Aqua Membranes Inc.

Kendall Weingardt

Kevin H Roderick

Rodney E Herrington

Embodiments of the present invention provide the integration of arbitrary flow directing patterns, deposited or integrated on or into the porous permeate spacer in a spiral-wound membrane separation element.

Permeate flow patterns

Embodiments of the invention provide replacements for a continuous layer of feed spacer mesh in spiral-wound reverse osmosis elements and replacing such mesh with discrete regions of feed spacer supporting the inlet and outlet ends of the element and a stiffening bridge feature to bridge between these regions at the tail end of each membrane leaf comprising the element during the element rolling process. The stiffening bridge feature prevents inward deflection of the inner layer of the membrane leaf during rolling, facilitating proper sealing of the adhesive through the permeate carrier to the adjacent membrane film using known membrane rolling techniques.

Bridge support and reduced feed spacers for spiral-wound elements

In embodiments of the present invention, flow dividing strips are used in the construction of the spiral wound element to segregate and direct feed to reject flow of a reverse osmosis element Flow dividing strips isolate the flow of fluid through distinct regions of the spiral-wound element. The flow dividing features can also be used to direct flow within the element in order to create a longer flow path for the fluid through the element, enabling even higher recovery in some applications.

Flow separators for spiral wound elements

Permeate flow paterns

Embodiments of the present invention provide for the deposition of spacing elements on both opposing surfaces of either an entire folded membrane sheet or portions thereof in combination with features deposited on portions of the same sheet to create spacing geometries not otherwise achievable.

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Albuquerque, NM, United States of America

Kendall Weingardt