HK1006010B - Spacer for conducting fluids - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a spacer element for directing flow media in devices for filtering and separating flow media by microfiltration, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis, each containing a filter element between two essentially disc-shaped spacer elements and providing on at least one disc-shaped surface of the spacer element a number of protruding protrusions high off the surface on which the filter element (12) surrounded on both sides by the membrane-shaped flow medium is located.

A separator of this type is known from the device described in EP-A-0 289 740. This device forms a complete body of separators and filter elements arranged between two separators. The complete body forms a closed system in which the flow medium is introduced into the closed system and leaves it at the end of the closed system as a concentrated flow medium or as a retent, after having uninterruptedly forced all the filter element surfaces from the outside inwards and from the inside outwards. The partial pressure resulting from one of the power series is reduced in this device to the extent that it is reduced in the known devices, but it is always desirable for certain cases, especially when the device is only operated in a large area with a known pressure limit, due to the presence of a large pressure limit in the outer device.

A device with spacing elements is known from EP-A-0 195 461 in which a filter element, not formed in the form of a membrane cushion, is mounted on continuous curved projections, which lead elliptically through curved from one hole spaced to the edge to another hole spaced to the edge, the space between the projections being the space in which the flow medium or retreat, for example, is led from the first hole to the second hole.

It is generally accepted that, due to the design of the known other spacing elements and the devices in which these known spacing elements are used, a significant partial pressure difference occurs between the inlet (raw solution) and the outlet (rententat) of the flow medium in the devices, since the flow medium usually passes through these devices in a linear manner through the membrane filters held by the spacing elements or discs from the inlet to the outlet.

The present invention is intended to create a spacer element which allows a good flow of the filter element in the form of a membrane cushion placed on the spacer element, so that it is also possible to connect several packs of membrane cushions in a device and/or to connect several packs of parallel membrane cushions in series in order to minimize the pressure drop of the flow medium between the inlet and the outlet, with the membrane cushion being essentially differential pressure stable.

The problem of the invention is solved by the characteristics of claim 1

The advantage of the spacer element according to the invention is essentially that the raw solution, which is essentially a completely flat fluid that crosses the membrane cushions from one side to the other and on both sides, is practically unimpeded in the flow, since the projections have only an infinitesimal contact area with the membrane cushion and thus the flow of the fluid is not impeded, which also prevents the formation of inorganic deposits that impede the flow of the fluid and the filter effect of membrane cleavage, as has been known so far in contact surfaces of membranes.

In order to keep the diaphragm cushions, which are usually welded together at the outer perimeter, well fixed between the spacing elements, it is advantageous to train the protrusions at different heights, i.e. higher at the edge, in the area of the welding seam of the diaphragm cushion, so that the diaphragm cushion can also be securely fixed there.

According to one advantageous design of the invention, the projections in a plane parallel to the surfaces are formed with an essentially circular cross-section; in another advantageous design, the projections in the plane parallel to the surfaces have an essentially spherical cross-section, which can also preferably be formed essentially in the form of droplets, whereby the droplet-shaped cross-section largely prevents vortex formation in the flow medium flowing along it and reduces pressure loss.

In another advantageous design, the spacer element has an outer, essentially circular edge on both surfaces, preferably one of the edges at least one thickness higher than the surface area normals of a filter element.

In this connection, it should be noted that the spacer element need not necessarily be of an essentially circular shape, but must be constructed in such a way that its outer contours, i.e. the shape of the spacer element, are such that it is a circle, a polyhedron, etc., of any size, depending on the type of use of the spacer element in the device. Similarly, the filter element, which is a membrane cushion, may have any suitable outer contours, e.g. a circle, a polyhedron, etc., but the outer contour of the selected spacer element need not necessarily be in harmony with the outer contour of the membrane which is used for the spacer element. It has been shown that the essential filter element, while being in a circular shape, is in a semi-permeable shape, for example, in a membrane which is not necessarily in harmony with the outer contour of the membrane.

The spacer element itself can be made from any suitable material which gives the spacer element a high strength and easy manufacturability in light weight.

Preferably the spacer element is made of plastic, preferably ABS, where ABS is particularly suitable in an area where high quality of the permit is required, for example drinking water or even pure water quality.

The spacer element may also be made of normal polystyrene or of Luran.

