Shower filter element

Abstract

Disclosed is a shower filter element. The shower filter element includes a filter assembly and a detachable upper end cover and a detachable lower end cover which are located at two ends of the filter assembly, the filter assembly sequentially includes a first-stage filter element composite layer, a second-stage filter element composite layer and a third-stage filter element component from outside to inside, the first-stage filter element composite layer sequentially includes an inner support layer, at least one micron-sized filter layer and an outer support layer from inside to outside, the second-stage filter element composite layer sequentially includes a support filter layer and a composite carbon fiber layer from inside to outside, the third-stage filter element component includes a filter container and a filter material arranged in the filter container. The present application achieves the effects of effectively filtering impurities in water, improving a filter effect and efficiency.

Claims

1. A method of filtering shower bathing water comprising the steps of: providing a cylindrical shower filter element including: a filter assembly, an upper end cover and a lower end cover which are located at opposing ends of the filter assembly, wherein the upper end cover and the lower end cover are detachably connected to the filter assembly; an outermost first-stage filter element composite layer including an inner support layer, at least one micron pore size filter layer having pores ranging from 10-30 microns, and an outer support layer; a second-stage filter element composite layer including a support filter layer and a composite carbon fiber layer, the composite carbon fiber layer comprises a carbon fiber layer and a wrapping filter layer wrapping a surface of the carbon fiber layer, the support filter layer defines a cylindrical structure; an innermost third-stage filter element component including a filter container and a filter material arranged in the filter container; attaching the cylindrical shower filter element between a shower head and a shower water delivery conduit such that water may sequentially flow therethrough; and flowing water through the shower water delivery conduit, sequentially through each stage of the cylindrical shower filter element, delivering purified water to the shower head to be dispensed therefrom.

2. The method of filtering shower bathing water according to claim 1, wherein the first-stage filter element is pleated and formed into a circle along a side surface of the wrapping filter layer.

3. The method of filtering shower bathing water according to claim 1, wherein a thickness of the support filter layer is 1-5 mm, and a thickness of the composite carbon fiber layer is 15-25 mm.

4. The method of filtering shower bathing water according to claim 1, wherein the inner support layer and the wrapping filter layer are non-woven fabric layers of 30-90 g/m.sup.2, and the outer support layer is a non-woven fabric layer of 30-60 g/m.sup.2.

5. The method of filtering shower bathing water according to claim 1, wherein the support filter layer is a polypropylene (PP) cotton stick filter layer.

6. The method of filtering shower bathing water according to claim 1, wherein the filter material is a kinetic degradation fluxion (KDF) material.

7. The method of filtering shower bathing water according to claim 1, wherein each of the upper end cover and the lower end cover is defined with a clamping groove, and the opposing ends of the filter assembly are configured to be inserted into the clamping grooves respectively; a bottom of the clamping groove of the lower end cover is provided with a filter screen, and a bottom of the clamping groove of the upper end cover is provided with a clamping post.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an overall structure of a shower filter element in Example 1;

(2) FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an overall structure of a filter assembly in Example 1;

(3) FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a first-stage filter element composite layer in Example 1;

(4) FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of structures of a second-stage filter element composite layer and a third-stage filter element component in Example 1;

(5) FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a structure of an upper end cover in Example 1; and

(6) FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a lower end cover in Example 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Preparation Example

Preparation Example 1

(7) A composite carbon fiber layer, which was prepared by the following method: 1) 1,000 g of a carbon fiber and 7,000 g of a solvent (water) were mixed at a mass ratio of 1:7, and then a resulting mixture was crushed to obtain a suspension, wherein a particle size of the carbon fiber after crushing is 150 mesh; 2) 50 g of diatomite, 10 g of sodium carboxymethylcellulose, 10 g of polyethylene glycol, 1 g of a surfactant (sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate), 10 g of a lead removal auxiliary agent (iron), 10 g of a chloramine removal auxiliary agent (iron oxide) and 10 g of an antibacterial agent (chitosan) were added into the suspension to obtain a slurry, and then the slurry was subjected to dewatering and drying after wet forming to obtain a carbon fiber layer; a process the wet forming was as follows: the slurry was filtered on a forming mold to obtain a blank, and then the blank was subjected to hot pressing, with a hot pressing temperature being 100 C., and a hot pressing time being 20 s; a process of the dewatering was as follows: the slurry after the wet forming was subjected to a first hot pressing for 20 min at a temperature of 120 C. and a pressure of 5 MPa, and then subjected to a second hot pressing for 5 min at a temperature of 180 C. and a pressure of 5 MPa; after deflation, finally subjected to a third hot pressing for 5 min at a temperature of 230 C. and a pressure of 8 MPa, and the process ended with natural cooling; 3) a wrapping filter layer (which is made of 300-mesh non-woven fabric) was wrapped on a surface of the carbon fiber layer to obtain the composite carbon fiber layer.

