FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates in general to the field of water purification. More particularly, the present invention relates to in situ purification of water utilizing tractor engine power in areas hit by disaster leading to interruption of water supply, water contamination, water shortage and paucity of electricity.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Long after the immediate threat passes, a natural disaster can continue to take a deadly toll. Outbreaks of infectious diseases following hurricanes, cyclones, floods, tsunamis and earthquakes are not uncommon in the developing world like India though they are rare in developed countries. For those who survive the disaster but lost their homes and had to seek shelter in an emergency centre, there are additional risks. Diseases such as infectious hepatitis, gastroenteritis, measles and tuberculosis could catch up with victims of a catastrophe stuck in a crowded shelter with insufficient sanitary facilities. This can be compounded in countries where immunization rates are low.
Thus, clearly most post-disaster disease is spawned by poor sanitation resulting in lack of safe drinking water. Safe drinking water saves lives, and unfortunately if the disaster hits areas are far-flung and remotely located, they get cut-off from electricity and most of the industrial water purifiers utilize electricity and RO mechanism for curing water.
In view of the indispensability of electricity in purification of water and the paucity of electricity in far-flung disaster hit areas, the PTO power of agricultural tractor (riding tractor) can be utilized since the tractor is used for not only pulling the implements for tillage operations, sowing of various crops, etc., but also used to power stationary equipment for doing operations such as threshing of crops, pumping water from tube-wells, getting to difficult terrain/areas etc. The power output shaft is known as Power take-off (PTO).
2

The PTO has been provided on tractors for quite some time. In India the PTO is usually on the rear side, but in developed countries, a front PTO is also provided for driving front mounted machines. Power to the PTO shaft comes from the engine and gear box. The counter shaft of the gear box is usually extended out to the rear side to act as the PTO outlet.
Standardization of the speed of the PTO is important so that the equipment can be designed around the given speed. For example, the threshers are supposed to run at a particular peripheral velocity of the threshing cylinder. The pulley arrangements are made with the standard PTO speed in mind. Prior to 1958, the standard PTO speed was 536 rpm. Later this speed was changed to 540 rpm and another speed was added to the standards i.e. 1000 rpm. The splines provided over the PTO out shaft are also different for avoiding accidental attachment of implement of different speed setting. In case of 540 rpm, the shaft has 6 splines while for the 1000 rpm shaft, the number of splines are 21.
Further, the important parameter is setting the speed. This setting of the rpm speed is generally for ¾ setting of the hand accelerator of the tractor. For a tractor engine having a peak torque at a given rpm of the engine, usually called the rated speed of the engine. The rated speed of the engine at which it develops the best torque is generally got at the said ¾ setting of the accelerator. For example, a diesel engine of a, say, 35 hp tractor, develops around 150 Nm @ nearly 1700 rpm of the engine. The maximum rpm of the engine usually settle at 2200 rpm. The best torque is usually at when the accelerator is pulled down to ¾ setting. This 1700 rpm is input to the gear box. The speed reduction at the primary to counter shaft is such that for this rated engine speed, the counter shaft rotates at 540 rpm. This rpm is then extended out at the rear side and is the PTO. Thus, based on the specific requirement it is of utmost importance to set the rpm to an optimum value.
3

The conventional mobile emergency equipment and vehicles with highly mobile features can facilitate emergency support in natural disaster site, field work but would not find handy in the areas which are difficult to get into and where there is demand for in situ purification of water. Thus, mobile emergency equipment may not be effective and efficient in disaster relief.
Further, for example, in CN204774872U is disclosed a water purification unit and a quality testing system which is connected to tractor which is part of the conveyor system disclosed therein. The above patent primarily focuses on avoiding the secondary pollution through implementing a quality testing system being attached to the tractor, thus using the tractor merely as a conveyor means and not for facilitating in situ purification of water in disaster hit areas which get difficult to get into. The patent also does not disclose utilizing the heat generated by the exhaust muffler of the tractor for purification of contaminated water.
Furthermore, in ES2609733A1 discloses a system and method for water disinfection for treating plants by applying atomized water with ozone where ozone is generated by ozone generator equipment equipped with a power converter 220 V to 12 V, which takes power from the vehicle tractor buy does not utilize the efficient method of using power take-off for transmitting the engine power of agricultural tractor (riding tractor) after optimization to useful work of in situ purification of water.
Moreover, in CN104818683A a multi-purpose vehicle using a motor tractor is disclosed where the motor tractor is connected with a semitrailer chassis by virtue of a traction pin; a purified water tank is arranged above the front part of the semitrailer chassis; a power box and a sewage tank are sequentially arranged on the rear part of the purified water tank. The patent doesn’t utilize the power of the tractor rather the tractor is being used as a towing vehicle.
4

