• 专利附录
  • 专利说明
  • 权利要求
  • 类似技术
  • 同族专利
  • 引用文献
  • 法律状态
  • 优先权
    • 专利摘要:
    A liquid filtration apparatus comprising a liquid inlet (16) and a liquid outlet (2) as well as a tube (3) having a liquid tight connection to the liquid outlet (2) for transporting liquid to the liquid outlet (2). The tube (3) contains only a single bundle of hollow fibers (10). A carrier (5) has a liquid tight connection to the tube (3), thereby defining a chamber (9) between the carrier (5) and the liquid outlet (2). Each hollow fiber (10) has a microporous membrane surrounding an inner cavity for filtering microparticles from the liquid as the liquid flows through the membranes. Each of the fibers (10) has either an open end (11) retained in the support member (5) and a closed end extending as a strand away from the support member (5), or the fibers (10) both have their ends (11). retained in the support member (5) and having a curved portion extending away from the support member (5); the closed ends or curved portions extending from the downstream side of the support member (5) into the chamber (9) towards the liquid outlet (2). The liquid outlet (2) comprises a mouthpiece (1) which is designed to be placed in the mouth of a drinking user. The liquid inlet (16) is provided with one or more prefilters (14,15) which are on the upstream side of the support element (5), which is opposite to the downstream side.
    公开号:DK201500144U1
    申请号:DK201500144U
    申请日:2015-10-26
    公开日:2015-11-13
    发明作者:Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen；Daniel Frauchiger；Roelie Bottema
    申请人:Lifestraw Sa；
    IPC主号:
    专利说明:

    Filter apparatus with hollow micro-porous membrane fibers The area of production
    The present invention relates to a filter apparatus for filtering liquids with hollow microporous membrane fibers and with a nozzle.
    The background of the creation
    Hollow membrane fibers are used in a wide range of water filtration apparatus, both large municipal waterworks and portable water filtration apparatus.
    A possible configuration of hollow fibers in water filters is described in US4435289 where porous hollow fibers are retained and sealed by a cured resin located at both ends of the fibers. Water flows into the inner volume of the fibers at the retained open ends and is filtered as it flows through the membrane walls of the hollow fibers. This direction of flow is from inside the cavities of the filters and outwards through the membrane and the filtrate will accumulate in the inner volume of the fibers. Such fibers are purified by forward rinsing of water through the inner volume of the fibers, optionally combined with a return rinse as described in international patent application WO 2008/101172 by Vestergaard Frandsen. Other systems where hollow fibers are embedded at both ends are described in US2003 / 0164333 and W02008 / 101159.
    Another widespread configuration comprises a bent bundle of fibers with both ends of the bundle supported in a head, from which the fibers extend downwardly into a chamber from which the water is supplied for filtration. This principle is used in larger or smaller water installations, for example as disclosed in US patents US4636307, US5160673 or US7081201, and also for personal drinking filters in the form of drinking pipes, for example as described in W001 / 41607. Another example is illustrated in W02008 / 1011 59.
    This principle is also described in connection with personal drinking filters, such as in European patent EP1235502B1. This beverage filter in the form of a beverage tube has a nozzle for sucking water through the beverage tube and a bundle of bent hollow, microporous fibers which are supported at both ends in a head just below the mouthpiece.
    Upon suction from the user's mouth, the water flows from the outside of the filter through the membrane walls of the hollow fibers and into the inner volume of the fibers. From the inner volume of the fibers, the filtered water is released in an upward direction through the ends of the open cavities in the head and through the nozzle above the head.
    The drinking tube described in European patent EP1235502B1 suffers from a general problem with such filters as explained in more detail below. The hollow fibers are hydrophilic in order to efficiently transport water through the membranes. The hydrophilic properties mean that air cannot or only poorly cross the membrane walls when wet. The consequence is a risk of air being trapped in the volume around the fibers, which reduces the flow of water because the trapped air prevents an efficient flow of water through the membranes.
    This problem is well known and solutions to this problem have been proposed, for example, by including a variety of hydrophobic fibers, as described in the aforementioned US 4,636,307. However, this solution is more complicated and expensive in terms of production.
    It would be desirable to provide a simpler solution.
