STORMWATER VAULT APPARATUS AND SERVICING PROCESS
A stormwater vault and a process for servicing the stormwater vault speeds the process of cleaning a stormwater vault. The stormwater vault has a built in liquefaction system for liquefying settled debris in the vault which works together with a sloped or angled floor in the vault. The settled debris is flushed toward the inlet to a vacuum removal line inserted into the vault through an access opening for removing the settled debris from the vault.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/828,958, filed May 30, 2013 for Stormwater Vault Apparatus and Servicing Process.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONStormwater treatment systems typically remove solids from stormwater flow. These solids represent a major portion of the pollutant load contained in stormwater runoff. Current federal, state, and local stormwater treatment guidelines require that all stormwater runoff receive treatment to prevent the conveyance of pollution to downstream receiving water bodies.
In an attempt to quantify the effectiveness of stormwater treatment solutions, the debris collected in devises that treat stormwater is removed during servicing and analyzed. A major factor in determining the effectiveness of a stormwater treatment devise is the amount by weight of the debris removed during servicing. Therefore the greater the amount of debris removed from a devise by weight increases its effectiveness.
Servicing a stormwater treatment devise requires both human, equipment, and financial resources. Being able to service frequently will yield the capture of more debris, and being able to service quickly with a minimum human and investment will reduce the investment of servicing. In addition, because the environment of stormwater treatment systems is dynamic with the potential of flowing water during servicing, servicing quickly can make a major difference as to whether or not a devise is serviceable.
Another issue in servicing is the need to accomplish servicing without having to enter the vault of the stormwater treatment system. It is typical to send a person into a stormwater treatment vault with a handheld spray wand to flush debris toward a mobile vacuum system that removes the debris to a truck. Confined space guidelines set by OSHA dictate that when a person enters a confined space, such as a stormwater vault of a stormwater treatment system, the person entering the vault should be certified to do so and that special safety equipment must be present. Not just anyone can do confined space work and the safety routines can be complicated. The confined space issue can be a barrier to accomplishing the servicing of a stormwater treatment system.
It is typical for a vacuum service truck to have a water supply in an onboard tank that is used to flush debris as needed and generally wash things off. However, the supply of water on the vacuum truck is limited and can run out during the servicing of a stormwater treatment system. If the vacuum truck has to leave the service site to restock its water tank, the loss of time can be significant. To abandon the site to restock the water tank would not only take time but would require the treatment system to be closed up and secured out of safety concerns to the public. In addition, water intrusion into the treatment system while the vacuum truck was away would have to be dealt with which would take additional time and resources.
The present stormwater treatment vault is designed to increase the speed of servicing, use less water to do the servicing, and not require a person to enter the stormwater treatment vault to do the servicing. A primary feature that makes this all possible is the liquefaction of the captured debris from a spray system underneath the collected debris in a vault shaped to direct the debris to a collection point to be removed by a vacuum line.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONA stormwater vault has a vault housing having an interior chamber having an upper and lower chamber portion and having a stormwater inlet thereinto and an outlet therefrom. The vault housing has an access entrance thereinto. A water pipe having a plurality of outlets therefrom is mounted in the bottom portion of the vault housing interior chamber, such as around the periphery of the chamber, and is positioned for liquefying and flushing debris that has settled on the bottom portion of the vault chamber. A supply pipe is located in the vault housing interior chamber and is connected to the water pipe. The supply pipe has a water line coupling thereon positioned for coupling to a water line from outside the vault housing. This allows a vacuum truck with a high pressure water source to insert a vacuum removal line into the vault and to couple a high pressure water line to the supply pipe vacuum out settled debris and to liquify debris with high pressure water while cleaning debris from the vault chamber. The bottom of the vault chamber has an angled surface, which may be a plurality of slanted bottom portions, or a truncated cone bottom forming a funnel shape or the like, for the settled debris to be directed towards a center area under the inlet to the vacuum hose.
A method of cleaning a stormwater vault includes the steps of selecting a stormwater vault having an interior chamber having an upper and lower chamber portion and having a stormwater inlet thereinto and an outlet therefrom. The vault housing has an access entrance thereinto and a water pipe having a plurality of outlets therefrom mounted in the bottom portion of the vault chamber around the periphery thereof for flushing debris settled in the vault chamber. A supply pipe is located in the vault chamber and connected to the water pipe and has a water coupling thereon positioned for coupling a high pressure water line thereto from outside the vault. The process continues by opening the vault access entrance and inserting a vacuum suction line having an inlet end for drawing settled debris from the vault. A water line is then connected to the water pipe water coupling and water under pressure is applied into the water pipe to spray water in the bottom of the chamber to liquify and move the settled debris in the vault chamber towards the vacuum inlet to withdraw the debris from the vault. The selected vault has an angled which may be several slanted surfaces for settled debris in the bottom of the vault or may a truncated cone or funnel shape.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.