There is therefore a need for a water purification system for in situ purification of water in areas hit by disaster and epidemic. The need exists for a system utilizing alternate source of electricity for purifying water in the disaster hit areas with damaged roads and no electricity supply.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned and other drawbacks existing in prior art.
Another primary object of the present invention is to provide an in situ water purification system to be used for purifying contaminated water in disaster hit areas.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide utilization of engine power of agricultural tractor by transmitting the power using power take-off (PTO) to create centrifuge used for first stage purification of contaminated water.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide optimum utilization of exhaust gases released from the exhaust muffler of tractor for heating the contaminated water and taking it to a suitable temperature as part of the water purification process.
Further object of the present invention is to provide filtering elements adapted to filter finer and coarser impurities from the impure/contaminated water.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which a preferred form of the present invention is illustrated.
5

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present application discloses a tractor installed with a splined drive shaft power take-off (PTO) for taking power from a running engine of the tractor and transmitting the power to a water purification system detachably attached to the PTO. In an aspect the system includes a gear-coupling unit having a first coupler coupled to the PTO splined drive shaft and configured to step up rotational speed of the PTO. Further, a second coupler is coupled to the PTO splined drive shaft and configured to step up rotational speed of the PTO and the first coupler. In essence, the first coupler and the second coupler is coupled on the PTO shaft to increase the overall rotational speed at which the PTO shaft and the fin-fan arrangement coupled to the output shaft of the overall gear-coupling unit rotates. Further, in an aspect, the system includes a centrifuge drum containing impure water and having a filter element and a filter element spaced around the centrifuge drum to define filtering compartments. In an aspect, the centrifuge drum is configured to receive the gear-coupling unit. Further, in an aspect, the gear-coupling unit generates centrifuge in the centrifuge drum for first stage purification of the impure water contained therein. Furthermore, in an aspect, the system includes a heat chamber positioned to receive the exhaust heated gas emanating from an exhaust muffler through an exhaust pipe and utilize the exhaust heated gas for generating optimum heat for effecting final stage cleaning of the impure water extracted after first stage purification.
The above and additional advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The above brief description, as well as further objects, features and advantages, of the present invention can be fully appreciated by reference to the following detailed description. These features of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the drawings, wherein:
6

Fig. 1: Illustrates a tractor mounted water purification system using power take-off (PTO) according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2A: is a schematic view of first coupling on the PTO shaft.
Fig. 2B: is a schematic view of first coupling on the PTO shaft.
Fig. 3: is a fin-fan arrangement for creating centrifuge in the centrifuge drum.
Fig. 3A: illustrates the filtering layers.
Fig. 4: illustrates an exploded view of a heat chamber and an exhaust.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Although the disclosure hereof is detailed and exact to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, the physical embodiments herein disclosed merely exemplify the invention which may be embodied in other specific structure. While the preferred embodiment has been described, the details may be changed without departing from the invention, which is defined by the claims.
It will be apparent, however, to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention may be practiced without specific details of the well known systems, components, designs and techniques. Further specific numeric references should not be interpreted as a literal sequential order. Thus, the specific details set forth are merely exemplary. The specific details may be varied from and still contemplated to be within the scope of the present invention. The features discussed in an embodiment may be implemented in another embodiment.
Moreover, occasional references to the conventional water purification systems are made in order to better distinguish the present inventive
7