    Instead of using bent fibers extending into an upstream chamber, the fibers could have an open end supported in a head and a closed end extending into an upstream water chamber, for example as described in European Patent Application EP0938367 and as also mentioned in European patent EP1235502B1. The principle is analogous to that just described and encounters the same problem.
    A slightly different configuration is described in US Patent Application US2004 / 078625, wherein two bent hollow fiber bundles are provided in a single housing with the bent parts facing each other. Water flows downward through the upper, open, nested ends of the hollow fibers and through the bent membrane walls of the fibers. As a redundant measure, the second filter flows through an outwardly directed flow toward the fiber cavity, after which the water leaves the filter through the open ends of the second filter. This system suffers from the fact that air transported through the first filter in the intermediate chamber between the two filters can accumulate and prevent proper fluid flow.
    Description of the production
    The object of the invention is to provide an improved hollow fiber liquid filter, for example a water filter. In particular, the object is to provide a drinking tube with a hollow fiber liquid filter, which by simple means avoids the accumulation of air in the filter. This is achieved with the following liquid filtration apparatus.
    A filter apparatus is provided which comprises a liquid inlet and a liquid outlet as well as a tube connected to the liquid outlet for transporting liquid to the liquid outlet. The tube contains only a single bundle of hollow fibers. The support member has a sealed connection to the tube, thereby defining a chamber between the support member and the liquid outlet. Each hollow fiber has a micro-porous membrane surrounding an inner cavity for filtering micro-particles from the liquid as the liquid flows through the membranes. Each of the fibers has either an open end retained in the carrier and a closed end in a strand extending away from the carrier, or each of the fibers has both ends retained in the carrier and has a curved portion extending away from the carrier. The closed ends or curved portions extend from the support member into the chamber toward the liquid outlet.
    A flow of the liquid is provided into the fluid inlet through the open ends of the fibers into the inner cavities of the fibers, from the internal cavities through the membranes into the chamber and from the chamber out of the tube through the liquid outlet.
    Contrary to the aforementioned US patent application US2004 / 078625, the apparatus contains only a single bundle of hollow fibers, so that accumulation of air in an intermediate chamber is avoided even when no air release valves are used and no hydrophobic fibers are inserted, so that the system only has fibers with hydrophilic membranes.
    As the flow is reversed relative to European patent EP1235502B1, the risk of air accumulation is drastically reduced because the sum of the total volume of the cavities within the hollow fibers is much smaller than the volume in the chamber around the fibers.
    The generation is particularly useful if the filter apparatus is oriented with the liquid inlet downwards. In this case, accumulation of air can only occur in the inner cavities of the hollow fibers, which corresponds to a very small volume from which air can escape relatively easily through the hydrophilic membranes, which in practice allow small amounts of air to flow in spite of of their hydrophilic property.
    Advantageously, the liquid outlet is provided with a mouthpiece designed for placement in the mouth by a person who drinks the liquid from the mouthpiece. By means of the beverage suction from the mouth at the mouthpiece, liquid can be drawn through the filter device.
    Due to the nozzle, the filtration device constitutes a drinking tube. When oriented with the mouthpiece facing up and the support member downwardly relative to the mouthpiece so that the fibers extend upwardly from the support member, the support member acts as a base. The liquid flows upward from the liquid inlet, through the open ends of the fibers into the inner cavities of the fibers, from the inner cavities through the membranes into the chamber and from the chamber through the mouthpiece of the mouth of a drinking person.
    The difference of this beverage tube relative to the prior art tube as described in European patent EP1235502B1 is an inverted arrangement of the fibers in the tube such that they receive an inwardly directed flow as opposed to an outwardly directed flow in the system of EP2235502. In particular, the closed ends or the curved portion extend from the support member toward the mouthpiece into the chamber. By this simple change, it has been discovered in experiments that accumulation in the system is no longer a problem, regardless of whether the fibers are dry or wet, empty or fully or partially filled with water.
    This change of flow direction with respect to European patent EP1235502B1 also enables efficient backwashing through the hollow fibers by blowing the filtered water in the chamber back through the membranes, thereby increasing the filtration life of the product. In the inverse configuration of the prior art, there is provided a chamber of return rinse which has a volume that is large compared to the total volumes of the inner cavity of the fibers so that there is relatively much water that can be used for return rinse.