The present invention, as seen in
A typical vault 15 has one or more access openings 45 at the top of the vault 15 for servicing the vault. Just inside the access opening 45 is a water supply connection or coupling 30 which can have water under pressure supplied by a vacuum service truck. From the water coupling point, water is conveyed from the service truck to the injection sprayers of the spray pipe 60 under the sediment via a pipe along the inside periphery of the wall of the vault housing 15. The floors 50 of the vault 15 are sloped to enable easy flushing of the settled debris or sediment 70 toward the center of the vault chamber where a vacuum line 75 has been inserted through the access opening 45 to remove the debris 70.
The following is the servicing procedure:
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- Step 1: Open the access opening 45 in the top of the vault 15 and attach a water supply hose to the water connection coupling 30 just inside the access opening.
- Step 2: Lower the service vacuum line 75 into the vault 15 to remove the static water level over top of the sediment 70.
- Step 3: Vacuum out the sediment directly under the access opening all the way to the floor of the vault to create a void within the sediment.
- Step 4: Turn on the spray pipe 30 sprayers while keeping the vacuum applied to the vacuum line 75. The water being injected under the sediment will liquefy the sediment causing the sediment to slide toward the end of the vacuum line 75 to be removed.
- Step 5: Once all the sediment is removed, turn off the sprayers and the vacuum.
The invention can be applied to square (
The present service system can be adapted to settling chambers that have more than two sloped floor surfaces as illustrated in
The sloped floors of the present service system can be made of any material desired. For example, because vaults are commonly made of concrete, the sloped floor of the vault can also be made of concrete. However, a concrete vault can have the sloped floor inserted as an item or section that attaches to the concrete. These attachments can be made of plastic, fiberglass, aluminum, rubber, or any other materials which is strong enough to endure the weight of water and sediment in the settling chambers. A major advantage of using sloped floor inserts is that existing vault systems quickly retrofitted. A significant disadvantage of using sloped concrete floors is the time it takes to do the concrete work. A sloped floor insert can be installed much more quickly than performing concrete work.
The sloped floor inserts 54 can be arranged so that with any number of sloped inserts for each settling chamber and a single insert can include more than one slope. For example, a single insert section can have four slopes that converge to a location under the access manhole opening 47.
The sloped floor inserts do not have to be square or rectangular settling chambers. A round vault with a round settling chamber can have sloped floor inserts also. In addition, the sloped floor inserts can be made of a solid material such as recycled plastic or rubber or any material desired.
The service system is not limited to square or rectangular vaults. The service system can be adapted to round vaults with round settling chambers.
In round treatment vault systems the settling sump is often separated from the flow above by a horizontal shelf. The horizontal shelf will typically have an opening for sediments to settle through and for a service truck to access and vacuum out the captured sediments. The settling chambers of round vaults with horizontal shelves are especially difficult to service because the horizontal shelf restricts access to the settling chamber.
It should be clear at this time that an improved stormwater vault and stormwater vault servicing process have been provided which advantageously allows for a faster and more efficient and safer cleaning of stormwater vaults. However, it should be clear that the present invention is not to be considered as limited to the forms shown which are to be considered illustrative rather than restrictive.
Claims
1. A stormwater vault comprising:
- a vault housing having an interior chamber having an upper and lower chamber portion and having a stormwater inlet thereinto and an outlet therefrom, said vault housing having an access entrance thereinto;
- a water pipe having a plurality of outlets therefrom mounted in the bottom portion of said vault chamber positioned for flushing debris settled in said vault chamber; and
- a supply pipe located in said vault housing interior chamber and connected to said water pipe, said supply pipe having a water line coupling thereon positioned for coupling a water line thereto from outside said vault housing; thereby providing access to said storm water vault housing to flush settled debris with water while cleaning debris from said vault chamber.
2. The stormwater vault in accordance with claim 1 in which said vault housing has a sloped floor portion for driving settle debris towards a predetermined area with water from said water pipe.
