NON-POINT SOURCE POLLUTION TREATMENT

APPARATUS

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to an apparatus for treating non-point source pollution, which is known as wet weather, storm water, and runoff pollution, and more particularly to a non-point source pollution treatment apparatus for eliminating various high-concentration non-point source pollutants from initial rainfall, using a filter medium made of charcoal to prevent pollution of water resources, such as rivers, lakes, marshes, and underground water, and to promote improvement of the quality of water.

[2]

Background Art

[3] In general, water pollution refers to the physical change of surface water, underground water, or sea water by inflow of septic matters and toxic matters thereinto, thereby causing the water not to be used for various service purposes or negatively affecting aquatic life. Water pollution sources are divided into point sources and non- point sources for the purpose of preventing water pollution and meeting the convenience of management.

[4] The point sources refer to pollution sources discharging waste water containing pollutants through a sewage pipe or a drain in a designated place, such as a factory, a waste water treatment plant, and a power station, and the non-point sources refer to pollution sources discharging pollutants with runoff of rainfall in a wide region. For example, a cultivated land, a pasture ground, an urban area, a forest, a construction spot, a parking lot, a road, various land development areas, and factory and industrial areas are the non-point sources discharging various non-point pollutants with rainfall runoff.

[5] The non-point sources generate pollutants by an artificial or natural cause, and discharge the pollutants to a wide region by dilution and diffusion without a specific discharge point, and an amount of the pollutants discharged from the non-point pollution sources is severely changed due to natural factors, such as rainfall. Thereby, it is difficult to estimate the amount of the pollutants discharged by the non-point sources and to collect the pollutants, and the efficiency of treating the non-point pollution sources is not uniform.

[6] Non-point source pollutants include precipitated earth and sand contained in rainfall, nutritious substances, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, causing eu- trophication, oils and lubricants being highly toxic to aquatic life in small quantities,

metals, such as lead, zinc, and cadmium, contained in rainfall in an urban area, organic matters such as adhesives and cleaners, insecticides, including herbicides and agricultural chemicals, being highly toxic to aquatic life, various bacteria and virus, and gross pollutants generated from a construction site, an industrial area, and garbage

[7]

Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[8] Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a non-point source pollution treatment apparatus, which effectively removes non-point source pollutants, such as earth and sand, floating matters, nutritious substances, heavy metals, insecticides, and oils, so as to preserve water resources including rivers, lakes, and marshes.

[9]

Technical Solution

[10] In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a non-point source pollution treatment apparatus used in a water purification system, in which an initial rainfall separator and a pre-sedimentation tank preliminarily firstly remove gross pollutants and floating matters from influent water of initial rainfall, and the non-point source pollution treatment apparatus having a filtration unit removes fine floating matters, nutritious substances, heavy metals, insecticides, and oils from the influent water, and purified water obtained thereby is discharged to the outside, comprising an internal sedimentation tank having an eddy induction and inflow pipe, into which the influent water flows; a precipitation collection tank connected to the lower end of the internal sedimentation tank by a swash plate; an internal cylindrical unit for upwardly guiding the influent water flowing into the internal sedimentation tank; and an external cylindrical unit concentrically separated by the internal cylindrical unit, and having medium filling chambers, divided from each other by separation diaphragms, and treated water discharge screens, wherein the internal cylindrical unit is connected to the medium filling chambers of the external cylindrical unit through influent water distribution pipes, which are vertically installed, and water collection pipes, connected to a water collection well for discharging the purified water, each of which is installed on the bottom between the separation diaphragm and the treated water discharge screen of the external cylindrical unit.

[H]

Advantageous Effects

[12] The non-point source pollution treatment apparatus of the present invention purifies

water using a medium made of porous charcoal having absorptivity for filtering out non-point source pollutants generated by initial rainfall, such as earth and sand, floating matters, nutritious substances, heavy metals, insecticides, and oils, thereby treating the materials of the non-point source pollution generated by initial rainfall and further purifying water resources including rivers, lakes, and marshes using various kinds of media made of charcoal.

[13] Further, since the light medium made of charcoal fills medium filling bags, the non- point source pollution treatment apparatus of the present invention is simply repaired and constructed, requires a small area compared to a conventional construction method using gravel or sand, and is reused due to the regeneration of charcoal.

[14]

Brief Description of the Drawings

[15] The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[16] FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating layout of a water purification system, to which a non-point source pollution treatment apparatus of the present invention is applied, for illustrating the flow of the treatment of polluted water;

[17] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a cylindrical non-point source pollution treatment apparatus in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

[18] FIGS. 3A to 3C are perspective views of medium filling bags installed in the non- point source pollution treatment apparatus of FIG. 2;

[19] FIG. 4 is a development view of a medium filling chamber installed at one side of the non-point source pollution treatment apparatus of FIG. 2;

[20] FIG. 5 is a schematic view of an influent water distribution pipe installed in the non-point source pollution treatment apparatus of FIG. 2;

[21] FIG. 6 is a schematic view of an eddy induction and inflow pipe installed in the non-point source pollution treatment apparatus of FIG. 2;

[22] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a cylindrical non-point source pollution treatment apparatus in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention; and

[23] FIG. 8 is a partially exploded perspective view of a sedimentation tank installed in the non-point source pollution treatment apparatus of FIG. 7.

