Floating individualized air supply for wastewater aeration

Abstract

A wastewater treatment facility with aerators located on the bottom of a lagoon features a bundled group of air supply lines to supply air individually to each submerged aerator. The bundled group of air supply lines floats—and may additionally be supported by a surface-anchored tether line—at the surface of the lagoon, and the air supply lines are individually supplied with air from a manifold located by the side of the lagoon.

Claims

1. A wastewater treatment facility, comprising: a lagoon containing wastewater and having a plurality of aerators arranged in a row extending across the bottom of the lagoon; an air supply blower which provides air to the aerators; a manifold located by the lagoon, which manifold receives air from the air supply blower; a bundle of air supply lines formed from a plurality of individual air supply lines arranged to supply air to the aerators in the row of aerators, with the bundle of air supply lines being located at the surface of the wastewater and with one of said plurality of individual air supply lines extending 1) upwardly from each aerator in the row of aerators to join the bundle of air supply lines and 2) along the bundle of air supply lines, as a constituent member thereof, to the manifold to receive air from the manifold.

2. The wastewater treatment facility of claim 1, further comprising a valve associated with at least one of the plurality of individual air supply lines that form the bundle of air supply lines, by which valve the flow of air from the manifold to the aerator that is supplied by the individual air supply line with which the valve is associated is regulatable.

3. The wastewater treatment facility of claim 2, wherein each individual air supply line in the bundle of air supply lines has an individually associated valve by which the flow of air in each individual air supply line is individually regulatable.

4. The wastewater treatment facility of claim 1, wherein the plurality of aerators are arranged in a plurality of rows and wherein each given row of aerators of said plurality of rows has its own individually associated supply manifold to provide air to the aerators in the given row of aerators.

5. The wastewater treatment facility of claim 1, wherein the individual air supply lines that form the bundle of air supply lines are held together to form the bundle of air supply lines by a two-strut clamping assembly.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) These concepts will be understood more fully from the following disclosure when read in conjunction with the figures, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic elevation view illustrating a wastewater treatment facility as known in the prior art, with FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C illustrating alternative air supply take-off points that may be employed in the circled location in FIG. 1;

(3) FIG. 2 is schematic elevation view (parts not to scale relative to each other) illustrating an air supply arrangement used to provide air to an aerator as used in the wastewater treatment facility shown in FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 3 is a schematic elevation view illustrating a floating individualized air supply assembly used in a wastewater treatment facility in accordance with the claimed invention;

(5) FIGS. 4A and 4B are an elevation view and a side view, respectively, of an air supply manifold that may be used to supply air to the floating individualized air supply assembly shown in FIG. 3;

(6) FIG. 5 is schematic elevation view (parts not to scale relative to each other) illustrating an air supply arrangement used to provide air to an aerator as used in a wastewater treatment facility in accordance with the invention; and

(7) FIGS. 6 and 6A are a top view and a section view, respectively, illustrating a bundle of air supply lines used in the air supply arrangement shown in FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

(8) An embodiment 100 of a wastewater treatment facility in accordance with the claimed invention is illustrated in FIGS. 3, 4A, 4B, 5, 6, and 6A. According to this embodiment 100, air is supplied to each submerged aerator 118 (as indicated by the downward-facing arrows in FIG. 3) via an individual, dedicated air supply line 120, which is constructed from flexible tubing. Each air supply line is connected to a manifold 130 located near the side of a lagoon, with the manifold 130 receiving air from a buried header 132 (FIG. 3) via a riser pipe 134 (FIGS. 4A and 4B). Moreover, it is preferable for an isolation valve 136—e.g., a quarter-turn, stainless steel ball valve with a lever actuator—to be positioned between at least one (and preferably each) air supply line 120 and the manifold 130 to regulate (or even terminate) the amount of air being provided to the associated air supply line 120. Further still, a pressure gauge (not illustrated) may be provided for at least one (and preferably each) air supply line 120, to help regulate the amount of air being delivered into the associated individual air supply line 120. (Pressure may be kept higher in air supply lines that provide air to aerators 118 that are farther away to overcome greater flow resistance.)

(9) As illustrated in FIGS. 3, 5, 6, and 6A, the air supply lines 120 to supply a given row of aerators are bundled together, with the bundle 138 being supported at the surface of the lagoon, e.g., by floatation alone or with supplemental support tether 140, if necessary. Where there are multiple rows of aerators 118 extending across the bottom of the lagoon, each row of aerators 118 may have its own associated bundle 138 of air supply lines 120 and its own associated supply manifold 130 to provide air to the aerators 118 in the given row. Each individual air supply line 120 “departs” or “takes off” from the bundle 138 and extends down to an aerator at the longitudinal position corresponding to the location of the aerator 118 to which the individual air supply line 120 supplies air. Thus, each individual air supply line 120 should be long enough to extend from the longitudinal location of the supplied aerator 118 to the supply manifold 130 and to extend down to the bottom of the lagoon, with enough slack in the downwardly extending portion of the air supply line 120 to prevent the aerator 118 from pulling the rest of the bundle 138 of air supply lines 120 down from the surface.

(10) Furthermore, as best illustrated in FIGS. 5, 6, and 6A, the air supply lines 120 may be kept bundled together in a closely packed configuration using a two-strut “sandwich” assembly located at each of several locations along the length of the air supply lines 120, particularly at positions right before each of the individual air supply lines 120 descends from the bundle 138 to provide air to its associated aerator 118. Each “strut” 142 may be formed as a length of fiberglass C-shaped or U-shaped channel, which has slots 144 along the bottom of the channel. A length of tubing 146 (e.g., PVC pipe) can be provided between the two struts 142 to keep them spaced apart by an appropriate distance to prevent crushing of the air supply lines 120, and a bolt 148 can be passed through the tubing and secured (e.g., via a nut 150) to clamp the assembly together. Nylon cable ties 152 can be passed through the slots 144 of the struts 142 and secured to form a band located laterally “outboard” of each side of the bundle 138 of air supply lines 120, to keep the air supply lines 120 from falling out the sides of the bundled assembly. As fewer and fewer air supply lines 120 are bundled together as one progresses from the manifold 130 toward the end of a given row of aerators 118, the struts 142 used to form the sandwich assembly can be made shorter and shorter.

(11) Suitably, the air supply lines 120 may be made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Given the density of this material, coupled with the fact that the air supply lines 120 will be filled with air, it generally should not be necessary to provide separate floats or tension wires to keep the bundles 138 of air supply lines 120 floating at the surface of the lagoon. As noted above, however, a support tether 140 that is anchored at the side of the lagoon may be provided if desired, e.g., to help support the bundle 138 of airlines 120 at the surface of the lagoon or, if nothing more, simply to help hold the position of the airlines 120 steady as they extend across the surface of the lagoon.

(12) Various modifications to and departures from the disclosed embodiment will occur to those having skill in the art. The scope of the invention is defined by the following claims.