Smart cluster sensor system and apparatus for water quality monitoring

A water filtration apparatus, comprising:

• (a) a water filtration loop in fluid communication between a fluid reservoir for receiving water at an inlet, and an outlet;
• (b) at least one water filter connected within said water filtration loop;
• (c) valves connected along said water filtration loop to control the flow of water through the filters, wherein each said valve is a manual valve coupled to a position sensing device to communicate the state of said one or more valves back to the controller, allowing said controller to automatically perform its operations based on positioning of the valves;
• (d) a controller configured for controlling the on/off state of said valves when determining the condition of the water filters;
• (e) wherein said valves can be switched between a first state in which water bypasses said at least one water filter in traversing from inlet to outlet, and a second state in which water passes through said at least one water filter;
• (f) a plurality of water quality sensors on said controller for collecting water quality information, comprising:
• a flow sensor, an oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) sensor, dissolved oxygen (DO) sensor, a pH sensor. an electrical conductivity (EC) sensor, and a temperature sensor;
• and
• (g) wherein said controller executes firmware instructions from its microcontroller, for performing steps comprising:
• (i) responding to the detection of said valves being switched between said first state and said second state, said controller is configured to collect and assess water quality comprising steps of:
• comparing the quality of water which passes through the filters with water that has not passed through the filters to determine the replacement interval of the filter media as determined by the combination of sensor values;
• comparing the quality of water which passes through the filters with water that has not passed through the filters to determine the efficacy of the filter media at removing specific contaminants present in the water as determined by the combination of sensor values and comparison to stored reference values;
• comparing the quality of water which passes through the filters with water that has not passed through the filters to determine the type of contaminants present in the water by comparing the combination of sensor values to stored reference values;
• and
• comparing the quality of water which has not passed through the filters to measurements from other devices located in the same water system to determine the source of contamination in the water.

A water filtration apparatus, comprising:

• (a) a water filtration loop in fluid communication between a fluid reservoir for receiving water at an inlet, and an outlet;
• (b) at least one water filter connected within said water filtration loop;
• (c) valves connected along said water filtration loop to control the flow of water through the filters, wherein said valves are coupled to an actuator coupled to said controller which switches these valves automatically in performing filter testing;
• (d) a controller configured for controlling the on/off state of said valves when determining the condition of the water filters;
• (e) wherein said valves are switched between a first state in which water bypasses said at least one water filter in traversing from inlet to outlet, and a second state in which water passes through said at least one water filter;
• (f) a plurality of water quality sensors on said controller for collecting water quality information, comprising:
• a flow sensor, an oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) sensor, dissolved oxygen (DO) sensor, a pH sensor. an electrical conductivity (EC) sensor, and a temperature sensor;
• and
• (g) wherein said controller executes firmware instructions from its microcontroller, for performing steps comprising:
• (i) switching said valves between said first state and said second state, upon which said controller is configured to collect and assess water quality comprising steps of:
• comparing the quality of water which passes through the filters with water that has not passed through the filters to determine the replacement interval of the filter media as determined by the combination of sensor values;
• comparing the quality of water which passes through the filters with water that has not passed through the filters to determine the efficacy of the filter media at removing specific contaminants present in the water as determined by the combination of sensor values and comparison to stored reference values;
• comparing the quality of water which passes through the filters with water that has not passed through the filters to determine the type of contaminants present in the water by comparing the combination of sensor values to stored reference values;
• and
• comparing the quality of water which has not passed through the filters to measurements from other devices located in the same water system to determine the source of contamination in the water.