The invention is now described by reference to the following schematic drawings, illustrated by an example of an embodiment, showing: Fig. 1 an overview of a spacer element with indicated flow direction of the flow medium (raw solution),Fig. 2 a section along line A to B of Fig. 1,Fig. 3 a partial section along line C to D of Fig. 1 at enlarged scale andFig. 4 a section through a device with two packets connected in parallel between the spacer elements of the absorbed membrane cushions, the two packets being connected in series.

For example, a device 10 for filtering and separating flow media 19 by reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration is shown in Fig. 4 and referred to first below.

The device 10 is explained to give a better understanding of the structure of the spacer element in interaction with filter elements 12 in the form of diaphragm cushions. The device 10 essentially has a tubular housing 101. In the housing 101 spacer elements 11 and filter elements 12 are alternately inserted, i.e. between each of the spacer elements 11 there is a filter element 12. Only at the ends of the filter element stack thus formed does the spacer element have no filter element 12. At the terminal end of the filter element stack there is a connecting stack 104, with a single filter element and the two filter elements 1051 connected in a rotating way by a spindle. The filter element 102 is held in a central position by a bolt, which is held in front of the filter element 103, which is connected by two bolts, which are placed on opposite ends of the filter element stack 105. The filter element and the two filter elements 1054 are connected by a spindle, which is held in front of the filter element 1023, which is held in front of the filter element 1023, which is held in front of the filter element 103, which is held in front of the filter element 1023, by two bolts, which are connected by a central barrier, which is placed in front of the filter element 103.

In the connecting flange 104 there is an opening for the entry of the flow medium 19 which is a raw solution to be separated, and a flow 108 for the permeate and a flow 107 for the retreat.

Through the opening 106 provided for in the connecting flange 104, the flow medium 19 enters the interior of the housing 101 into the gap between the filter element stack and the inner wall of the housing 101.

In Fig. 4 in the device 10, the first spacer element 11 has only one passage 18 for the flow medium formed in its peripheral region 16 in the body of the disc, so that the flow medium 19 passes through this passage 18 into a chamber 23 formed between two spacer elements 11 and, since a plurality of spacer elements 11 are arranged so that the passage 18 is arranged one above the other, into the chambers 23 below the respective adjacent sections of the separator elements 11.

In the present case, see Fig. 4, a package of five such interconnected spacing elements 11 is formed.

In chamber 23 there is, as described in more detail below, a filter element 12 in each chamber, the flow medium 19 in chambers 23 overlaps on both sides the filter element 12 in chamber 23 in Figure 4 from right to left and flows to the left of the spacer element 11 where a passage opening 182 for the flow medium 19 is also formed in the peripheral area of the body of the pane.

In the filter elements 12 in chambers 23, which are diaphragm cushions, the permeate is directed to an opening formed in the filter element 12 or diaphragm cushion, which is a central opening in the device shown in Fig. 4 or diaphragm cushion 12 used there. The filter elements 12 or diaphragms enclosed in chambers 23 are sealed in a familiar way from the spacing elements enclosing them in the area of the permeate flow opening, symbolized by the central hole 15. The spacing element 111, which, in the illustration of Fig. 4 below, delimits the above five upper diaphragm elements 11 packet, shows exactly how the spacing element 111, which is the most distant from theThis means that, as shown in Fig. 4, only through the one passage 18 can the flow medium 19 pass through the above-mentioned spacing element 11; then a package of five spacing elements 11 is arranged, in which only essentially opposite passage openings 18, 182 for the flow medium 19 are formed, so that, as in the above package, a majority of filter elements 12 formed as membranes are again circumscribed by the flow medium 19 in this second package.The device 10 shown in Figure 4 is bounded by a spacer element 111, which in turn has only one passage 18 formed in its peripheral region 16 in the body of the disc 17 so that through this passage 18 the entire concentrated flow medium 19 (retreat) leaving the device 10 can exit the forward direction 10 through the flow 107 formed in the connecting flange 104.

Figure 1 shows the spacing element 11 and 111, respectively, which, in the form shown in Figure 1, is essentially formed by a circular disc body 17 bounded by a diagonal on two opposite sides, i.e. differing from a strictly circular shape at these points.

