Development of an Automated Measurement System for Dilution Process and Spraying Amount of Disinfectant

Abstract

Purpose: The objectives of this study were to develop an automated disinfectant dilution system, and an automated data management system for spraying amount for resolving uncertainty problem. Methods: Proper diluting rate was made by a controlled volume pump for liquid disinfectant and a screw conveyer pump for solid disinfectant. The water capacity of disinfecting system of 400 L was controlled by two water level sensors. The water quantity of water tank was controlled by the signals which were produced by the water level sensors. Signals were processed by Labview Programming, and ON/OFF of solenoid valve that was used for controlling water supplying to water tank, was controlled by SSR. The operating time of pumps for disinfectant was controlled quantitatively. A turbine flowmeter was used for development of automated measurement system for spraying amount of disinfectant. In order to save the flowmeter data and to control the spraying system, a multi-function data logger was used, and it was processed and saved in Excel file by a program developed in this study. Results: Labview 2010 was used for programming to control the automated measurement system for spraying amount of disinfectant. Results showed that the relationship between flowmeter value and time had a significant linear relationship such as 0.99 of <TEX>$R^2$</TEX>. Generally, 6.74 L/s of diluted disinfectant is sprayed for a vehicle passing through the disinfection system (about 15 seconds). Test results showed that average error between the measured spraying amount and the flowmeter data was 50 mL, and the range of error was 1.3%. Since the amount and time of spraying could be saved in real-time by using the spreadsheet files which could not be modified arbitrarily, it made possible to judge objectively whether the disinfection spraying was performed or not. Test results of spraying liquid and solid disinfectant showed that the errors between the measured discharge rate and the theoretical one were ranged within 3-4% for various dilution rates. Conclusions: The disinfection system developed would be working accurately. The automated spraying data base management system satisfied the purpose of this study. The automated dilution process system developed in this study could discharge liquid and solid disinfectant with accurate dilution rate, relatively.