Cleaning Tanks Automation

There is a water reservoir tank in almost every property in Egypt. Due the difficulty in cleaning it, it has become a danger to the citizens’ health. This challenge aims to create a safer and easier way to clean these tanks in a smarter way.

There is a water reservoir tank in every residential property,school or university in Egypt, each one differ depending on the property size and the amount of water consumed. These tanks are coated with chemical products that break down into the water and produce poisonous elements, as well as rusting easily. All this leads to the accumulation of bacteria, algae and fungus in drinking water, all of it decomposes in the water which leads to stomach diseases and hepatitis.

Water reservoir tanks became a storage area for pollution, insects and bacteria due to negligence in maintenance and cleaning services, making it a new danger to the people’s health. Despite all the rules and regulation set by the concerned authorities for manufacturing and cleaning the tanks, it’s still a danger to the citizens.

Due to weather conditions and sandstorms; dirt, plastic bags and dust are collected on the rooftops of residential buildings. Due to the negligence in cleaning the rooftops this problem becomes a major health problem if the water reservoir tanks are left open on the rooftops, which often happens due to strong wind blowing its covers now and then.

The problem in cleaning the tanks lies in the difficulty in meeting all the rules and regulations if it’s manually cleaned. These rules and regulations are:

1- Tools needed:

    - High neck rubber shoes

    - Brushed, brooms and shovels for cleaning

    - Plastic buckets

    - A rope to drag the buckets filled with residue and waste from cleaning the tank

    - Special outfit for workers

    - Clean towels for workers

    - A diluted solution of chlorine to sterilize the tools before use

    - A device for measuring the proportion of chlorine

    - A pump or a device to pull the water from the tank

   - Protective masks and gloves for the workers

2- Tools used in sterilization process:

    - Chlorine: It’s considered one of the most popular materials used in the water sterilization process and this is its forms:

    - Dry powder called lime chlorine powder, the chlorine concentration in it is 33%

    - Calcium Hypochlorite, looks like crystals and the chlorine concentration in it is 70%

   - Chlorine solution, it’s made by dissolving either the dry powder or the Calcium Hypochlorite in water. It can also be bought in stores as a ready      solution (Hypo sodium chloride), its concentration is known and is used directly for sterilization.

   - Chlorine gas compressed in the cylinders, this type needs a device to regulate the injection of chlorine in the water and is usually used in big        water reservoir tanks projects.

    - All these difficulties lead to the necessity of developing a device to safely clean the water like filters for cleaning the tanks. The problem in           using these filters to clean the tanks is their price as they are very expensive.

Developing a device to clean the water meeting the following requirements:

Inexpensive to be accessible by all citizens

1- Light weight

2- Guaranteed safety

3- Should not contain harmful products to consumers

4- Should not change the color or taste of the water

5- Should replace the worker that comes to clean the tank , making the cleaning process automatic and not manual

The winner will be awarded 8000 EGP, provided the solution meets these conditions:

1- The solver should present a theoretical reasearch of his/her idea.

2- The prize will be given in parts, in accordance to milestones set by the solver according to his/her plan of action.

3- Prototype funding is included in the prize itself, unless the solver presents a working prototype or is able to provide someone or somewhere willing to fund it.

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