[24]

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[25] Now, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the annexed drawings.

[26] FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a water purification system, in which non-point source

pollution treatment apparatus of the present invention is installed, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a cylindrical non-point source pollution treatment apparatus in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; and FIGS. 3 to 6 are partial views of FIG. 2.

[27] In the water purification system, as shown in FIG. 1, initial rainfall separator 100 separates initial rainfall from rain water flowing into the apparatus, a pre- sedimentation tank 101 firstly removes gross pollutants and floating matter particulates from the initial rainfall, and a non-point source pollution treatment apparatus 102 having a filtration unit filters out fine floating matters, nutritious substances, heavy metals, insecticides, and oils, thus discharging treated water. As shown in FIG. 2, the non-point source pollution treatment apparatus 102 comprises an internal sedimentation tank 2 having an eddy induction and inflow pipe 1, into which water flows, a precipitation collection tank 4 connected to the lower end of the internal sedimentation tank 2 by a swash plate 3, an internal cylindrical unit 5 for upwardly guiding the water flowing into the internal sedimentation tank 2, and an external cylindrical unit 9 concentrically separated by the internal cylindrical unit 5 and having medium filling chambers 6, divided from each other by separation diaphragms 7, and treated water discharge screens 8. The internal cylindrical unit 5 is connected to the medium filling chambers 6 of the external cylindrical unit 9 through influent water distribution pipes 10, which are vertically installed, and water collection pipes 12 connected to a water collection well 11 for discharging the purified water, each of which is installed on the bottom between the separation diaphragm 7 and the treated water discharge screen 8 of the external cylindrical unit 9.

[28] Each of the medium filling chambers 6 is divided into a plurality of sub-chambers

6a, 6b, and 6c, which are arranged in parallel, by a plurality of medium screens 13 spirally arranged at the same angle. A plurality of medium filling bags 14 are stacked in each of the sub-chambers 6a, 6b, and 6c, which are divided from each other by the medium screens 13, as shown in FIG. 3C. Although FIG. 3C illustrates four medium filling bags 14, the number, the volume, or the size of the medium filling bags 14 may be variously modified according to the kinds of non-point source pollutants to be treated. Each of the medium filling bags 14 uses charcoal, such as black charcoal or fine charcoal (white charcoal), as a medium filler serving as a filter, and the circumference of the arc and the length of the side of each of the medium filling bags 14 are variously changed according to the diameter of the filling chamber 6. In order to reuse the medium filling bags 14, a magic tape 15, as shown in FIG. 3 A, or a zipper, which is freely opened and closed, is installed at the circumference of the arc of each of the medium filling bags 14 so that the medium filler made of charcoal filling the inside of the each of the medium filling bags 14 can be replaced with a new one, if

necessary.

[29] As shown in FIGS. 3 A, 3B, and 3C, the size of the mesh of a lattice net made of a synthetic resin forming the medium filling bags 14 is determined by the particle diameter of the charcoal filling the medium filling bags 14.

[30] The medium filling the medium filling bags 14 include pure charcoal, a charcoal mixture, a molded charcoal-diatomite mixture, and a molded diatomite. Table 1 states kinds of medium filling the medium filling bags 14, the particle diameters of the medium according to kinds of the medium, and the sizes of the mesh of the lattice net forming the medium filling bags 14 according to the particle diameters of the medium.

[31] [32] [33] Table 1

[34] [35] FIG. 4 is a development view of the medium filling chamber 6 installed at one side of the non-point source pollution treatment apparatus of FIG. 2. FIG. 2 illustrates the medium filling chambers 6, each of which is divided into three sub-chambers 6a, 6b, and 6c by two medium screens 13, and FIG. 4 illustrates the medium filling chamber 6, which is divided into five sub-chambers 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, and 6e by four medium screens 13. That is, the number of the sub-chambers in the medium filling chamber 6 may be variously changed by varying the number of the medium screens 13 installed in the medium filling chamber 6.

[36] The medium filling each of the five sub-chambers 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, and 6e in the medium filling chamber 6 divided by the four medium screens 13 have particle diameters such that the porosity of the medium is increased from the first sub-chamber 6a to the fifth sub-chamber 6e. This configuration prevents pores of the medium made of charcoal from being clogged when water distributed through effluent holes 16 of the influent water distribution pipes 10, which will be described later, passes through medium filling the first to fifth sub-chambers 6a to 6e arranged in parallel in the direction of the arrow.

