# US 10,307,715 B2 · Control of an RO installation for flushing solutions

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- Number: US 10,307,715 B2
- Document ID: US10307715B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 14/950,271
- Filed: 2015-11-24
- Published: 2017-01-26
- Granted: 2019-06-04
- Earliest claimed: 2014-11-25
- Applicants: Manfred Volker
- Inventors: Manfred Volker
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10307715B2

## CPC

- B01D 65/10: Testing of membranes or membrane apparatus; Detecting or repairing leaks
- B01D 61/02: Reverse osmosis; Hyperfiltration {; Nanofiltration}
- B01D 61/025: {Reverse osmosis; Hyperfiltration}
- B01D 61/08: Apparatus therefor
- B01D 61/12: Controlling or regulating
- C02F 1/441: {by reverse osmosis}
- G01N 15/08: Investigating permeability, pore-volume, or surface area of porous materials
- G01N 27/08: which is flowing continuously
- G01N 27/12: of a solid body in dependence upon absorption of a fluid; of a solid body in dependence upon reaction with a fluid {, for detecting components in the fluid}
- B01D 2311/243: Electrical conductivity control
- B01D 2311/2512: to feed side
- C02F 1/444: {by ultrafiltration or microfiltration}
- C02F 2103/026: {Treating water for medical or cosmetic purposes}
- C02F 2103/04: for obtaining ultra-pure water
- C02F 2209/02: Temperature
- C02F 2209/03: Pressure
- C02F 2209/05: Conductivity or salinity
- C02F 2209/40: Liquid flow rate
- C02F 2209/42: Liquid level
- G01N 2015/086: {of films, membranes or pellicules}
- B01D: SEPARATION (separating solids from solids by wet methods B03B, B03D; by pneumatic jigs or tables B03B; by other dry methods B07; magnetic or electrostatic separation of solid materials from solid materials or fluids, separation by high-voltage electric fields B03C; centrifuges, vortex apparatus B04; presses per se for squeezing-out liquid from liquid-containing material B30B9/02; treatment of water C02F, e.g. softening by ion-exchange C02F1/42; {arrangements of air intake cleaners in gas turbine plants F02C7/05} ; arrangements or mounting of filters in air-conditioning, air-humidification or ventilation F24F13/28)
- C02F: TREATMENT OF WATER, WASTE WATER, SEWAGE, OR SLUDGE (separation in general B01D; special arrangements on waterborne vessels of installations for treating water, waste water or sewage, e.g. for producing fresh water, B63J; adding materials to water to prevent corrosion C23F; treating radioactively-contaminated liquids G21F9/04; regeneration of reactants for recirculation into processes, see the relevant places for the processes)
- G01N: INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (measuring or testing apparatus or processes other than immunoassay, involving enzymes or microorganisms C12M, C12Q)

## Abstract

The method of verifying an RO membrane of an RO installation is characterized in that the conductivity values of the supplied raw water and of the permeate and the amount of the raw water inflow and the concentrate outflow are continuously or cyclically measured and that the efficiency of the RO membrane, its retention rate and/or filtration efficiency are calculated from the measured values.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An RO installation for verifying a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane, the RO membrane being in the RO installation, characterised in that conductivity values of supplied raw water and of a permeate and an amount of raw water inflow and of concentrate outflow are measured continuously or cyclically and that efficiency of the RO membrane and its retention rate and/or filtration efficiency are calculated from the measured conductivity values and amount of raw water inflow and concentrate outflow, wherein the conductivity values of the supplied raw water are measured directly from a raw water supply, wherein the efficiency of the RO membrane is calculated from a ratio of an amount of the permeate to the measured amount of the raw water inflow, the amount of the permeate being calculated from the measured amount of raw water inflow and the measured amount of the concentrate outflow, wherein the retention rate of the RO membrane is calculated from a ratio of the measured conductivity value of the permeate to the directly measured conductivity value of the supplied raw water, and wherein the filtration efficiency of the RO membrane is assessed using the retention rate, the RO installation comprising:
a raw water supply conduit (1a) providing the raw water supply, which raw water supply conduit leads to a feed tank (9), from which a conduit (84) with a pump (11) leads to the primary side (12.1) of an RO membrane (12), from where a concentrate circulation conduit (32) leads back to the feed tank (9), and a permeate feed conduit (44) and a first permeate circulation conduit (28), which either extends to a permeate return conduit (50), which leads to the feed tank (9), or communicates via a further permeate circulation conduit (29) with the secondary side (12.2) of the RO membrane, and a filtrate outlet conduit including an ultrafilter (25) having a membrane with a secondary side which leads to another ultrafilter (42) having a membrane with a secondary side that leads to a filtrate discharge (49), characterised in that arranged in the raw water supply conduit (1a) there is a supply flow meter (7) and in a concentrate outlet conduit (32a) there is an outflow flow meter (15), which are monitored by associated, independent computers and whose measurement values are analysed to determine the efficiency of the RO membrane (12),
characterised in that arranged in the raw water supply conduit (1a) there is an inlet conductivity measuring cell (6) and in the permeate feed conduit (44) there is a permeate conductivity measuring cell (22) connected to at least one computer, wherein values from the permeate conductivity measuring cell are measured by the at least one computer and are analyzed to determine the retention rate of the RO membrane (9).

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

An RO installation as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the raw water supply conduit (1a) communicates with an annular gap (57) in the feed tank (9), through which there is a uniform, non-turbulent water supply into the feed tank, which enables an exact, volumetric measurement of the inflow and outflow.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

An RO installation as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the permeate feed conduit (44) leads to an ultrafilter/sterifilter (25), leading off from whose primary side is the first permeate circulation conduit (28) and going off from whose secondary side is the filtrate outlet conduit and that inserted at a filtrate outlet of the ultrafilter/sterifilter (25) there is a blocking valve (24) which stops a filtrate outflow in the event of defective process data.