Abstract

Conventional approaches to microcomponent identification are typically confined to analysing limited periods of flow data (e.g. selected one to two week periods) for houses with up to 5–6 occupants where clear repeating patterns in the flow signal can be identified and associated with particular water use devices. However, this approach is not feasible when there are large numbers of occupants in single households (e.g. 15–20 occupants for extended families) due to the complex nature of the flow signal. In order to address these limitations, two innovative developments were undertaken. Firstly, sound frequency monitoring of water use devices in multiple rooms in a single house in Kuwait was undertaken, and this additional information was used to enhance microcomponent identification. Secondly, new data processing and microcomponent identification software was developed which can utilize both flow and sound frequency data for microcomponent identification, and which also allows the automated processing of large data records for extended periods. A probabilistic approach to identification was developed which quantifies the uncertainty in attributing a sound signal to a water use device. A procedure was also developed whereby the results obtained from detailed flow and sound data from one house were extrapolated to a set of 18 houses for which flow data only were available. The main result from this study is that the mean consumption for the set of 19 Kuwaiti extended family houses in the study area is 246 ± 27 (95% CI) litres per capita per day (lcd) and the largest use is for showering (31%).

中文翻译：

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分析流量和环境声音数据以识别大家庭生活用水的微量成分

摘要

微组件识别的传统方法通常仅限于分析最多 5-6 名居住者的房屋的有限周期的流量数据（例如，选择一到两周的周期），其中可以识别流量信号中清晰的重复模式并将其与特定的用水相关联设备。然而，当单个家庭中有大量居住者（例如，大家庭有 15-20 名居住者）时，由于流量信号的复杂性，这种方法并不可行。为了解决这些限制，进行了两项创新开发。首先，对科威特一栋房屋的多个房间的用水装置进行了声频监测，并利用这些附加信息来增强微元件识别。其次，开发了新的数据处理和微元件识别软件，该软件可以利用流量和声频数据进行微元件识别，并且还可以长时间自动处理大量数据记录。开发了一种概率识别方法，该方法量化了将声音信号归因于用水设备的不确定性。还开发了一种程序，通过该程序，将从一个房屋的详细流量和声音数据获得的结果外推到仅可获得流量数据的一组 18 个房屋。这项研究的主要结果是，研究区域内 19 栋科威特大家庭住宅的平均消耗量为人均每天 246 ± 27 (95% CI) 升 (lcd)，最大的用途是淋浴（31 %）。