Static structures (e.g. – buildings) – Preassembled subenclosure or substructure section of unit or...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-23
2002-05-28
Stephan, Beth A. (Department: 3635)
Static structures (e.g., buildings)
Preassembled subenclosure or substructure section of unit or...
C052S220100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06393775
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to the provision of utilities—water, electricity, sewage, etc—in places where there are no municipal mains. The invention is applicable for use with buildings in such places as: remote and rural areas; buildings in environmentally sensitive areas such as lakeshore and island locations; remote-location tourist accommodations; remote airports, weather stations, generating facilities etc; temporary mining, exploration, and construction camps; military deployment areas; and disaster-relief accommodations.
One of the main problems of buildings in remote locations, where there are no municipal mains, lies in the manner of providing the utilities, i.e water, electricity, sewage, etc, and the systems associated therewith, i.e hot water, space heating, etc. It has been the common practice for the architects and contractors of no-mains buildings to handle the supply of such things as diesel-generators, septic tanks, hot water heaters, and all the rest, in an uncoordinated way. The various structural units for supplying the facilities are all physically present in more or less the same place, but the components have all been selected, ordered, and delivered independently, and each item has had to be installed and tested on site.
As a result, the overall utility system, although it can be expected to operate, and the components can be expected to have a reasonable service life, still the system is a make-the-best-of-it aggregate of units, rather than a planned, purposeful integration of units. The designs as described herein, by contrast, permit the whole system to be planned not only as to the functional interaction between the various components, to promote operational efficiency, but planned as to the physical layout of the units and components, to minimize interference and to maximize beneficial interactions. In the described designs, the components can be assembled, in-factory, and the whole system can be tested, in-factory, as an integrated system.
The factory-assembled and tested module can be shipped and installed in the as-tested format. Once at the site, it is a simple matter to couple up the various plumbing and other connections to the building. The structures of the units and components are physically secured in the module, to the extent that the structures car remain secure during transport by road or rail (or by boat, if that is what is available).
In the described designs, i is not that the units and components are new in themselves: rather, the distinctiveness lies in the fact that the units and components can be assembled and secured into the module, in-factory, prior to shipping.
It is also recognised that the physical proximity and structural integration of the units provides an excellent basis on which to build functional and operational coordination of the units.
The described designs are of a module that allows a dwelling to operate independently of conventional municipal service connections. The module provides a removable/portable water, sewage, and electrical infrastructure, which need be tied neither to a specific dwelling nor to a specific site location. The module can be independent of the dwelling unit and can be pre-fabricated in a controlled factory-type environment.
The module may contain all, or some, of the following systems:
potable water purification and storage system;
biological purifier systems for waste water treatment;
grey-water circulation equipment;
water storage tanks, water-to-water heat exchanger and pressure systems;
central heating equipment;
stand-alone electricity system based on photovoltaic components, wind generator, with diesel-powered co-generation back-up system.
Sometimes, one of the utility services might be available from the municipal mains at a location. For example, it can sometimes be a fairly simple matter to bring mains electricity to an island, whereas it might be difficult to bring mains potable water, and impossible to bring a mains sewage connection, to the same site. The design as described herein can still be applicable, but its advantageous usefulness in that case is of course reduced, particularly in that advantage cannot now be taken of the interactability of the utility services that is enabled in the designs as described herein.
Although the invention is described and referred to specifically as it relates to specific devices and structures to accommodate systems and components for water treatment, water storage, wastewater treatment, wastewater storage and storage of treated wastewater and structures containing systems and components for water treatment, water storage, wastewater treatment, wastewater storage and storage of treated wastewater, it will be understood that the principles of this invention are equally applicable to similar devices, structures to contain and containing similar systems and components and accordingly, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to such devices, structures to contain and containing systems and components for Water treatment, water storage, wastewater treatment, wastewater storage and storage of treated wastewater.
Water and wastewater storage and treatment are generally carried out on a large municipal scale, Exceptions are largely rural or remote with individual filters to treat wellwater and the like, and individual septic tanks to treat wastewater, which operate in isolation. Generally there is no integrated system with recycling to handle both. Where such a system has been designed it has to be specifically designed and built into and around a dwelling or other building. There is a need for an integrated and integral system with recycling for easy installation or removable attachment from a dwelling or other building.
A specific system is described in ASTM Publication Code Number (PCN) 04-013240-38, Townshend et al. The system described therein is built into the entire dwelling, not removable from it and its components are not together in one place.
In a preferred version of the present design precipitation collects into a large cistern and passes after suitable sequential filtration through multi-media gravel, slow sand, activated carbon, and ultraviolet disinfection into a pressurized potable water storage tank which supplies drinking, washing and cooking water to kitchen and bathroom sinks. The wastewater then passes through a two chamber septic tank and an effluent filter into a recirculation tank, and then into a Waterloo Biofilter™ using a specific foam medium, which optimizes microbial wastewater degradation. The outflow of the Waterloo Biofilter™ is mostly into the recirculation tank, some is diverted to a, disposal bed, some passes into another sequential filtration or ‘polishing, system of multi-media rough sand, slow sand, activated carbon, then ultraviolet or ozone disinfection. Ozone was found better in some ways. Both may be used together first ozone then ultraviolet. The treated water (grey water) is used for laundry, bath tub, showers, toilets, and like uses is probably potable, and meets health standards for swimming or bathing water.
The Waterloo Biofilter™ mentioned above is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,513 issued to Jowett et al., Jan. 13, 1998, which teaches using 1.5 cm foam plastic (polyurethane) cubes (from Jowett et al., J. Environ. Qual. 24:86-95 (1995) which are better than shredded foam plastic). Other effective biofiltering media are commercially available and may be used instead.
It is a principal object of the invention to provide a structural container to hold a wastewater treatment system. It is a principal object of the invention to provide e, structural container to hold a water treatment system. It is a further principal object of the invention to provide a structural container holding wastewater and water treatment systems. It is a further principal object of the invention to provide a structural container to hold wastewater storage means. It is a further principal object of the invention to provide a structural container to hold water storage means. It is a further principal object of the
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