Method and device for removing solids downstream of a siphon of a toilet, and operation of a device of this type

Abstract

According to this method, the solids are packed together with an air portion into individual bags (63) of an endlessly fed hose and the buoyant bag (63) is hermetically sealed and released into the sewer system. The device for this purpose includes at least the following technical components after the siphon of the WC (100) for treating the siphon outlet within a closed system: a solids separation tank (3) for collecting the solids,a solids pump (28) for conveying the separated solids upwards in a riser pipe (4) into a high-level solids tank (5),a portioning device (6) with a dosing valve (7) for dropping portions of solid material into a tubular bag packaging unit (9) arranged underneath,a tubular bag packaging unit (9) for producing hermetically sealed and subsequently separated bags (63) with solids and an air content from an endlessly fed tube, for discharge into the sewage system.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A method for separating solids from a water closet downstream of a siphon of the water closet, characterized in that the solids are packed together with an air portion into individual buoyant bags of an endlessly supplied hose and the buoyant bags are discharged hermetically sealed into a sewage system. 
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , characterized in that:
 a) the solids are fed into a solids separation tank, from which solids fall in portions from above into a catch basket of a lift system,   b) the solids are conveyed upwards in the catch basket of the lift system and simultaneously drip off through the catch basket,   c) the solids pass from the catch basket into a portioning device, from which the solids are discharged in portions through a valve and dropped into a mouth of a tubular bag, which is held open at a top thereof, wherein the tubular bag is produced at a bottom thereof by a transverse weld of a tube of a roll fed endlessly from below and is held by two or more vacuum bars in the mouth region and is cut away from the endless tube below the transverse weld and then a support plate is moved under the bag and the bag is placed on the same,   d) the bag is closed by welding the mouth after filling and blowing in air, and   e) the bag is dropped onto a sliding channel or a sliding plate by releasing the load and moving the two or more vacuum bars apart, after which the bag is discharged into the sewage system via a discharge pipe.   
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , characterized in that:
 a) the solids are fed into a solids separation tank, in which solids are broken down into a viscous slurry and lowered to a bottom of the solids separation tank,   b) the viscous slurry is pumped by means of a solids pump into a high-level solids tank,   c) the viscous slurry is released by means of a portioning device in portions through a valve into a mouth, held open at the top, of a tubular bag, wherein the tubular bag is produced at a bottom thereof by a transverse weld of a tube of a roller fed endlessly from below and is held by two or more vacuum bars in the mouth region and is cut away from the endless tube below the transverse weld and then a support plate is moved under the bag and the bag is placed on the same,   d) the bag is closed by welding the mouth after filling and blowing in air, and   e) the bag is dropped onto a sliding channel or a sliding plate by releasing the load and moving the two or more vacuum bars apart, after which the bag is discharged into the sewage system via a discharge pipe.   
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , characterized in that solid excrements and urine, if it is not drained off separately beforehand, after flushing of a grey water tank arranged at a top of the toilet bowl via the siphon and a rotary valve into a solids separation tank, the solids mixed with grey water are pumped upwards via a riser pipe into a solids tank, excess grey water flows back into a brown water tank via an overflow pipe, the content of the brown water tank is lowered to 2 liters, a post-rinse from a fresh water tank with approximately 2 liters takes place, for cleaning rinsing of the siphon and this relatively clean water flows back into the brown water tank, and after completion of this second filling process, brown water from the brown water tank is conveyed into a UV disinfection system arranged above, and the brown water tank is finally filled with fresh water as required. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1 , characterized in that:
 a) for pure urine delivery, a small button triggers flushing through a fresh water tank and a rotary valve is set to a position where the urine is conventionally discharged into an outlet pipe and thus into the sewage system,   b) for a faulty manipulation with a large button, after no solids have been dispensed, a 4-liter grey water rinse is triggered, without fresh water rinse, and unused grey water is fed into a brown water tank, after which the grey water is pumped back up into a grey water tank, and   c) for an overload, emergency operation is achieved by switching a rotary valve to position  2 , so that flushing takes place from the fresh water tank and everything is discharged directly into the sewage system, and then normal operation resumes.   
     
     
         6 . A device for separating solids from a water closet downstream of a siphon of the water closet, characterized in that the device includes, downstream of the siphon, at least the following technical components for treating a siphon outlet within a closed system:
 a solids separation tank for collecting the solids,   a solids pump for conveying the separated solids upwards in a riser pipe into an elevated solids tank or a lift system with a catch basket for elevating and simultaneously dripping off the solids and tipping them out,   a portioning device with a valve for dropping portions of the solids received from the solids pump or the lift system catch basket into a tubular bag packaging unit arranged thereunder, and   the tubular bag packaging unit for producing hermetically sealed and subsequently separated bags with solids and an air content from an endlessly fed tube, for discharge into a sewerage system.   
     
     
         7 . The device according to  claim 6 , characterized in that the lift system catch basket comprises one or more slots or holes in its side walls and a bottom which can be folded down against spring force, which catch basket can be conveyed upwards by a motor and guided on profiles and can be swung out laterally about a transverse axis in an uppermost position and a base thereof can then be folded out by a motor, for tipping out the solids contained therein through a dumping chute into the portioning device located below. 
     
     
         8 . The device according to  claim 6 , characterized in that it includes a fresh water tank above the water closet and a grey water tank for successive flushing of the water closet first with grey water and then with fresh water, as well as a brown water tank below the water closet, which is fed by an overflow pipe of the solids separation tank, and has a pump for conveying brown water into a UV disinfection unit above the grey water tank, with a feed line into the grey water tank, and wherein the grey water tank can also be fed with a fresh water feed line. 
     
