procedure (b) holds all the black waves, and gives the emergency services enough time to intervene and clean-up the pollutant that has been accidentally spilt.

The conveyor for the liquids is indicated by CO and can be made up of channels according to any requirements.