Systems and Methods For Cleaning and Monitoring Portable Toilets

Abstract

Systems and methods for cleaning and monitoring a portable toilet are provided. The system's components include a chemical detector, a concentration sensor, a cleaning device, a container, a rotatable spray nozzle, a locator, an automated door locking device, a processor, and memory. The memory causes the processor to execute a method which involves detecting and sensing urine and feces concentration levels, and cleaning the areas of highest concentration with chemical neutralizers dispersed by the spray nozzle. Data regarding the sanitary condition and GPS location of the toilet may be sent to servers for remote human monitoring. The door locking device may be triggered if the toilet is found to have harmful levels of chemicals associated with urine and fecal matter.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A portable toilet cleaning and monitoring system comprising:
 a chemical detector disposed in a portable toilet for detecting presence of chemical elements, including a chemical element associated with urine and a chemical element associated with feces;   a concentration sensor disposed in the portable toilet for:
 sensing a concentration of the chemical elements associated with urine; 
 sensing a concentration of the chemical elements associated with feces; 
 sensing an area within the portable toilet that contains a highest concentration of the urine; and 
 sensing an area within the portable toilet that contains a highest concentration of the feces; 
   a cleaning device disposed in the portable toilet for cleaning of the portable toilet;   a container associated with the cleaning device, the container storing a urine and feces neutralizer;   a rotatable spray nozzle associated with the cleaning device, wherein the spray nozzle is configured to disperse the urine neutralizer and the feces neutralizer to a certain area;   a locator associated with the portable toilet;   an automated door locking device associated within the portable toilet that can be used to deny further uses of the portable toilet;   a processor;   memory storing instructions that cause the processor to execute a method, the method comprising:
 detecting current sanitary state of the portable toilet, wherein the detection comprises:
 detecting, using the concentration sensor, whether the concentration of the chemical element associated with urine has reached a threshold urine level; and 
 detecting, using the concentration sensor, whether the concentration of the chemical element associated with feces has reached a threshold feces level; 
 
   cleaning the interior of the portable toilet, upon detection that the concentration of the chemical element associated with urine has reached the threshold urine level, wherein the cleaning comprises:
 using the concentration detector to identify the area within the portable toilet that contains the highest concentration of urine; 
 directing the spray nozzle to disperse the urine neutralizer to the area that contains the highest concentration of urine; and 
   reporting the current sanitary state of the portable toilet to a remote location, after a period of time has elapsed, wherein data reported comprises:
 whether the concentration of the chemical element has dropped below the threshold urine concentration level; and 
 amount of time for the concentration of the chemical element to drop below the threshold urine concentration level. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said cleaning further comprises the following steps:
 after dispersing the urine neutralizer, using the concentration detector to identify a next area within the portable toilet that contains a next highest concentration of urine;   directing the spray nozzle to disperse the urine neutralizer to the next area, until it is detected that the concentration of the chemical element has dropped below the threshold urine concentration level.   
     
     
         3 . A system for cleaning and monitoring two or more portable toilets comprising:
 a chemical detector disposed in a first portable toilet at a first location for detecting presence of chemical elements, including a chemical element associated with urine and a chemical element associated with feces;   a chemical detector disposed in a second portable toilet at a second location for detecting presence of chemical elements, including the chemical element associated with urine and the chemical element associated with the feces;   a concentration sensor disposed in each of the first and second portable toilets for:
 sensing concentration of the chemical elements associated with urine and feces in each of the first and second portable toilets; and 
 sensing an area within each of the first and second portable toilets that contains a highest concentration of the chemical elements; 
   a cleaning device disposed in each of the first and second portable toilets for cleaning of the portable toilet of the first neighborhood;   a container associated with each cleaning device, the container storing a urine and feces neutralizer;   a spray nozzle associated with each cleaning device, wherein the spray nozzle can be controlled to disperse the urine neutralizer and the feces neutralizer to a particular area;   a locator associated with each of the first and second portable toilets;   an automated door locking device associated each of the first and second portable toilets that can be engaged to prevent further access to either of the first and second portable toilets;   a processor;   memory storing instructions that cause the process to execute a method, the method comprising:
 detecting current sanitary state of each of the first and second portable toilets, wherein the detection comprises:
 detecting, using the chemical detector, whether the presence of the chemical element associated with urine has reached a threshold level; 
 
 cleaning each of the first and second portable toilets, if detected that the presence of the chemical element has reached to the threshold urine level, wherein the cleaning comprises:
 using the concentration detector to identify the area within each portable toilet that contains the highest concentration of urine; 
 directing the spray nozzle to disperse the urine neutralizer to the area of each of the first and second toilets that contains the highest concentration of urine; and 
 
 reporting the current sanitary state of the portable toilet of each of the first and second portable toilets, after a period of time elapsed, wherein data reported includes:
 an identification of which, if any, of the first and second portable toilets, has urine concentration levels exceeding a predetermined threshold; 
 sending a request for human intervention, the request comprising location information from the locator; and 
 
 denying any further uses of any toilet which has urine concentration levels exceeding a predetermined threshold by engaging the locking device until the concentration has dropped to an acceptable level. 
   
     
     
         4 . A method for cleaning and monitoring a portable toilet comprising the following steps:
 providing a portable toilet comprising the following components disposed therein:
 a chemical concentration sensor for sensing concentrations of chemicals associated with urine and feces; 
 a cleaning device comprising a spray nozzle and container for storing urine and feces chemical neutralizer; 
 a locator; 
 an automated door locking mechanism; and 
 a processor with associated memory for executing the method; 
   detecting with the sensor the concentration of chemicals associated with urine and feces within the portable toilet;   upon detection that either chemical has reached a threshold concentration, cleaning the interior of the portable toilet with the cleaning device; and   uploading data regarding the sanitary state of the portable toilet to a remote server after a specified time period has elapsed.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising the following steps:
 upon detection that either chemical has reached a hazardous concentration level, taking the following actions:
 sending a request for human intervention, the request comprising location information from the locator; and 
 triggering the automated door locking mechanism in order to deny further access to portable toilet. 
   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the cleaning comprises the following steps:
 using the concentration sensor to identify an area within the portable toilet that contains a highest concentration of chemicals associated with urine;   directing the spray nozzle to disperse urine neutralizers to the area of the highest concentration of urine;   using the concentration sensor to identify the area within the portable toilet that contains a highest concentration of chemicals associated with feces; and   directing the spray nozzle to disperse urine neutralizers to the area of the highest concentration of feces.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the cleaning comprises the following steps:
 using the concentration sensor to identify an area within the portable toilet that contains a highest concentration of chemicals associated with urine;   directing the spray nozzle to disperse urine neutralizers to the area of the highest concentration of urine;   using the concentration sensor to identify the area within the portable toilet that contains a highest concentration of chemicals associated with feces; and   directing the spray nozzle to disperse urine neutralizers to the area of the highest concentration of feces.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the data regarding sanitary state of the portable toilet comprises:
 numerical concentration levels of chemicals associated with urine and feces within the portable toilet;   whether the levels have exceeded a certain threshold concentration; and   data regarding geographic location of the portable toilet gathered from the locator.