3. The stormwater vault in accordance with claim 2 in which said vault housing has a plurality of sloped floor portions for driving settled debris towards a predetermined area with water from said water pipe.
4. The stormwater vault in accordance with claim 2 in which said vault housing has a generally concave floor portion for driving settle debris towards a predetermined area with water from said water pipe.
5. The stormwater vault in accordance with claim 3 in which said vault housing has two sloped floor portions for driving settle debris towards a predetermined area with water from said water pipe.
6. The stormwater vault in accordance with claim 3 in which said vault housing has an four sloped floor portions for driving settle debris towards a predetermined area with water from said water pipe.
7. The stormwater vault in accordance with claim 1 in which said vault housing has a plurality of connected settling chambers therein each having a water pipe having a plurality of outlets therein mounted therein and each having a sloped floor portion for driving settled debris towards a predetermined area with water from said water pipe mounted therein.
8. The stormwater vault in accordance with claim 7 in which each said vault housing plurality of connected settling chambers has a plurality of sloped floor portions for driving settled debris towards a predetermined area with water from said water pipe.
9. The stormwater vault in accordance with claim 7 in which each said vault housing plurality of connected settling chambers has a generally concave sloped floor portion for driving settle debris towards a predetermined area with water from said water pipe.
10. The stormwater vault in accordance with claim 1 in which said water pipe mounted in said vault housing chamber is generally mounted around the periphery of the floor portion of said vault housing chamber.
11. The stormwater vault in accordance with claim 10 in which said water pipe mounted in said vault housing chamber includes a generally vertical portion extending from the periphery mounted water pipe to the water line coupling.
12. The stormwater vault in accordance with claim 1 in which said vault housing is generally square in horizontal cross-section having four sides and a stormwater inlet in one side thereof and a stormwater outlet therefrom.
13. The stormwater vault in accordance with claim 1 in which said vault housing is generally cylindrical and has a stormwater inlet in the side thereof and a stormwater outlet in the side thereof.
14. The stormwater vault in accordance with claim 7 in which said vault housing is generally rectangular in cross-section having four sides and a stormwater inlet in one side thereof and a stormwater outlet another side therefrom.
15. A method of cleaning a stormwater vault comprising the steps of:
- selecting a stormwater vault having an interior chamber having an upper and lower chamber portion and having a stormwater inlet thereinto and an outlet therefrom, said vault housing having an access entrance thereinto and having a water pipe having a plurality of outlets therefrom mounted in the bottom portion of said vault chamber positioned for flushing debris settled in said vault chamber and a supply pipe located in said vault chamber and connected to said water pipe and having a water coupling thereon positioned for attaching a water line thereto from outside the vault;
- opening said vault access entrance;
- inserting a vacuum suction line having an inlet end for drawing materials thereinto into said vault through said access entrance;
- withdrawing sediment in the bottom portion of said vault chamber beneath said inserted vacuum line;
- connecting a water line to said water pipe coupling; and
- applying water under pressure into said water pipe to spray water out said water pipe outlets to liquify and move the sediment in said vault chamber towards said vacuum inlet to withdraw the moved sediment from said vault.
16. The method of cleaning a stormwater vault in accordance with claim 15 including the step of turning off the water from said water line and removing said vacuum suction line from said vault upon removal of settled debris therefrom.
17. The method of cleaning a stormwater vault in accordance with claim 16 including the step of selecting a stormwater vault having a sloped floor portion for driving said settled debris therealong toward the inlet to said vacuum line inlet.
18. The method of cleaning a stormwater vault in accordance with claim 17 in which the step of selecting a stormwater vault having a sloped floor portion includes selecting a vault having a generally concave floor portion.
19. The method of cleaning a stormwater vault in accordance with claim 17 in which the step of selecting a stormwater vault having a sloped floor portion includes selecting a vault having at least two sloped floor portions for driving settled debris towards the inserted vacuum line inlet.
20. The method of cleaning a stormwater vault in accordance with claim 17 in which the step of selecting a stormwater vault having a water pipe having a plurality of outlets therefrom mounted in the bottom portion of said vault chamber and mounted generally around the periphery of the bottom portion of the vault chamber.
Type: Application
Filed: May 28, 2014
Publication Date: Dec 4, 2014
Inventor: Thomas H. Happel (Cocoa, FL)
Application Number: 14/288,455
International Classification: E02B 11/00 (20060101); B08B 9/093 (20060101); B08B 9/08 (20060101);