disclosure discussed later in greater detail from such conventional systems. Few of the details pertaining to the proposed tractor mounted water purification system using power take-off are well known in the art and therefore, are described herein only in the detail required to fully disclose the present invention while unnecessarily obscuring the present invention. The present invention will be described in greater detail below with reference to embodiments as shown in the drawings.
Turning now to Figures, Fig. 1 shows a tractor mounted water purification system using power take-off (PTO). The tractor is installed with a splined drive shaft power take-off (PTO).
In an embodiment, the PTO 1 takes power from a running engine of the tractor and transmitting the power to a water purification system detachably attached to the PTO 1. Further, in an embodiment, the system in order to create a centrifuge in the water contained in the centrifuge drum 10 receives a gear-coupling unit 4. In an embodiment, the gear-coupling unit 4 has a first coupler 2 coupled to the PTO 1 splined drive shaft and configured to step up rotational speed of the PTO 1. Further, in an embodiment, the gear-coupling unit 4 also has a second coupler 3 coupled to the PTO 1 splined drive shaft and configured to step up rotational speed of the PTO 1 and the first coupler 2. In an embodiment, the gear-coupling unit 4 with the two couplers 2, 3 coupled to the PTO shaft facilitates stepping up the rotational speed such that the PTO splined drive shaft of the gear-coupling unit 4 turns at around 5000-10000 RPM (revolutions per minute). In a preferred embodiment, the gear-coupling unit 4 is adapted to turn at 7500 rpm.
Further, Fig. 2A shows the coupling of the first coupler 2 on the PTO shaft 1. In an embodiment, the coupling is done through engagement of drive gear and the driven gear. In an embodiment, the coupler 2 attached on the PTO shaft is a gear-coupling unit 4 having a gear to step up the speed. Further, as shown in Fig. 2B, coupler 3 is attached to the output shaft of the First gear-8

coupling unit 2 to form a gear-coupling unit 3 to further step up the speed. Together the step up units (gear-coupling units 2 and 3) is termed as gear-coupling unit 4 providing required speed/rpm needed to generate the required centrifuge and hence the coupling is done in a manner such that the gear-coupling unit 4 rotates/turns at around 5000-10000 rpm. In another embodiment, the couplers 2, 3 may also be of belt drive type.
Further, Fig. 3 and 3A illustrates a fin-fan arrangement for creating centrifuge in the centrifuge drum 10 and the filtering layers 5, 6 respectively. In an embodiment, the filter element 5 and the filter element 6 is circumferentially spaced around said centrifuge drum 10. Further, in an embodiment, the centrifuge drum 10 is configured to receive the gear-coupling unit 4. The gear-coupling unit 4 then generates centrifuge in the centrifuge drum 10 for first stage purification of the impure/contaminated water contained therein. In an embodiment the couplers 2, 3 would be used guided by a shaft with fin-fan arrangement which acts as a centrifuge. The centrifuge drum 10 purifies water utilizing the fin-fan mechanism implemented by the fin-fan arrangement. The centrifuge drum 10 receives a fin-fan arrangement (Fig. 3). The end “A” is connected to the output shaft of the gear-coupling unit 4. The other end “B” is received by the centrifuge drum 10 such that a centrifuge is created in the centrifuge drum 10 by the fin-fan arrangement. In essence, the first coupler 2 and the second coupler 3 is coupled on the PTO shaft to increase the overall rotational speed at which the PTO shaft and the fin-fan arrangement coupled to the output shaft of the overall gear-coupling unit 4 rotates.
Further, as shown in Fig. 3 an aspect, the construction of a fin-fan arrangement has a blade (fin) like structure producing low entering and high exiting fluid velocities, reducing the possibility of recirculation in which discharged fluid flows back into the fluid intake. Further, in an embodiment, the filter element 6 which serves as the outer layer of the filtering compartment is equipped to filter out finer impurities like silt and other
9