     
         9 . The device according to  claim 6 , characterized in that the solids separation tank for collecting the solids includes an agitator with a paddle wheel for breaking up the solids into a viscous slurry, and has a bottom which tapers conically at the bottom, in which region the solids pump sucks in the solids slurry and the riser pipe for conveying the solids upwards has an electrically operable shut-off valve to prevent backflow when the solids pump is stationary. 
     
     
         10 . The device according to  claim 6 , characterized in that the portioning device has a rotor housing with an inlet opening at a top thereof and an outlet opening at a bottom thereof, with a rotatable swivel lever therein, and a rotor in the rotor housing has a through channel, and the portioning device has an electric double drive with two coaxial axes for rotating the rotor and the swivel lever in both directions of rotation. 
     
     
         11 . The device according to  claim 6 , characterized in that the tubular bag packaging unit includes a tube which can be fed endlessly from a roller and is guided from bottom to top by two pressing rollers rolling on one another, and which have at a top thereof two vacuum strips, each of which can be moved towards and away from one another, of a sealing strip, and with these vacuum strips, the upper end of a hose can be gripped and pulled up by suction, and can then be opened to form a rectangular mouth by moving the vacuum strips apart, and which further has two lower welding bars, for straight or arc-shaped transverse welding of the hose below a bag length measured from the upper rectangular mouth, and a cutting device for cutting off the hose below a straight or arc-shaped transverse weld produced. 
     
     
         12 . The device according to  claim 6 , characterized in that it comprises two pairs of arcuate welding bars, namely a lower pair with an inner side of an arc thereof facing upwards, and an upper pair of arc-shaped welding bars with an inner side of an arc thereof facing downwards, for producing an initially lower arcuate welding of bag material and, after filling, for upper arcuate welding of the bag material and thus producing an approximately round bag bulging to the front and rear, and wherein the upper and lower pairs of arcuate welding bars are equipped with blades extending radially outside the welding bars, for separating off film residues outside the approximately round bag produced. 
     
     
         13 . The device according to  claim 6 , characterized in that the tubular bag packaging unit includes an air tube which can be lowered into a mouth of each bag, for blowing air into the bag filled with portions of solids, it being possible to close the bag mouth around the air tube by moving two or more vacuum bars, the bag mouth can be closed around the air tube and sealed by one or more sealing bars, and after pulling out the air tube at a top of the bag, the mouth can also be sealed, so that a hermetically sealed bag containing air and solid portions can be produced. 
     
     
         14 . The device according to  claim 6 , characterized in that it includes a sliding channel or a sliding plate as an inclined plane for the hermetically sealed bags, which can be retracted into a region below the bags after motorized removal of a support plate under the bags, after which each bag slides by relieving two or more vacuum bars on this sliding plate into a discharge pipe with a spring-loaded odor flap and, after passing through the latter, into the sewage system. 
     
     
         15 . The device according to  claim 6 , characterized in that it has, after connection of the water closet to be equipped downstream of its siphon, an electrically operable 120° rotary valve which forms a diverter with three positions, with a first position for normal operation, in which incoming flushing material consisting of water, possibly urine if this is not separated, is collected, and solids such as excrement and toilet paper into the downstream solids separation tank, with a second position for fault operation, in which the rotary valve discharges the flushing material directly into the sewage system in a conventional manner, and a third position for cleaning operation for backwashing the downstream solids separation tank, in which the rotary valve and the solids separation tank can be flushed through suitably arranged cleaning nozzles on an inside portion thereof. 
     
     
         16 . The device according to  claim 6 , characterized in that it includes an electronic control unit PLC for processing electrical signals from all components and for controlling components, and in that spray nozzles for cleaning dirt-prone areas and webcams are installed inside the device for recording a state of the device and one or more processes inside in real time. 
     
     
         17 . The device according to  claim 6 , characterized in that it includes an electronic control unit PLC for processing electrical signals from the following components and for controlling them for electronic control:
 a) a motorized 120° rotary valve,   b) an agitator in the solids separation tank,   c) the solids pump for lifting the solids or the lift system with the catch basket that can be lifted and tipped out at a top thereof,   d) a shut-off valve in the riser,   e) the portioning device,   f) the valve below the portioning device,   g) a plurality of vacuum bars for a mouth of each of the tubular bags, which can be moved horizontally and vertically by motor, their vacuum performance, and one or more sealing bars integrated with the plurality of vacuum bars,   h) a plurality of welding bars, which can be displaced horizontally and laterally by a motor, for transverse welding or arc-shaped welding of each of the bags along a base thereof to be produced,   i) a motorized support plate that can be retracted under a hanging bag,   j) a sliding channel or a sliding plate which can be retracted as an inclined plane under a filled bag,   k) a brown water pump,   l) a UV disinfection unit,   m) all line valves,   n) all spray nozzles for sporadic internal cleaning of the device, and   o) all monitoring elements.   
     
     
         18 . The device according to  claim 6 , characterized in that the entire device with all its components is installed as a complete installation module in a steel frame. 
     
     
         19 . The device according to  claim 17 , wherein the monitoring elements comprise one or more of: at least one camera and at least one sensor. 
     
     
         20 . The device according to  claim 18 , wherein the steel frame comprises a maximum width of approximately 750 mm, a maximum depth of approximately 280 mm, and a maximum height of approximately 1500 mm to 2200 mm.