Advanced Instrumentation Development for a Water Processing Pilot Plant for Field Army Medical Facilities.

Abstract : An automatic control and monitor instrumentation for an integrated water processing system pilot plant has been developed. The water processing system is designed to treat nonsanitary wastewaters of the U.S. Army field hospitals, either for nonconsumptive reuse or for surface discharge to the environment. In addition, it can also be used to purify natural fresh or brackish waters for potable use. This report presents the results and concepts of the development of the automatic instrumentation unit to automate the operation of the complex water treatment/purification unit processes. Because of the unique requirements of the Army field medical facility, the instrumentation unit is required to provide the water processing system with reliable operation, maximum performance, minimum operator skill level requirement, reduction of operator errors and simple operation of the complex system. The instrumentation unit is designed with a 16-bit minicomputer and 16K words of computer memory. It is designed to interface with 64 analog inputs, 5 analog outputs, 128 digital inputs and 80 digital outputs. The packaged unit is 21 x 21 x 28.5 in. It weighs about 250 lb and comsumes approximately 750 W of electrical power.