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US 6,103,125 AGranted
Zero waste effluent water desalination system
AssigneeTheodore A. Kuepper
InventorTheodore A. Kuepper
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A water desalination and softening system that can be used in a home or commercial environment which recirculates water past a membrane filter element in a manner to self clean the membrane and to prevent a buildup of salts and minerals on the membrane surface. The system conserves water so as to result in near zero waste by recirculating water from a reservoir tank past the membrane. The system can operate in conjunction with a building's water supply and can operate without problems in either a zero or low effluent mode or when water usage is frequent.
Claims15
A desalination system consisting:
- a service water line receiving municipal water under pressure for connection to a first service water inlet;
- a water treatment unit containing a housing, a water treatment element dividing the housing into a first chamber for receiving feed water and for retaining the salts and minerals in the feed water that do not pass through the unit and a second chamber for receiving desalinated produced water;
- a feed water inlet connected to the first chamber;
- a waste water outlet connected to the first chamber;
- a desalinated product water outlet connected to the second chamber;
- a rigid tank having an interior chamber and a flexible hollow product water bladder dividing the interior chamber into a recirculation compartment and an adjacent product water compartment, the flexible bladder being responsive to the pressure of water in the recirculation compartment for dispersing product water therefore the recirculation compartment having said service water inlet, a waste water inlet connected to said waste water outlet, a water utilization outlet and a feed water outlet connected to the first compartment of the water treatment unit;
- the product water compartment having an inlet connected to the desalinated product water outlet;
- a water utilization line containing a faucet or other water utilization appliance connected to the water utilization outlet of the recirculation compartment;
- the recirculation compartment and its inlets and outlets being constructed and arranged that in response to water being periodically utilized by said faucet or other appliance, service water under pressure is caused to enter the recirculation compartment through the service water inlet and mix with and dilute waste water from the first compartment of the water treatment unit from a dilute mixture which leaves said recirculation compartment through said water utilization outlet.
6 more elements
A method of desalinating water comprising the steps of:
- flowing municipal water under pressure into a first compartment of a rigid tank having a second product water compartment separated from the first compartment by a flexible bladder;
- flowing water from said first compartment into a first chamber of a water treatment unit divided into first and second chambers by a water permeable element that rejects and/or absorbs salts and minerals from the water to form waste water in the first chamber and desalinated product water in the second chamber;
- flowing the product water from the second chamber into the second compartment, flowing waste water into the first compartment;
- connecting the first compartment to a utilization appliance by means of a utilization line;
- connecting the second compartment to a second utilization line;
- periodically flowing supply water under pressure into the first compartment to mix with and dilute said waste water its inlets and its outlets being constructed and arranged such that in response to water being periodically removed from the first compartment, municipal said water is caused to enter the first compartment and mix with dilute waste water to form utilization water which enters said utilization line and said municipal water pressurizes the product water in said second compartment and periodically using the product water in the second utilization line.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.