[37] FIG. 5 illustrates in detail the influent water distribution pipe 10 for distributing influent water from the internal cylindrical unit 5 to the external cylindrical unit 9. Each of the influent water distribution pipes 10 is a cylindrical pipe made of a synthetic resin, and one end of each of the influent water distribution pipes 10 is screw-

connected to the opened end of the internal cylindrical unit 5 by a nut 17 fixed thereto, and the other end of each of the influent water distribution pipes 10 is fixed to the inner wall of the external cylindrical unit 9. A plurality of the effluent holes 16 are formed through the circumferential surface of each of the influent water distribution pipes 10 such that the ratio of the number of the effluent holes 16 formed through a first part (L ), a second part (L ), and a third part (L ), which are obtained by dividing the circumferential surface of each of the influent water distribution pipes 10 into three equal parts, is 20%;30%;50%, respectively, thereby allowing influent water to be uniformly distributed to the medium filling chambers 6 through the effluent holes 16.

[38] FIG. 6 illustrates in detail the eddy induction and inflow pipe 1 installed in the cylindrical internal sedimentation tank 2. The eddy induction and inflow pipe 1 is a cylindrical pipe comprising a plurality of eddy induction nozzles 18 arranged at the same angle for inducing an eddy of the influent water towards the inside of the internal sedimentation tank 2. In FIG. 6, four eddy induction nozzles 18 are arranged at the same angle.

[39] In FIG. 2, an upper shield film 21 and an upper cover plate 20 are installed on the upper portion of each of the medium filling chambers 6 of the non-point source pollution treatment apparatus 102, and an overflow pipe 19 for preventing the influent water flowing through the internal sedimentation tank 2 from being supplied to the medium filling chambers 6 and for causing the influent water to bypass the internal sedimentation tank 2 and be discharged.

[40]

Mode for the Invention

[41] Hereinafter, a method for purifying non-point source pollution using the above treatment apparatus of the present invention will be described.

[42] As shown in FIG. 1, after initial rainfall is preliminarily purified by the initial rainfall separator 100 and the pre-sedimentation tank 101 by the conventional method, the influent water, having passed through the pre-sedimentation tank 101, enters the internal sedimentation tank 2 of the non-point source pollution treatment apparatus 102 of FIGS. 1 and 2. Here, the water, which has kinetic energy due to a difference of heights ( h) between the pre-sedimentation tank 101 and the non-point pollution source treatment apparatus 102, enters into the eddy induction and inflow pipe 1 of the internal sedimentation tank 2.

[43] The eddy induction and inflow pipe 1 is a circular pipe for supplying the influent water to the internal sedimentation tank 2, generates an eddy of the water, and has a plurality of the eddy induction nozzles 18.

[44] Accordingly, the water generates an eddy through the eddy induction and inflow

pipe 1, and rises in the direction of arrows. Here, floating matter particulates are deposited by the eddy, and are stored in the precipitation collection tank 4 through the swash plate 3.

[45] The eddy water rises in the direction of the arrows along one passage of the internal cylindrical unit 5, and flows through the influent water distribution pipes 10. At this time, the water, which overflows the internal cylindrical unit 5, is discharged through the overflow pipe 19.

[46] Since the two medium filling chambers 6 are divided from each other by the separation diaphragms 7, the influent water is divided into two portions and the two portions of the influent water are simultaneously treated.

[47] When the influent water, which enters the respective influent water distribution pipes 10, is distributed to the first sub-chambers 6a through the effluent holes 16 of the influent water distribution pipes 10 and is then sequentially distributed to the second and third sub-chambers 6b and 6c, the water is filtrated by various media filling the sub-chambers 6a, 6b, and 6c of the medium filling chambers 6 by absorption so that non-point source pollution materials are removed from the water. Then, the purified water is collected in the water collection well 11 through the treated water discharge screens 8 and the water collection pipes 12. Thereafter, the purified water is discharged to the outside.

[48] FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate a non-point source pollution treatment apparatus in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. In the non-point source pollution treatment apparatus 102 of this embodiment, an influent water induction and inflow pipe 1 is connected to an internal surface 2a of an internal sedimentation tank 2 in the tangential direction, and a cylindrical baffle 5a is installed in an internal cylindrical unit 5 such that the cylindrical baffle 5a is concentrically separated from the inner surface of the cylindrical unit 5.

[49] That is, the eddy induction and inflow pipe 1 is a cylindrical pipe for inducing rotation of the influent water in the tangential direction (in the direction of arrows) between the inner surface 2a of the internal sedimentation tank 2 and the cylindrical baffle 5a to cause impurities of the water to be precipitated in the precipitation collection tank 4, and for supplying the influent water to the internal cylindrical unit 5 through the hollow portion of the cylindrical baffle 5a.

[50]

[51]

Industrial Applicability

[52] As apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a non-point source pollution treatment apparatus having an internal sedimentation tank, which

prevents the clogging thereof and has a simple structure and an improved efficiency of precipitating impurities, compared to a conventional internal sedimentation tank.

[53] Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

[54]