contaminants. Further, in an embodiment, the filter element 5 which serves as the inner layer of the filtering compartment is equipped to filter out coarser impurities like gravel, sand, stones and other impurities. The filtering layers 5, 6 operate under the effect of the centrifuge created by the fin-fan arrangement to filter out the impurities. The filter element 6 contains activated carbon which enables filtering out of finer particles. In an embodiment, the filtering elements 5, 6 are paper based filtering elements 5, 6.
Furthermore, after the first stage purification using the filtering elements/layers 5, 6 and the centrifuge, the extracted water which still contains impurities such as bacteria and micro organisms needs to be eliminated in order to make the water significantly pure and safe for human consumption. For this, the system implements (Fig. 2) a heat chamber 7 which is in the form of a spiral bed as shown Fig. 4 positioned to receive the exhaust heated gas emanating from an exhaust muffler 9 through an exhaust pipe and utilize the exhaust heated gas for generating optimum heat for effecting final stage cleaning of the impure water extracted after first stage purification. In an aspect, the water filtered and exited from the water outlet is pumped to a reservoir/container/water heating station 8 positioned suitably on the heat chamber 7.
In an embodiment, as shown in Fig. 4, the temperature of the tractor exhaust muffler 9 generally goes upto 1000 degrees centigrade and during high load conditions may rise upto 1200 degrees centigrade. The heating station 8 is placed over the reservoir/container/heat chamber 7. The filtered water from the centrifuge drum 10 is pumped into the heating station 8 and it is heated between 80-90 centigrade resulting in killing of bacteria and micro¬organisms. The water in the heating station 8 attains the requisite temperature as the spiral tube gets heated up.
10

Further, in an embodiment, the water filtered and exited from the water outlet is pumped to a reservoir/container/water heating station 8 positioned suitably on the heat chamber 7. The water heating station 8 containing the water extracted after the first stage of purification is positioned on the heat chamber 7 for effecting the final stage cleaning of impure water extracted after first stage purification through heating, thereby resulting in purification of water which is fit and safe to be consumed by humans in areas hit by epidemic and disaster. In an embodiment, the water heating station 8 may be a container or tank capable to store water and withstand temperature of the range as discussed above.
The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Furthermore, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described. While the preferred embodiment has been described, the details may be changed without departing from the invention, which is defined by the claims.

We Claim:

1. A tractor installed with a splined drive shaft power take-off (PTO) for taking power from a running engine of the tractor and transmitting the power to a water purification system detachably attached to the PTO (1), said system comprising:
a gear-coupling unit (4) having:
a first coupler (2) coupled to the PTO (1) splined drive shaft and configured to step up rotational speed of the PTO (1), and
a second coupler (3) coupled to the PTO (1) splined drive shaft and configured to step up rotational speed of the PTO (1) and the first coupler (2);
a centrifuge drum (10) containing impure water and having a filter element (5) and a filter element (6) spaced around said centrifuge drum (10) to define filtering compartments, said centrifuge drum (10) configured to receive the gear-coupling unit (4), wherein the gear-coupling unit (4) generates centrifuge in the centrifuge drum (10) for first stage purification of the impure water contained therein;
a heat chamber (7) positioned to receive the exhaust heated gas emanating from an exhaust muffler (9) through an exhaust pipe and utilize the exhaust heated gas for generating optimum heat for effecting final stage cleaning of the impure water extracted after first stage purification.
2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gear-coupling unit (4) is configured to step up the rotational speed such that the PTO splined drive shaft of the gear-coupling unit (4) turns at around 5000-10000 revolutions per minute (RPM).
12

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the filter element (5) is a paper filter adapted to filter coarser impurities from the impure water.
4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the filter element (6) is a paper filter adapted to filter finer impurities from the impure water.
5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a water heating station (8) containing the water extracted after the first stage of purification is positioned on the heat chamber (7) and heated for effecting the final stage cleaning of impure water extracted after first stage purification.
6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the centrifuge is created inside the centrifuge drum (10) by a fin-fan arrangement coupled to an output shaft of the gear-coupling unit (4).
7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the filter element (5) and the filter element (6) is circumferentially spaced around said centrifuge drum (10).
8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the heat generated in the heat chamber (7) is around 80 °C to 90 °C.
9. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the heat chamber (7) is defined with spiral copper tubing.
10. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coupler (2, 3) is at least one of belt drive type and gear drive type.