US 5,288,412 AGranted

Gray water processing system

OwnerMichael T. Voorhees, Linda M. Brown +1inventors

InventorsMichael T. Voorhees, Linda M. Brown, Richard F. Schaeff

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Abstract

A modular gray water processing system is provided comprising a filter, an ultraviolet radiation chamber coupled to the filter and a storage tank for receiving and storing irradiated gray water from the ultraviolet radiation chamber. The filter filters gray water being provided to the gray water processing system and provides the filtered gray water to the ultraviolet radiation chamber. The ultraviolet radiation chamber comprises a plurality of ultraviolet radiation generating modules and a fluid controlling system for directing the gray water entering the ultraviolet radiation chamber to a number of the ultraviolet radiation modules in accordance with the flow rate of the filtered gray water. The irradiated gray water exiting the radiation chamber is directed to the storage tank where it is stored awaiting reuse.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A method for processing gray water, comprising the combination of steps of:

collecting gray water;
passing the collected gray water through a filter, the filtered gray water having a total volume;
dividing the filtered gray water into discrete flows of predetermined rates;
passing each of the discrete flows of filtered gray water respectively through a plurality of modules, each of said modules having a capacity corresponding to the volume of one of the discrete flows, wherein said discrete flows are passed to a first module until said first module receives one of said discrete flows of said filtered gray water equal to said capacity before the next sequential module receives one of said discrete flows, and wherein said discrete flows are passed only through a number of said modules whose aggregate capacity substantially equals said total volume;
irradiating each of said discrete flows of filtered gray water with ultraviolet radiation respectively in each of the modules to obtain filtered and irradiated gray water.

2 more elements

A gray water processing system comprising the combination of:

means for filtering a source of gray water, means for supplying said gray water to said gray water processing system said gray water being supplied to said gray water processing system and for outputting a flow of filtered gray water, said filtered gray water having a total volume;
and
means for irradiating said filtered gray water with ultraviolet radiation and for outputting irradiated gray water, said irradiating means comprising:
a plurality of module means for receiving at least a portion of said flow of said filtered gray water, each of said module means having a capacity to irradiate a predetermined flow volume of filtered gray water and including ultraviolet radiation generation means for irradiating with ultraviolet radiation said predetermined flow volume of said filtered gray water for at least a minimum predetermined time;
and
means for dividing said flow of said filtered gray water into a plurality of said predetermined flow volumes, said dividing means defining means for 1) directing said flow to a first module means until said first module means receives said predetermined flow volume equal to said capacity before the next sequential module means receives said flow, and 2) directing said flow for said predetermined time only to a number of said module means, said number of said module means aggregate capacity substantially equal to said total volume.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.