    There is a great demand for well-functioning portable drinking pipes because many people in rural areas rely on such drinking pipes for drinking water supply. The drinking tube can be made compact and measure with its mouthpiece only between 15 and 30 cm in length and between 2 and 4 cm in width.
    Typically, the support member will be manufactured by standard casting methods such that the support member comprises a resin into which the open ends of the fibers are embedded.
    To prevent larger particles from entering the fibers, the beverage tube may comprise a fluid inlet with a series of pre-filters on the upstream side of the support member opposite to the downstream side from which the fibers extend into the chamber. Optionally, such a prefilter is a mesh or a textile filter or a combination thereof. For example, mesh size and pore size of the prefilter are selected at 5 microns to filter particles larger than that.
    Although the beverage tube is primarily provided for purifying water by filtering out particles and microbes, it can also be used for other liquids, especially polar liquids.
    The apparatus of the invention may also be provided with an antimicrobial agent to counteract microbes, including bacteria and viruses, for example in the chamber. The antimicrobial agent may contain a biostatic and / or biocidal substance to prevent the propagation of microbes or even kill or otherwise deactivate or destroy microbes, for example, in the chamber. In particular, by backwashing by mouthwash, microbes can be introduced backwards through the fluid outlet into the chamber, where these microbes can multiply and pose a health risk. Typically, it is sufficient to provide an antimicrobial agent only in the chamber between the support member and the liquid outlet, although it may also be provided in the upstream portion on the other side of the support member towards the liquid inlet.
    A number of different options for antimicrobials are described in international patent application WO 2008/067817 by Vestergaard-Frandsen. Following some specific principles in WO 2008/067817, the antimicrobial source may be incorporated into the inner wall of the tube or may be provided on top of the inner wall or may be a separate source provided in the chamber. Also the nozzle can be antimicrobial. Optionally, the membranes may also be provided with an antimicrobial agent.
    Advantageously, the filtration apparatus is equipped with a nutritional source for providing nutritional trace elements for the consumer, for example vitamins and minerals, including salts and metal-based minerals. Water filters with incorporated nutritional sources are known, for example, as described in International Application WO03 / 011769.
    Brief description of the drawing
    The invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the drawing, wherein
    FIG. 1 is a sketch of a drinking tube with bent fibers,
    FIG. 2 is a sketch of a straight fiber drinking tube closed at one end.
    Detailed description of the production
    The drawing of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 illustrates a filter apparatus according to the invention, however, in the form of a drinking tube for drinking liquid, typically water. FIG. 1 is a sketch of a drinking tube with bent fibers, and FIG. 2 is a sketch of a straight fiber drinking tube closed at one end.
    The drinking tube comprises a mouthpiece 1 with an outlet 2 which is designed to be placed in the mouth of a person drinking the liquid. A hollow tube 3 has a sealed connection 4 to the nozzle 1 or is formed integrally therewith. Within the tube 3, a support member 5 is provided. The support member 5 extends transversely in the tube 3 and is sealed to the inner walls 6 of the tube 3.
    The support member 5 has a first side 7 and a second opposite side 8. A chamber 9 is formed and defined by the nozzle 1, the tube 3, and the support member 5.
    A plurality of hollow fibers 10 have their ends 11 embedded in the support member 5, thereby forming a curved portion, as shown in FIG. 1, extending in a direction away from the first side 7 of the support member 5 and into the chamber 9 towards the mouthpiece 1.
    In alternative configuration, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the fibers are straight and each has a closed end extending in a direction away from the first side.
    The support member 5 is typically made by an embedding method in which the ends 11 of the fibers 10 are embedded in a fluid resin which then hardens to form a solid support member 5.
    One or more, and in this case two, holders 12, 13 are attached to the pipe 3. The floats 12, 13 comprise prefilters, for example a coarse-mesh filter 15 upstream of a textile filter 14 to prevent large particles from flowing through the water inlet 16 and into the hollow fibers 10.
    The illustration shows the beverage tube in a ready-to-use orientation where the lower end 12 of the beverage tube is placed in a liquid, typically water, and the suction force is applied to the nozzle 1 from the beverage mouth.
