Rolling Filter Membrane Around Core Tube to Reduce Thickness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing filter elements face challenges in achieving a balance between high salt rejection rate and high throughput, with a thicker structure and fewer active areas, and lack efficiency in reducing thickness and simplifying the structure.
Innovation Solution
A filter element comprising a core tube with a membrane rolled around it, featuring a porous substrate with a mean pore size of 50-1,000 microns and a filter layer formed using a method that eliminates the need for a backing layer, allowing for a thinner design and increased active filtering regions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a filter sheet with backing material is used, then the filter element has sufficient mechanical strength, but the thickness increases and active filtering area decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and removes the backing material layer from the traditional filter sheet structure. The porous substrate itself is designed to provide the necessary mechanical strength without requiring an additional backing layer, thereby reducing thickness and increasing active filtering area while maintaining structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The porous substrate is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: it provides mechanical strength, structural support, and active filtering. By making the porous substrate multi-functional, the invention eliminates the need for separate backing material while maintaining both strength and filtering performance.
2Stability of the object's composition
If a traditional filter sheet with backing layer is used, then the structure is stable, but the manufacturing process is complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the backing layer component from the filter sheet structure, simplifying the overall construction to just the porous substrate with filter membranes. This extraction reduces structural complexity and streamlines the manufacturing process while maintaining stability through proper porous substrate design.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention merges the functions of the backing layer and porous substrate into a single integrated porous substrate component. This consolidation simplifies the structure by eliminating the interface between separate layers and reduces manufacturing steps associated with assembling multiple components.
3Reliability
If membranes with high salt rejection rate are used, then salt rejection performance improves, but throughput decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies different membrane types with varying pore sizes and filtration characteristics to different regions or layers of the filter element. This local differentiation allows high salt rejection membranes to be positioned where maximum rejection is needed, while high throughput membranes are positioned to maximize flow, achieving both goals simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses composite membrane structures combining materials with different properties - one layer optimized for salt rejection and another optimized for throughput. This composite approach allows the filter element to achieve both high salt rejection rate and high throughput by leveraging the complementary strengths of different membrane materials.
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
The solution results in a filter element with improved throughput and salt-rejection rates, reduced material costs, and simplified manufacturing, while accommodating more active filtering regions within the same volume, with enhanced pressure resistance and reduced rolling time.
Implementation Method 1
The porous substrate has an mean pore size of 50-1,000 microns
Implementation Method 2
a filter layer on top of the porous substrate
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a filter element and a method for manufacturing thereof. The method comprises: Providing the core tube; and rolling a membrane around the core tube. The membrane comprises a porous substrate and a filter layer on top of the porous substrate. The present invention also relates to the corresponding filter element. The filter element relating to the present invention is able to accommodate more membranes inside the same volume, resulting in high throughput and high salt rejection.