Abstract
Ultrasonic concentration meters have widely been used at water purification, sewage treatment and waste water treatment plants to sort and transfer high concentration sludges and to control the amount of chemical dosage. When an unusual substance is contained in the sludge, however, the attenuation of ultrasonic waves could be increased or not be transmitted to the receiver. In this case, the value measured by a concentration meter is higher than the actual density value or vibration. As well, it is difficult to automate the residuals treatment process according to the various problems such as sludge attachment or sensor failure. An ultrasonic multi-beam concentration sensor was considered to solve these problems, but an abnormal concentration value of a specific ultrasonic beam degrades the accuracy of the entire measurement in case of using a conventional arithmetic mean for all measurement values, so this paper proposes a method to improve the accuracy of the sludge concentration determination by choosing reliable sensor values and applying a neuro-fuzzy learning algorithm. The newly developed meter is proven to render useful results from a variety of experiments on a real water treatment plant.
Highlights
The sludges discharged from water, sewage and wastewater treatment plants are buried, dumped into the ocean or incinerated, and for this reason, urgent action is required to effectively reduce sludge emissions according to pollution regulations [1,2,3]
An abnormal concentration value of a specific ultrasonic beam, degrades the accuracy of the entire measurement in case of using a conventional arithmetic mean for all measurement values
We propose a method to improve the accuracy of the sludge concentration determination by choosing reliable sensor values and applying a neuro-fuzzy learning algorithm
Summary
The sludges discharged from water, sewage and wastewater treatment plants are buried, dumped into the ocean or incinerated, and for this reason, urgent action is required to effectively reduce sludge emissions according to pollution regulations [1,2,3]. It is necessary to accurately measure the sludge concentration to optimize the polymer dosage rate and stabilize the water quality to be discharged to rivers [5,6] When matters such as gas and air go through the ultrasonic sensor of an existing sludge density meter, the measured value can be overstated or can fluctuate like a flow measurement [7,8]. Used insertion-type density meters might deteriorate the sensor sensitivity due to sludge attachment on the sensor surface, which could cause more errors. To overcome these problems, an ultrasonic multi-beam concentration sensor was considered.
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