    The function is explained in more detail below. When the tube is placed in water for the first time and suction force is applied to the nozzle 1, the lower portion of the filters 14, 15 and the inner cavities of the fibers 10 will be filled with air. As the fibers are dry, the air can escape through the membrane wall and the water will flow into the inner cavities of the membranes. Larger particles are prevented from entering the water inlet 16 due to the mesh filter 15. Smaller particles are trapped by the textile filter 14 such that only microbes and micro particles reach through the water inlet and the open ends 11 of the fibers 10 enter. into the inner cavities of the fibers 10. The water is filtered in an inwardly directed stream through the membranes so that microbes remain in the inner cavity of the fibers 10 and the purified water flows into the chamber 9 outside the fibers 10. From the chamber, clean water further through the outlet 2 in the nozzle 1.
    When the beverage tube is not in use, the water from the water inlet 16 will flow out of the beverage tube in a downward direction. By blowing, the user can also pressurize the remaining clean water from the chamber 9 backwards through the filter and thus, for cleaning, flush the system with the filtered water.
    Some water remains in the fibers due to capillary action, which makes the beverage tube ready for next use unless the storage time of the beverage tube is so long that the water in the internal cavities dries out. If the membranes are dry, the starting procedure is the same as described above in connection with a first-time application where the air escapes through the membranes.
    Even in the case where the membranes are still wet and with air in the inner cavities, the relatively small amount of air trapped in the inner cavities of the fibers can relatively easily escape through the membranes because the hydrophilic properties do not completely stop air transport.
    The configuration of the system drastically reduces the amount of trapped air so that its release occurs quickly when the drinking tube is in use, regardless of whether the membranes are wet or not, which increases the versatility of the system relative to the prior art drinking tube.
    Although function has been described in the context of water, it is analogous to other liquids, especially polar liquids.
    权利要求:
    Claims (6)
    [1]
    An apparatus for filtering liquid comprising a liquid inlet (16) and a liquid outlet (2) as well as a tube (3) having a liquid tight connection to the liquid outlet (2) for transporting liquid to the liquid outlet (2); wherein the tube (3) contains only a single bundle of hollow fibers (10); wherein a support member (5) is fluid tightly connected to the tube (3), thereby defining a chamber (9) between the support member (5) and the liquid outlet (2); each hollow fiber (10) having a microporous membrane surrounding an inner cavity for filtering microparticles from the liquid as the liquid flows through the membranes; each of the hollow fibers (10) having either an open end (11) retained in the support member (5) and a closed end extending as a strand away from the support member (5), or the fibers (10) having both ends thereof (11) retained in the support member (5) and having a curved portion extending away from the support member (5); the closed ends or curved portion extending from the downstream side of the support member (5) into the chamber (9) toward the liquid outlet (2); wherein the liquid outlet (2) comprises a mouthpiece (1) designed to be placed in the mouth of a drinking user; wherein the liquid inlet (16) is provided with one or more prefilters (14, 15) which are on the upstream side of the support element (5), which is opposite to the downstream side.
    [2]
    2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mouthpiece (1) at the liquid outlet (2) has a different shape from the liquid inlet (16) in that the mouthpiece (1) has a narrowing form for placement in the mouth of a drinker.
    [3]
    An apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the apparatus has only hollow fibers (1) with hydrophilic membranes.
    [4]
    An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the chamber (9) is provided with a biostatic substance to prevent the propagation of microbes, including bacteria and viruses, in the chamber.
    [5]
    An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the chamber (9) is provided with a biocide for killing or deactivating microorganisms, including bacteria and viruses, in the chamber.
    [6]
    An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the apparatus also comprises a human food source, wherein the food source contains vitamins or minerals or both.
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    同族专利:
    公开号 | 公开日
    DK201500144Y3|2016-03-11|
    引用文献:
    公开号 | 申请日 | 公开日 | 申请人 | 专利标题
    法律状态:
    2019-12-19| UUP| Utility model expired|Expiry date: 20191218 |
    优先权:
    申请号 | 申请日 | 专利标题
    DK201500144|2015-10-26|
    DK201500144U|DK201500144Y3|2015-10-26|2015-10-26|Filter apparatus with hollow micro-porous membrane fibers|DK201500144U| DK201500144Y3|2015-10-26|2015-10-26|Filter apparatus with hollow micro-porous membrane fibers|
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