Disclosed herein are spacers having baffle designs and perforations for efficiently and effectively separating one or more membrane layers a membrane filtration system. The spacer includes a body formed at least in part by baffles that are interconnected, and the baffles define boundaries of openings or apertures through a thickness direction of the body of the spacer. Alternatively or additionally, passages or perforations may be present in the spacer layer or baffles for fluid flow there through, with the passages and baffles having a numerous different shapes and sizes.

Provided is a compression bar apparatus for applying pressure to desired areas of a thin film composite (TFC) membrane, such as spiral wound TFC membranes and elements, including membranes and elements used for nanofiltration, reverse osmosis or forward osmosis to purify water, such as tap water, seawater, and brackish water. Application of pressure to a spiral wound element by the apparatus produces a membrane with increased sealant penetration, reduced osmotic blistering, and minimal damage to the active area of the membrane. Also provided are methods of using the apparatus.

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.

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.

A central tube assembly (100) for a filter cartridge and a manufacturing method for the central tube assembly (100) are provided. The central tube assembly (100) includes: a first half-tube (10) defines a first flow passage (11), and having a first water inlet (12) at an end thereof and a water output hole in a side wall thereof; a filtering membrane (30) bent to form a first membrane layer and a second membrane layer, the first half-tube (10) being disposed between the first membrane layer and the second membrane layer; an input-water filtering net (40) connected to the first half-tube (10) and disposed between the first membrane layer and the second membrane layer; a second half-tube (20) disposed outside of a bending of the filtering membrane (30), defining a second flow passage (21), and having a water input hole (22) in a side wall thereof and a first water outlet (23) at an end thereof; and a produced-water filtering net (50).

The present invention provides a separation membrane and a separation membrane element capable of exhibiting a good water production performance even at a high temperature and also excellent handleability and quality. The separation membrane of the present invention includes a separation membrane main body having a feed-side face and a permeate-side face; and a permeate-side channel member fixed onto the permeate-side face of the separation membrane main body, and the permeate-side channel member includes polypropylene as a main component and satisfies the following requirements (a) to (c): (a) a softening point temperature is 60? C. or higher; (b) a tensile elongation in a standard state is 10% or more; and (c) a yield point stress under a wet condition at 50? C. is 2 MPa or more.

Embodiments of the present invention provide replacement of conventional separate feed spacer mesh with features placed, deposited or integrated on or into either the porous permeate carrier, the inactive side of the membrane sheet, or select portions of the membrane surface.

Embodiments described herein are directed to methods of manufacturing a multi-leaf membrane module for filtering product fluid flow (e.g., food products or wastewater) and such multi-leaf membrane modules. In an embodiment, a multi-leaf membrane module is disclosed. The multi-leaf membrane module includes a permeate fluid flow tube defining a permeate fluid flow channel for permeate, and a membrane sheet spirally wound about the permeate fluid flow tube. The membrane sheet includes two or more leaves. Each of the two or more leaves includes a feed spacer including at least one opening formed therein that at least partially defines a feed channel for product fluid flow therethrough and a permeate structure defining a permeate fluid flow channel. The permeate structure of each of the two or more leaves includes at least one membrane and at least one porous permeate spacer.

The present invention relates to a high-flux forward osmosis membrane assembly and a forward osmosis module using the same, and more specifically, to a forward osmosis membrane assembly capable of improving the flux inside an osmosis membrane and simultaneously promoting uniform flux along a fluid flow route by forming more channels inside the osmosis membrane in order to allow an osmotic action to be smoothly performed even if formed in a spiral wound shape, and minimizing the separation, which could occur, of a different osmosis membrane adhering to each other by minimizing the concentration polarization on the surface of the forward osmosis membrane by increasing the flux on the surface of the osmosis membrane through the promotion of turbulence along the channels and simultaneously forming separate channels inside the osmosis membrane, and a forward osmosis module in which the active area of a separation membrane capable of performing a smooth osmotic action and forming an osmotic pressure gradient is maximized by using the same.

Devices and methods are provided for inducing ventricular growth in a single ventricle patient that include a plurality of anchors spaced apart from one another in an annular configuration; a plurality of springs with respective springs coupled to adjacent anchors around a perimeter of the annular configuration to bias the anchors to expand radially outwardly; and one or more elongate elements extending around the perimeter between the anchors to limit radial expansion of the anchors.