US5244579A — Transportable reverse osmosis water purification …

Claim 1

Independent Claim 366 words

A self-contained, transportable reverse osmosis water purification unit having a throughput of no more than about 20 gpm of permeate in a single pass operation, said unit comprising, an enclosed weather-tight housing having a continuous base integrally combined with said housing to form a purification container having the overall dimensions of an ISO container, said purification container 5.5 m long×2.1 m wide×1.7 m high being adapted to be demountably disposed in a transport means from which said purification container may be deployed without due care, to land on the ground in a horizontal position, right-side-up; an A-frame integrally combined with said base, each including attachment means for deploying said container; hydrocarbon fuel-powered generating means for generating sufficient electricity at a voltage required to operate all components powered by electricity, and storage means for storing enough fuel to operate said generating means for a predetermined period of time; said housing being divided into first and second enclosed compartments separated from one another by a dividing wall, said second compartment having said fuel storage means, and said generating means including electrical control means therefor and a storage battery, housed in said second compartment; said first compartment having housed therein substantially all remaining components for purifying raw contaminated water, said components including, a first pass reverse osmosis module and a second pass reverse osmosis module; a feed pump, a booster pump, first pass and second pass process pumps, and a chlorine injection pump; first pass and second pass reverse osmosis modules having reverse osmosis elements disposed therein; coarse filter means and fine filter means; a bladder tank having a capacity of at least 17 gal; a cleaning tank having a capacity of at least 30 gal; and, control means to operate said components to deliver no more than 20 gpm of permeate in a single pass operation; said first and second compartments having equipment therein demountably secured to said base and interior surfaces of said compartments with shock-absorbing means, said equipment being essentially symmetrically distributed about the center of mass of said container, whereby said container may be unloaded from a supporting surface above the ground and land thereon, base first, and remain oriented in a substantially vertical position.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 366 words

A self-contained, transportable reverse osmosis water purification unit having a throughput of no more than about 20 gpm of permeate in a single pass operation, said unit comprising, an enclosed weather-tight housing having a continuous base integrally combined with said housing to form a purification container having the overall dimensions of an ISO container, said purification container 5.5 m long×2.1 m wide×1.7 m high being adapted to be demountably disposed in a transport means from which said purification container may be deployed without due care, to land on the ground in a horizontal position, right-side-up; an A-frame integrally combined with said base, each including attachment means for deploying said container; hydrocarbon fuel-powered generating means for generating sufficient electricity at a voltage required to operate all components powered by electricity, and storage means for storing enough fuel to operate said generating means for a predetermined period of time; said housing being divided into first and second enclosed compartments separated from one another by a dividing wall, said second compartment having said fuel storage means, and said generating means including electrical control means therefor and a storage battery, housed in said second compartment; said first compartment having housed therein substantially all remaining components for purifying raw contaminated water, said components including, a first pass reverse osmosis module and a second pass reverse osmosis module; a feed pump, a booster pump, first pass and second pass process pumps, and a chlorine injection pump; first pass and second pass reverse osmosis modules having reverse osmosis elements disposed therein; coarse filter means and fine filter means; a bladder tank having a capacity of at least 17 gal; a cleaning tank having a capacity of at least 30 gal; and, control means to operate said components to deliver no more than 20 gpm of permeate in a single pass operation; said first and second compartments having equipment therein demountably secured to said base and interior surfaces of said compartments with shock-absorbing means, said equipment being essentially symmetrically distributed about the center of mass of said container, whereby said container may be unloaded from a supporting surface above the ground and land thereon, base first, and remain oriented in a substantially vertical position.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 45 words

The purification unit of claim 1 wherein said coarse filter means includes automatic self-cleaning means adapted to back-wash said coarse filter means without interruption of flow of raw water to said fine filter means, and without utilizing a source of water other than stored concentrate.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 73 words

