FILTRATION MODULE AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING SAME

Abstract

A filtration module (1) has a filter unit (2) with at least one filter element (6) arranged between first and second plates (4, 5). The filter element (6) has at least one layer of filter material (9, 10) sealed off at a periphery by an edge seal (12). The plates (4, 5) are pressed against each other by a resilient bracketing profile (3) that engages around the plates (4, 5) at their opposite side surfaces (21, 22, 23, 24). The bracketing profile (3) has a base (13) that curves inward transversely to the longitudinal direction (14) of the plates (4, 5) and that is delimited by lateral brackets (16, 17) that are bent inward at their free ends (18, 19) to engage laterally around a surface (20) of the filter element (6) facing away from the base (13). A method also is provided for producing a filtration module.

Claims

1. A filtration module (1) comprising: a filter unit (2 with at least one filter element (6) arranged between a first plate (4) and a second plate (5), the at least one filter element (6) containing at least one layer of filter material (9, 10), the layers of filter material (9, 10) arranged between the plates (4, 5) are each sealed off at a periphery by an edge seal (12), and wherein the plates (4, 5) are pressed against each other by pressing means, wherein the pressing means is designed as a resilient bracketing profile (3) which engages around the plates (4, 5) at their mutually opposite side surfaces (21, 22, 23, 24), and that the bracketing profile (3) has a base (13) that curves inward transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction (14) of the plates (4, 5) and that is delimited in the longitudinal direction (14) by lateral brackets (16, 17) that are bent inward at their free ends (18, 19) and with their bent ends, engage laterally around the surface (20), facing away from the base (13), of the first plate (4) facing away from the base (13).

2. The filtration module (1) of claim 1, wherein the filter element (6) additionally contains an inflow material (7) as a first layer and an outflow material (8) as a final layer.

3. The filtration module of claim 1, wherein the filter element (6) with its layers (7, 8, 9, 10) arranged between the plates (4, 5) has a common peripheral edge seal (12).

4. The filtration module of claim 1, wherein the at least one layer of filter material (9, 10) is a surface or depth filter with adsorption or microfiltration properties.

5. The filtration module claim 1, wherein the surfaces (25) of the plates (4, 5) facing toward the filter element (6) have flow paths.

6. The filtration module claim 1, wherein the bent free ends (18, 19) of the brackets (16, 17) are bent backwards and that their end faces press against the surface (20), facing away from the base (13), of the first plate (4) facing away from the base (13).

7. The filtration module claim 1, wherein the lateral brackets (16, 17) are curved outwards transversely to the longitudinal direction (14) of the plates (4, 5).

8. The filtration module of claim 1, wherein an underside (25) of the second plate (5) facing toward the base (13) of the bracketing profile (3) has an inward curvature (27) transverse to the longitudinal direction (14) and oriented toward the upper side (26) facing away from the underside (25), the inward curvature (27) having a curvature radius (28) that is larger than the curvature radius (15) of the base (13) of the bracketing profile (3).

9. The filtration module claim 1, wherein a surface (20) of the first plate (4) facing away from the base (13) of the bracketing profile (3) has, parallel to each of its side surfaces (21, 22, 23, 24) extending in the longitudinal direction (14), a raised latching ridge (29, 30) which that is engaged from behind by the free ends (18, 19) of the lateral brackets (16, 17).

10. The filtration module of claim 9, wherein the latching ridges (29, 30) have concave outer side surfaces (31, 32) that slant laterally down toward the side surfaces (21, 22, 23, 24).

11. The filtration module claim 1, wherein the first plate (4) is an inflow plate and the second plate (5) is an outflow plate.

12. The filtration module of claim 1, wherein the filter unit (2) is designed for crossflow or dead-end filtration.

13. The filtration module of claim 1, wherein the filter unit (2) and/or the bracketing profile (3) is made of plastic.

14. A method for producing the filtration module of claim 1, comprising: a) placing the layers (7, 8, 9, 10), that are to be arranged between the plates (4, 5) and that are sealed off at the periphery by a common edge seal (12) onto the surface (20) of the second plate (5), that surface faces toward the first plate (4), b) placing the first plate (4), with its underside facing toward the second plate (5) onto the surface of the common edge seal (12) of the layers (7, 8, 9, 10) facing toward the first plate, and c) pressing the filter unit (2) into the resilient bracketing profile (3) until the plates (4, 5) are engaged around their mutually opposite side surfaces (21, 22, 23, 24).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] FIG. 1 shows a three-dimensional view of a filtration module in a final latched position.

[0030] FIG. 2 shows a three-dimensional view of the filtration module from FIG. 1 in a partially latched position.

[0031] FIG. 3 shows an exploded view of the filtration module from FIG. 1.

[0032] FIG. 4 shows a three-dimensional exploded view of the filter elements from FIG. 1.

[0033] FIG. 5 shows a lateral cross-sectional view of the filter elements from FIG. 1.

[0034] FIG. 6 shows an enlarged detail view of detail VII from FIG. 5.

