Submerged Filtration Module With Capillary Membranes
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional filtration systems for water treatment, particularly those using submerged filtration modules, face challenges in maintaining high flow rates and ease of maintenance while ensuring high-quality filtered water.
Innovation Solution
The filtration system employs porous, semi-permeable filter membranes made from specific polymers with capillary structures that allow for increased packing density and efficient water flow, along with a suction pump for negative pressure-driven filtration, enabling high flow rates and easy cleaning and maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional filtration systems use submerged filtration modules, then water treatment is achieved, but flow rates are limited and maintenance is difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The filtration system is divided into multiple independent filtration modules, each with its own filter membrane and capillary structure. This segmentation allows individual modules to be removed, cleaned, or replaced without affecting the entire system, thereby improving maintenance ease while maintaining high flow rates through parallel operation of multiple modules.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention employs porous filter membranes with capillary structures that enable high flow rates through pressure-driven filtration. The porous material allows efficient water passage while maintaining filtration effectiveness, resolving the contradiction between achieving high productivity and ensuring ease of operation.
2Reliability
If filter membranes are submerged in water, then filtration occurs, but cleaning and maintenance require additional equipment
Solution Approach 1:
The filtration modules are designed to be self-removable from the tank, allowing operators to easily lift them out for cleaning and maintenance without requiring complex lifting equipment or disassembly mechanisms. The modules can be manually handled and cleaned by rinsing or backwashing, significantly reducing device complexity while maintaining reliable filtration quality.
3Productivity
If positive pressure filtration is used, then water flows through membranes, but high flow rates require high pressure which complicates the system
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of applying positive pressure to push water through the membranes, the system uses negative pressure (vacuum) applied at the permeate side to draw water through the filter membranes. This inversion of the pressure application approach achieves high flow rates without requiring complex high-pressure pumping systems, thereby maintaining simplicity while improving productivity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration enhances the filtration system's ability to produce high-quality filtered water with increased flow rates and simplifies maintenance by allowing for backwash operations and chemical enhanced cleaning without additional equipment.
Implementation Method 1
The substrate of the filter membrane is porous and semi-permeable and mechanically separates filtrate and the retentate
Implementation Method 2
The selectivity is mainly determined by the pore size usually specified in terms of the exclusion limit given by the nominal molecular weight cut-off (NMWC)
Implementation Method 3
Water is drawn with negative pressure, that means pressure which is smaller than atmospheric pressure, through the membranes of the filtration modules out of the tank
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The invention relates to filtration system (20), comprising a tank (40) filled at least partly with water to be filtered, and at least one filtration module (30), the at least one filtration module (30) comprising at least one filter membrane (10) for filtering the water comprising a substrate (12) which is penetrated by at least one capillary (16), and at least one filtrate pipe (32) for drawing filtered water out of the tank (40), whereat the at least one filtration module (30) is arranged in the tank (40) such that the at least one filter membrane (10) is submerged at least partly in the water to be filtered. The at least one filtration module (30) is designed and arranged such that water to be filtered flows into the at least one capillary (16) and from the at least one capillary (16) through the substrate (12) into the filtrate pipe (32). The invention also relates to a method for filtering water by means of a filtration system (20) according to the invention, whereat the water to be filtered is drawn into the at least one capillary (16) and from the at least one capillary (16) through the substrate (12) into the filtrate pipe (32) and from the filtrate pipe (32) out of the tank (40).