WaterSoftnerRick
New Member
Hello community! : )
My quest here is to design a new commercial salt brine water softener system targeted to the hospitality (motel) industry.
My early thoughts:
Basically, I want to eliminate the complex specialized "all-in-one" multi-valve and electronic control head unit residing on top of the resin tank. On large commercial size 2" water feed lines they are very expensive!
All the system required flow control would now be "discreet" 24vdc solenoid valves on 2" PVC pipes (think: individually repairable).
All system electronic control is by an inexpensive (Samba SM70-J-TA22) stand alone PLC (programmable logic controller).
The Brine Tank:
To completely eliminate the problematic "salt bridging" and flow fouling tank bottom "salt re-crystallization" I would use a 100 gallon poly brine tank. The prescribed amount of bagged salt pellets would be added to the tank.
The amount of salt added to this volume of tank water is such to make a fully 100% saturated salt brine (aprox. 26% salt to water). The tank would then immediately convert all the salt pellets to a 100% liquid brine (no solids) via a closed loop water circulator at that time.
The Resin Tank:
To completely eliminate all the internal tank "flow control" distribution manifolds, my example single commercial size tank of 24" d x 72"h, would be replaced by an equivalent volume in the form of 4" PVC vertical pipes (aprox. 40 tubes - 4"d x 60"h) paralleled on a 2" PVC pipe manifold.
As each vertical tube would have its own top and bottom "stainless steel" resin screen the total system flow thru the screens is greatly increased by a factor of 10.
This 4" flow path environment eliminates all the detrimental resin "channeling" filtering effects.
The PLC:
At the time of regeneration start, the PLC instructs the circulator to "dose" the 4" "resin tanks" to a maximum 6-10% salt brine level (PH level sensor on resin tank manifold loop) from the 26% saturated brine tank.
The PLC controls the dosing level in a "closed loop" allowing optium brine levels to be reached and a resin "brine soak" time before flushing down the drain ..... saving a lot of salt!
The PLC can perform multiple "back to back" regenerations for a 100% cleaned resin bed.
I would appreciate all design thoughts to this concept project.
Thanks!
My quest here is to design a new commercial salt brine water softener system targeted to the hospitality (motel) industry.
My early thoughts:
Basically, I want to eliminate the complex specialized "all-in-one" multi-valve and electronic control head unit residing on top of the resin tank. On large commercial size 2" water feed lines they are very expensive!
All the system required flow control would now be "discreet" 24vdc solenoid valves on 2" PVC pipes (think: individually repairable).
All system electronic control is by an inexpensive (Samba SM70-J-TA22) stand alone PLC (programmable logic controller).
The Brine Tank:
To completely eliminate the problematic "salt bridging" and flow fouling tank bottom "salt re-crystallization" I would use a 100 gallon poly brine tank. The prescribed amount of bagged salt pellets would be added to the tank.
The amount of salt added to this volume of tank water is such to make a fully 100% saturated salt brine (aprox. 26% salt to water). The tank would then immediately convert all the salt pellets to a 100% liquid brine (no solids) via a closed loop water circulator at that time.
The Resin Tank:
To completely eliminate all the internal tank "flow control" distribution manifolds, my example single commercial size tank of 24" d x 72"h, would be replaced by an equivalent volume in the form of 4" PVC vertical pipes (aprox. 40 tubes - 4"d x 60"h) paralleled on a 2" PVC pipe manifold.
As each vertical tube would have its own top and bottom "stainless steel" resin screen the total system flow thru the screens is greatly increased by a factor of 10.
This 4" flow path environment eliminates all the detrimental resin "channeling" filtering effects.
The PLC:
At the time of regeneration start, the PLC instructs the circulator to "dose" the 4" "resin tanks" to a maximum 6-10% salt brine level (PH level sensor on resin tank manifold loop) from the 26% saturated brine tank.
The PLC controls the dosing level in a "closed loop" allowing optium brine levels to be reached and a resin "brine soak" time before flushing down the drain ..... saving a lot of salt!
The PLC can perform multiple "back to back" regenerations for a 100% cleaned resin bed.
I would appreciate all design thoughts to this concept project.
Thanks!