[0035] FIG. 7 shows a lateral view of the filtration module from FIG. 1 from Direction VII.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0036] A filtration module 1 essentially consists of a filter unit 2 and a bracketing profile 3. The filter unit 2 has a first plate 4 and a second plate 5. A filter element 6 is arranged between the two plates 4, 5. The filter element 6 is designed as a multi-layer filter module that has a first layer of filter material 9 between a layer of woven inflow material 7 and a layer of woven outflow material 8. In the exemplary embodiments, a second layer of filter material 10 is arranged between the layer of woven outflow material 8 and another layer of woven inflow material 7. The layers of the filter material 9, 10 each have a sealing frame 11 oriented toward the layer of woven outflow material 8 arranged between them. The layers 7, 8, 9, 10 that form the filter element 6 have a common peripheral edge seal 12. The edge seal 12 is made of an elastomer that is cast on externally.

[0037] The bracketing profile 3 has a base 13 that is inwardly curved transversely to the longitudinal direction 14 of the plates 4, 5 with a curvature radius 15 and in the longitudinal direction 14, it is delimited by lateral brackets 16, 17, which are curved inwards at their free ends 18, 19 and which, with their bent ends 18, 19 laterally engage the surface 20, facing away from the base 13, of the first plate 4 facing away from the base 13. The bent free ends 18, 19 of the brackets 16, 17 are bent backwards while their end faces are pressed against the surface 20 of the first plate 4.

[0038] The lateral brackets 16, 17 are curved outwards transverse to the longitudinal direction 14 of the plates 4, 5, i.e. oriented away from the side surfaces 21, 22 of the first plate 4 and from the side surfaces 23, 24 of the second plate 5. On its underside 25 facing toward the base 13, the second plate 5 has an inward curvature 27 transverse to the longitudinal direction 14, i.e. a curvature toward its upper side 26 facing away from the underside 25, the radius 28 of said curvature being larger than the curvature radius 15 of the base 13.

[0039] On its surface 20, the first plate 4 has raised latching ridges 29, 30 extending parallel to each of its side surfaces 21, 22 in the longitudinal direction 14. In a fully latched state, the latching ridges 29, 30 are engaged from behind by the free ends 18, 19 of the brackets 16, 17. The latching ridges 29, 30 have concave outer side surfaces 31, 32 slanting laterally downward toward the side surfaces 21, 22. In a partially latched state, the free ends 18, 19 of the lateral brackets 16, 17 are supported on the outer side surfaces 31, 32 (see FIG. 2).

[0040] According to the exemplary embodiments, the first plate 4 is designed as an inflow plate and the second plate 5 is designed as an outflow plate. The first plate 4 has the usual connections 33 known from the cross-flow sector for feed, retentate and permeate (in duplicate).

[0041] To produce the filtration module 1, the filter element 6 is laid between the first plate 4 and the second plate 5. The openings 34 in the filter element 6 are congruent with the connections 33 of the first plate 4. The filter unit 2 formed in this way is placed into the bracketing profile 3 until the free ends 18, 19 of the brackets 16, 17 rest on the outer side surfaces 31, 32 of the latching ridges 29, 30 in a partially latched position.

[0042] Next, the laterally curved brackets 16, 17 are pressed together until the open ends of the bracketing profile 3 engage over the latching ridges 29, 30 and then latch in the final position. As a result of this process, the curved brackets 16, 17 are moved inwards and their free ends 18, 19 are moved upwards. Both motions serve to enlarge the radius of the curvature in the area of the base 13 and of the radii of the curvature in the area of the brackets 16, 17. The resulting tension pulls the first plate 4 against the second plate 5 and compresses the filter element 6 between the plates 4, 5. The compression seals the filter element 6 relative to the plates 4, 5 so that no fluid is able to escape to the exterior and the channels for filtrate and unfiltrate are sealed relative to each other in the interior of the filter unit 2.

[0043] Of course, the embodiments discussed in the specific description and shown in the figures are merely illustrative exemplary embodiments of the present invention. In light of this disclosure, a person skilled in the art is given a wide range of possible variations.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

[0044] 1 Filtration module [0045] 2 Filter unit [0046] 3 Bracketing profile [0047] 4 First plate of 2 [0048] 5 Second plate of 2 [0049] 6 Filter element of 2 [0050] 7 Layer of woven inflow material of 6 [0051] 8 Layer of woven outflow material of 6 [0052] 9 First layer of filter material of 6 [0053] 10 Second layer of filter material of 6 [0054] 11 Sealing frame [0055] 12 Edge seal [0056] 13 Base of 3 [0057] 14 Longitudinal direction of 1 [0058] 15 Curvature radius of 13 [0059] 16 First bracket of 3 [0060] 17 Second bracket of 3 [0061] 18 Free end of 16 [0062] 19 Free end of 17 [0063] 20 Surface of 4 [0064] 21 Side surface of 4 [0065] 22 Side surface of 4 [0066] 23 Side surface of 5 [0067] 24 Side surface of 5 [0068] 25 Underside of 5 [0069] 26 Surface of 5 [0070] 27 Curvature of 5 [0071] 28 Curvature radius of 27 [0072] 29 Latching ridge of 20 [0073] 30 Latching ridge of 20 [0074] 31 Outer side surface of 29 [0075] 32 Outer side surface of 30 [0076] 33 Connection [0077] 34 Opening of 6