Process positioning and process control unit for process control of a wash-down hose and uses

A process positioning and process control unit for process control of a wash-down hose having a flushing nozzle at the outermost end of the wash-down hose for cleaning waste-water pipes, wherein:

• the wash-down hose is mounted on a cylindrical wash-down hose drum, wherein the wash-down hose drum has an axial length and rotated to thereby store, roll out and roll up a specific number of meters of the wash-down hose,
• wherein when the wash-down hose is put under water pressure, the wash-down hose is rolled out and the flushing nozzle pulls itself forward and up through the waste-water pipe with the wash-down hose dragged behind the flushing nozzle,
• wherein the wash-down hose is rolled up on the wash-down hose drum by pulling the still water-pressurised flushing nozzle back towards the wash-down hose drum, and
• wherein the wash-down hose drum has a rotational position defined by the total number of rotations plus the rotated angle of the wash-down hose drum in relation to a basis position of the wash-down hose drum;
• wherein the process positioning and process control unit comprises:
• a pulse emitter, wherein the wash-down hose drum is equipped with the pulse emitter, and the pulse emitter is designed for emitting a fixed number of electrical pulses per rotation of the wash-down hose drum,
• a rotating direction indicator configured for determining a rotation direction of the wash-down hose drum, and
• a memory unit comprises a first address for storing data related to the electrical pulses from the pulse emitter and for storing data relating to the rotation direction the wash-down hose drum from the rotating direction indicator for determining the rotational position of the wash-down hose drum and a second address for storage of data related to the wash-down hose drum's dimension and the wash-down hose's dimension, wherein the storage of data is maintained independently from a power supply to the memory unit;
• wherein the roll out length of the wash-down hose is given by the position of the flushing nozzle relative to the wash-down hose drum;
• and
• wherein the roll out length of the wash-down hose is determined by an algorithm that compares the rotational position of the wash-down hose drum, the dimension of the wash-down hose drum and the dimension of the wash-down hose.

A method for positioning and controlling the position of a flushing nozzle at the outermost end of a water-pressurised wash-down hose when cleaning waste-water pipes, wherein:

• when the wash-down hose is put under water pressure, the wash-down hose is rolled out and the flushing nozzle pulls itself forward and up through the waste-water pipe with the wash-down hose dragged behind the flushing nozzle, and the wash-down hose is rolled up on the wash-down hose drum by pulling the still water-pressurised flushing nozzle back towards the wash-down hose drum,
• the wash-down hose is mounted on a cylindrical wash-down hose drum, which wash-down hose drum has an axial length and rotates to thereby store, roll out and roll up a specific number of meters of wash-down hose, and
• the wash-down hose drum has a rotational position defined by the total net number of rotations plus the rotated angle of the wash-down hose drum in relation to a basis position of the wash-down hose drum;
• wherein the method comprises:
• using a process positioning and process control unit comprising a pulse emitter provided on the wash-down drum, a rotating direction indicator and a memory unit configured to electronically registers and stores a current wash-down hose drum situation,
• emitting, by the pulse emitter, a fixed number of electrical pulses per rotation of the wash-down hose drum,
• determining, by the rotating direction indicator, a rotation direction of the wash-down hose drum,
• storing, by the memory unit, in a first address of the memory unit data relating to the electrical pulses from the pulse emitter, and data from the rotating direction indicator about the rotation direction of the wash-down hose drum,
• storing, by the memory unit, in a second address of the memory unit data relating to the axial length of the wash-down hose drum and the dimension of wash-down hose,
• maintaining the storage of data independently from a power supply to the memory unit,
• determining, by the memory unit, the rotational position of the wash-down hose drum from the stored data, and
• determining the roll out length of the wash-down hose given by the position of the flushing nozzle to the wash-down hose drum by an algorithm that compares the rotational position of the wash-down hose drum, the dimension of the wash-down hose drum, and the dimension of the wash-down hose.