Split Ring Brine Seal for Bidirectional Filter Assembly
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional brine seals in water filtration apparatuses restrict the direction of filter assembly insertion and removal, require significant physical force, and can contaminate the filter element with lubricants, leading to biofouling issues due to stagnant fluid behind the seals.
Innovation Solution
A split ring seal made from a hard polymer, which can be flexed to accommodate different diameters and allows bidirectional assembly/disassembly, reducing friction and the need for lubricants, while its design with an opening prevents stagnant fluid accumulation and biofouling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a conventional U-cup brine seal is used, then the seal allows easy movement in the feed flow direction, but it creates much more friction and resistance when pulled in the opposite direction
Solution Approach 1:
The brine seal employs an asymmetric configuration where the bellows portion has a larger diameter than the cup portion, creating different sealing characteristics in opposite directions. This asymmetric design allows the seal to accommodate bidirectional movement without the excessive friction and resistance experienced with conventional symmetric U-cup seals when pulled opposite to the feed flow direction.
Solution Approach 2:
The brine seal incorporates a dynamic bellows portion that can expand and contract to accommodate the filter element's movement. This dynamic structure allows the seal to adapt to both insertion and removal movements, providing ease of operation in both directions rather than being optimized for only one direction like conventional seals.
2Ease of operation
If conventional rubber brine seals are used, then the seals can be lubricated to allow efficient sliding, but the lubricants can contaminate the filter assembly's filter element
Solution Approach 1:
The brine seal is designed as a disposable component that is replaced along with the filter element. This eliminates the need for lubrication to reduce wear, as the seal is intended for single use and then discarded with the filter element, thereby preventing any lubricant contamination of the filter assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention removes the lubrication requirement from the system by designing a seal mechanism that functions without it. The bellows portion's expansion and contraction capability allows efficient sliding without lubricants, extracting the harmful lubricant contamination issue from the operational process.
3Reliability
If conventional brine seals are used, then the seals direct feed water into the filter element, but they create stagnant fluid areas that allow biofoul growth
Solution Approach 1:
The brine seal incorporates a bypass passage that creates a specific local flow pattern, allowing feed water to flow through the seal structure itself rather than being completely blocked. This local quality change in the seal design prevents stagnant fluid accumulation and eliminates the harmful biofoul growth condition while maintaining the seal's primary function of directing feed water into the filter element.
4Ease of manufacture
If tubular filter assemblies are connected in series within a single tubular pressure vessel, then the cost is kept low, but replacing one assembly requires removing the entire series
Solution Approach 1:
The brine seal's bellows portion can be expanded to a size larger than the filter element's outer diameter, allowing the seal to be removed from the pressure vessel independently of the filter element. This segmentation capability enables the seal to be replaced separately, reducing the time required for assembly replacement while maintaining the cost-effective series configuration of multiple assemblies within a single pressure vessel.
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
Enables easy and force-efficient insertion/removal of filter assemblies from a single end, eliminates lubricant contamination, and inhibits biofouling by maintaining fluid flow around the seal, improving operational efficiency and reducing plant space requirements.
Implementation Method 1
a bellows portion that can expand and contract to accommodate the filter element
Implementation Method 2
to prevent mixing of feed and brine water with clean permeate water
Data Source
AI summary
A filtration device having a tubular pressure vessel and a tubular filter assembly is provided. The tubular filter assembly is housed within the tubular pressure vessel and includes a filter element and a split ring seal circumscribing the filter element. The split ring seal has an annular body that includes a first end, a second end opposite the first end and slidably engaged with the first end, and an opening extending through the annular body.