Question

For the following specification, identify any requirements which are likely to become obsolete in a period of 2 years:

a - The smart home system

b - The wet well control system

Please explain your ideas.

Answer 1

ANSWER (A) :-

Meaning of Smart home system:-

Smart home is a term that refers to modern homes that have appliances, lighting and/or electronic devices that can be controlled remotely by the owner, often via a mobile app. Smart home-enabled devices can also operate in conjunction with other devices in the home and communicate information to other smart devices.

Smart home-enabled devices can include appliances like refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, and toaster ovens, as well as heating and air conditioning units and lighting devices. Some examples of smart home-enabled electronic devices are audio and video entertainment systems, camera and security systems, and computers, laptops and other electronics mobile devices.

Smart Home Benefits

The appeal of the smart home is that it enables owners to remotely control parts of the home and configure time schedules for smart home-enabled devices to help control costs and be more energy-efficient (i.e. green homes) while providing added convenience and potential time savings

Features of Smart Home :-

• Home Security System
• Controlled Exterior & Interior Lighting
• Automatic Window and Curtain
• Automatic Garage Door
• Distributed Entertainment Systems (Video and Audio systems)
• Intercom/Telephony Systems
• Home Energy management systems

Why Smart Home:-

Smart Home is applicable in various aspect of our home and environment to suite our different preferences.

• Comfort or Ease of control
• Entertainment
• Security
• convenience at all times,
• lifestyle personalisation
• User friendly

Why Smart Home: Comfort/Ease of Control :-

Smart Home offers ease of controlling devices around the home. This is one of its outstanding feature. These features offers automation and remote control of devices around the home from any location within such as:

• Automatic control of garage door and gate(s)
• Automatic shut down of appliance when not in use
• Automatic setting and maintenance of right temperature for each room
• Automatically adjust/ regulate light intensity based on room luminosity.

Why Smart Home: Entertainment :-

Smart Home offers multi room entertainment network which enables listening of audio music and watching of movies from any part in the house.

Easy Control

• Parental control feature on television channels for children to watch only certain programmes. Why Smart Home: Entertainment

Digital Access

• Access favourite CD’s, DVD’s from any music system and television around the home

Digital Storage

• System automatically stores most played music based on number of play

Why Smart Home: Security:-

Security Camera

• Controlled motion sensitive cameras which allows for observation of activities
• Capture and record video surveillance.

Emergency

• Initiate emergency alarm or audible intruder alert
• Activate sprinkler and fire extinguishing system in case fire emergency
• Automatic de-activation of electric systems and activate emergency light

Controlled Access

• Granting access using finger print, eye or face recognition
• The System informs the user if a visitor is at the door; the owner can then grant or deny access

Why Smart Home: Health

• SMART homes offers benefits for the disabled and elderly persons in the various ways:
• Monitory systems
• Automated alarm systems directly connected to hospitals in cases of incidents like a fall or collapse
• Alert systems for the notification on prescribed medications

Challenges of Smart Home Technologies

• Ethical questions about privacy and data protection on the Smart Home devices
• Cost of implementation
• More vulnerabilities in the overall systems
• Complexities in the multiple functionality of the technology

Future of Smart Home Technologies

Smart home technology is one of the emerging technologies growing affordably at a competitive rate in the technological world enhancing home security, entertainment, comfort and health.

ANSWER (B) :-

wet well control system Meaning:-

Wet well pumping stations usually contain larger pumping units than those required for submersible type pumping stations. The pumping units are installed in the dry well whilst the sewage is stored in the adjacent wet well. To ensure that the centrifugal pumps are always primed, the pumps are located below the level of sewage in the wet well. In respect of submersible pump sets, the top of the pump set shall be such that the pump set is fully submerged at minimum level of sewage flow and the required wet volume is satisfied by the volume of wet well below the invert level of the incoming sewer and an additional allowance of 50 cm below it. Conventional stations are often equipped with multi-stage pumps.

Wet wells shall be designed and constructed to be as hazard free as possible, and corrosion resistant materials shall be used throughout. No junction boxes shall be installed in the wet well. Float cables and bubbler tubes shall be placed in a covered case that shall extend from the control panel to the wet well.

Structure

Sewage pumping-station wet wells shall be constructed of brickwork duly plastered or reinforced concrete and shall be circular. Wet wells that are installed below the groundwater table shall be adequately designed to prevent uplift pressure without the use of hydrostatic pressure relief valves. Wet well size and depth shall be as required to accommodate the influent sewer, provide for adequate pump suction pipe or pump submergence as recommended by the pump manufacturer and to provide adequate volume to prevent the frequent start and stop of pumps. Partitioning the wet well to help accommodate future growth requirements may be practiced.

Interior Linings and Waterproofing for Old Wells

Wet well interior walls shall be lined with a material that is suitable for prolonged immersion in sewage. The lining shall be completely resistant to hydrogen sulphide and sulphuric acid. The liner shall be easily cleanable and sufficiently durable so that it can be washed with a high-pressure water hose and shall be light in colour. Wet wells that are anticipated to be below the groundwater table shall also have a waterproofing system installed on the exterior of the wet well. Regardless of the elevation of the water table, all joints in the concrete and all penetrations through the concrete shall be grouted with non-shrink grout on both sides of the joint or penetration.

Floor Slopes

In the case of wet well and dry well type with horizontal food mounted centrifugal pumps in the dry well, the floor should have benching like a hopper with a minimum slope of 1 vertical to 1 horizontal to enable suspended solids to drain into the hopper and pumped out without depositing on the entire flow. In the case of submersible pump / immersible pump, the floor shall be horizontal to permit easy installation of present and future pumps.

Lighting

The interior of pump stations, whether at grade or below grade, shall have a lighting system specifically designed to provide illumination best suited for the station layout, which may include suspended, wall, or ceiling mounted. Energy efficient fluorescent fixtures are preferred. Lighting shall be at levels adequate for routine service inspections and maintenance activities.

Ventilation

Pump stations shall be provided with a separate ventilating system and shall be sized to provide a minimum of 10 air changes per hour. Ventilation systems shall be capable of matching inside air temperature to outside air and shall be automatic. Ventilation shall be accomplished by the introduction of fresh air into the pump station under positive pressure. The air shall be filtered to remove particulates inside the pumping station.

Advantages of wet well

Lift stations are used to reduce the capital cost of sewer system construction. When gravity sewers are installed in trenches deeper than three meters (10 feet), the cost of sewer line installation increases significantly because of the more complex and costly excavation equipment and trench shoring techniques required. The size of the gravity sewer lines is dependent on the minimum pipe slope and flow. Pumping wastewater can convey the same flow using smaller pipeline size at shallower depth, and thereby, reducing pipeline costs.

Disadvantages

The low cost of gravity wastewater conveyance and the higher costs of building, operating, and maintaining lift stations means that wastewater pumping should be avoided, if possible and technically feasible. Wastewater pumping can be eliminated or reduced by selecting alternative sewer routes or extending a gravity sewer using direction drilling or other state-of-the-art deep excavation methods. If such alternatives are viable, a costbenefit analysis can determine if a lift station is the most viable choice.

figure of wet well control system