The purification unit of claim 2 wherein said first pass module comprises plural modules connected in series, so as to flow concentrate from the first as feed to the second, the permeates and concentrates from said plural modules being respectively combined; and, said second pass comprises a single second pass module connected in selective permeate-flow-communication with said first pass modules so as to flow said permeates as feed to said second pass module.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 32 words

The purification unit of claim 3 wherein said self-cleaning means is in selective fluid communication with concentrate stored in said bladder tank, and said concentrate is pumplessly delivered to said self-cleaning means.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 44 words

The purification unit of claim 4 including conduit and valving means to chemically clean said first pass modules and said second pass module, separately, without removing said reverse osmosis elements from within said modules, and without utilizing a source of water other than permeate.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 27 words

The purification unit of claim 1 wherein said fine filter comprises a combination of a 50 μm screen filter disposed upstream plural 5 μm-15 μm cartridge filters.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 176 words

A process for delivering no more than 20 gpm of permeate from reverse osmosis modules housed in a transportable container constructed to have fixedly disposed therein all equipment including instrumentation to control operation thereof, said process comprising, providing a purification container no larger than an ISO container 5.5m long×2.1 m wide×1.7 m high filtering brackish water through a combination of a coarse screen filter having openings no larger than 300 μm, and a fine filter having openings no larger than 100 μm to produce filtered water; automatically back-flushing said coarse filter when it is sufficiently fouled to provide a pressure drop sufficiently high to indicate an unacceptable constriction of flow; flowing said filtered water through at least one pass of reverse osmosis modules; recovering said permeate; and, storing a portion of concentrate from at least one of said reverse osmosis modules, under elevated pressure above that required to back-flush said coarse filter, the amount of concentrate stored being sufficient to back-flush said coarse filter; and, periodically replacing said fine filter means without interrupting production of permeate.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 176 words

A process for delivering no more than 20 gpm of permeate from reverse osmosis modules housed in a transportable container constructed to have fixedly disposed therein all equipment including instrumentation to control operation thereof, said process comprising, providing a purification container no larger than an ISO container 5.5m long×2.1 m wide×1.7 m high filtering brackish water through a combination of a coarse screen filter having openings no larger than 300 μm, and a fine filter having openings no larger than 100 μm to produce filtered water; automatically back-flushing said coarse filter when it is sufficiently fouled to provide a pressure drop sufficiently high to indicate an unacceptable constriction of flow; flowing said filtered water through at least one pass of reverse osmosis modules; recovering said permeate; and, storing a portion of concentrate from at least one of said reverse osmosis modules, under elevated pressure above that required to back-flush said coarse filter, the amount of concentrate stored being sufficient to back-flush said coarse filter; and, periodically replacing said fine filter means without interrupting production of permeate.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 113 words

A process for cleaning a fouled reverse osmosis membrane used in either a first pass operation or a second pass operation of a reverse osmosis subsystem in an air deliverable reverse osmosis purification unit, comprising, diverting permeate to a cleaning tank in which no permeate is stored to be made up into a chemical cleaning solution; adding appropriate chemicals to diverted permeate in the tank to form said cleaning solution; flowing said cleaning solution to the suction side of a booster pump used to pump incoming water into filters prior to being introduced into said unit; and, diverting said cleaning solution discharged by said booster pump to a fouled membrane to be cleaned.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 113 words

A process for cleaning a fouled reverse osmosis membrane used in either a first pass operation or a second pass operation of a reverse osmosis subsystem in an air deliverable reverse osmosis purification unit, comprising, diverting permeate to a cleaning tank in which no permeate is stored to be made up into a chemical cleaning solution; adding appropriate chemicals to diverted permeate in the tank to form said cleaning solution; flowing said cleaning solution to the suction side of a booster pump used to pump incoming water into filters prior to being introduced into said unit; and, diverting said cleaning solution discharged by said booster pump to a fouled membrane to be cleaned.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1996-09-13	1997-03-15	1997-09-14	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2000-09-13	2001-03-15	2001-09-14	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2004-09-13	2005-03-15	2005-09-14	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Transportable reverse osmosis water purification unit

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