The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 26, 2000
Filed:
Aug. 15, 1994
David N Salyer, Garden Grove, CA (US);
William A Greene, Gardena, CA (US);
Kenneth W Severing, LaHabra, CA (US);
Richard G Hayes, Huntington Beach, CA (US);
Spintek Systems, LP, Huntington Beach, CA (US);
Abstract
A filtration apparatus is provided, of the type that includes a stack of rapidly rotating membrane packs (32, FIG. 2) and a stack of stationary separator elements (36A, 36B) interleaved with the membrane packs to leave thin gaps (40A, 40B) between them, which obtains the advantages of both series-connected and parallel-connected systems. A feed conduit (82) connects the radially outer ends (110) of the gaps, to carry feed fluid into and out of each gap. The rapidly rotating membrane packs cause radially outward flow (94, FIG. 5) near their surfaces, which causes radially inward flow (102) near the surfaces of the stationary elements, to cause fluid flow radially inwardly and then outwardly through each gap. The system is operated so particles (111, FIG. 6) of the feed fluid can build up on the rotating pack surfaces (92) only to a thickness that is much less than one-half the thickness (116) of the gap, before commencing any procedure to clean the membrane pack surfaces. The stationary elements have apertures to equalize the pressure on opposite sides thereof and to promote fluid shear at the membrane surfaces. Permeate migrating into the membrane packs flows radially inwardly to a hollow shaft (50, FIG. 2), with the permeate flowing in opposite axial directions (A, B) along the shaft. An accumulator (140, FIG. 1) is coupled to the feed inlet (12) to maintain feed fluid pressure during an abnormal loss of feed fluid pressure, for the time required to stop rotation of the stack of membrane packs.