The disc body 17 has two essentially parallel disc-shaped surfaces 20, 21. The spacer element 11 and 111, which are essentially formed by the disc body 17, have on either side of the disc-shaped surface 20, 21 an edge 13, 14 which essentially completely encloses the spacer element 11, 111. In a region 16 of the edge of the spacer element 11, 111, which is formed, for example, by a conical tendon and the boundary of the tendon 13, 14, at least in the disc body 17 a passageway 18 is formed through which the flow medium 19, as described above, passes. The passageway of the flow medium 19 through the passageway 18 is blocked in Figure 18.In the case of the design of the spacer element 11 as they are arranged in the majority of the devices 10 according to Fig. 4 in the centre of the package, a further spacer opening 182 is formed on the one side of the single passing hole 18 on the essentially opposite side of the body of the disc 17 into which the flow medium 19 enters again after having circumscribed the octagonal filter element 12 shown in dashes on both sides.A number of passages 180, 181 and 183, 184 may be arranged to ensure that the flow medium 19 covers the filter element 12 on the spacer element 11, 111 with great uniformity.

In order to ensure that the filter element 12 is firmly fixed on the spacer element 11 111 during the passage of the flow medium 19 and that, due to the position of the filter element 12 on the spacer element 11 111, the contact surface is infinitesimally small, a number of projections 22 are provided on the disc-shaped surfaces 20 21 so that only on this projection 22 the flow medium 19 is supported by membranes with cross-sections on both sides.The highest section of the projections 22 which is at the farthest point from the surfaces 20, 21 is formed in a semi-circular shape in cross section, so that, even during the operation of the device 10, the spacing elements 11, 111 and the membrane cushions used are, as intended, suspended on the tips of the projections with an infinitesimal area.The test chemical shall be used in the manufacture of the test chemical.

The spacer element 11, 110 can be made from any suitable material, such as plastic such as polystyrene, acrylic, nitrile butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS), styrene-acrylic-nitrile copolymer (SAN), luran or similar.

List of reference marks

10 Device101tube-shaped housing102central bolts103mother104terminal flange105terminal flange106inlet (raw solution)107outlet (retreat)108outlet (permeate)109sealing11distance element111distance element12filter element13rand14rand15hole16peripheral area17disc body18throughlet180throughlet181throughlet181throughlet183throughlet184throughlet19flow medium20disc-shaped surface21disc-shaped surface22front chamber23

Claims (11)

1. Spacer for conducting fluids (19) in equipment for filtering and separating fluids by means of microfiltration, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis (10), whereby a filter element (12) is enclosed between two spacers (11) substantially discoid in shape and whereby a large number of raised projections (22) are provided on at least one discoid surface (20; 21) of the spacer which project away from the surface and upon which the filter element (12) formed in the manner of a membrane cushion and surrounded by the fluid (19) on both sides is positioned, characterized in that the spacers (11) are configured in such a way that a parallel connection of filter elements (12) and/or a series connection of several filter elements (12) connected in parallel is produced and in that the spacer (11) presents at least one penetration aperture (18) for the fluid (19) formed within the disc body on substantially opposite sides in its external rim area, whereby the penetration aperture (18) is formed by a notional chord and the external rim delimiting the chord (13; 14) and the filter elements (12) are substantially coated over their entire surface from one side to the other and on both sides.
2. Spacer according to Claim 1, characterized in that the projections (22) are of differing heights.
3. Spacer according to one or both of Claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the projections (22) present a substantially circular cross-section in a plane parallel to the surfaces (20, 21).
4. Spacer according to one or more of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the projections (22) present a substantially spherical cross-section in a plane parallel to the surfaces (20, 21).
5. Spacer according to one or more of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it presents an external and substantially circumferential rim (13, 14) on both its surfaces (20, 21).
6. Spacer according to Claim 5, characterized in that one of the rims (13, 14) is higher than the planar normal of the surface (20, 21) by at least the thickness of a filter element (12).
7. Spacer according to one or more of Claims 1 to 6, characterized in that it consists of plastic.
8. Spacer according to Claim 7, characterized in that the plastic is polystyrene.
9. Spacer according to Claim 7, characterized in that the plastic is acrylonitrile-styrene-butadiene copolymer (ABS).
10. Spacer according to Claim 7, characterized in that the plastic is styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer (SAN).
11. Spacer according to Claim 7, characterized in that the plastic is Lurane.