(8) Preparation Examples 2-3 differ from Preparation Example 1 in the types, amounts and parameters of raw materials for preparing the composite carbon fiber layer, and specific differences are shown in table 1:

(9) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Types, amounts and parameters of raw material for preparing composite carbon fiber layer in Preparation Examples 1-3 Types, amounts and Preparation Preparation Preparation parameters of test raw material Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 1) Carbon fiber (g) 1,000 Solvent Amount (g) 7,000 7,500 8,000 Type Water 2) Diatomite (g) 50 100 150 Sodium 10 30 50 carboxymethylcellulose (g) Polyethylene glycol (g) 10 20 30 Surfactant Amount (g) 1 8 10 Type Sodium Dodecyl Hexadecyl dodecyl dimethyl benzyl trimethyl benzene ammonium ammonium sulfonate chloride chloride Lead Amount (g) 10 12 15 removal Type Iron Zinc KDF auxiliary agent Chloramine Amount (g) 10 12 15 removal Type Iron oxide Calcium sulfite Sodium sulfite auxiliary agent Antimicrobial Amount (g) 10 15 20 agent Type Chitosan Nano-silver 1-methylimidazole acetate Hot Hot pressing 100 105 110 pressing temperature ( C.) Hot pressing 20 30 40 time (s) First stage Temperature 120 135 150 ( C.) Time (min) 20 25 30 Pressure 5 5.5 6 (MPa) Second stage Temperature 180 185 190 ( C.) Time (min) 5 8 10 Pressure 5 5.5 6 (MPa) Third stage Temperature 230 245 250 ( C.) Time (min) 5 6 8 Pressure 8 9 10 (MPa)

EXAMPLES

Example 1

(10) Referring to FIG. 1, a shower filter element includes a filter assembly 1, an upper end cover 1a and a lower end cover 1b, wherein the upper end cover 1a and the lower end cover 1b are located at two ends of the filter assembly 1 and detachably connected with the filter assembly 1.

(11) Referring to FIG. 2, the filter assembly 1 sequentially includes a first-stage filter element composite layer 2, a second-stage filter element composite layer 6 and a third-stage filter element component 9 from outside to inside. Referring to FIG. 3, the first-stage filter element composite layer 2 sequentially includes an inner support layer 3, at least one micron-sized filter layer 4 and an outer support layer 5 from inside to outside, and the inner support layer 3 surrounds a composite carbon fiber layer 8. The inner support layer 3 is usually a non-woven fabric layer. In this example, the inner support layer 3 is a non-woven fabric layer of 30 g/m.sup.2. In other examples, the inner support layer 3 may be a non-woven fabric layer of 40 g/m.sup.2, a non-woven fabric layer of 50 g/m.sup.2, a non-woven fabric layer of 60 g/m.sup.2, a non-woven fabric layer of 70 g/m.sup.2, a non-woven fabric layer of 80 g/m.sup.2 or a non-woven fabric layer of 90 g/m.sup.2. In this example, the outer support layer 5 is also a non-woven fabric layer, specifically a non-woven fabric layer of 30 g/m.sup.2. In other examples, the outer support layer 5 may be a non-woven fabric layer of 40 g/m.sup.2, a non-woven fabric layer of 50 g/m.sup.2 or a non-woven fabric layer of 60 g/m.sup.2. In this example, the micron-sized filter layer 4 consists of a 15-micron-sized meltblown filter layer and a 30-micron-sized meltblown filter layer. In other examples, the micron-sized filter layer 4 may consist of a 10-micron-sized meltblown filter layer and a 20-micron-sized meltblown filter layer, or may consist of a 10-micron-sized meltblown filter layer, a 17-micron-sized meltblown filter layer and a 20-micron-sized meltblown filter layer.

(12) Referring to FIG. 4, the second-stage filter element composite layer 6 sequentially includes a support filter layer 7 and the composite carbon fiber layer 8 from inside to outside. The support filter layer 7 is of a cylindrical structure, and is a PP cotton stick filter layer in this example. A thickness of the PP cotton stick filter layer is 5 mm, and may be 1 mm, 2 mm, 3 mm or 4 mm in other examples. The composite carbon fiber layer 8 includes a carbon fiber layer and a wrapping filter layer wrapped on a surface of the carbon fiber layer, the wrapping filter layer is a non-woven fabric layer of 30 g/m.sup.2 in this example, and the wrapping filter layer may be a non-woven fabric layer of 40 g/m.sup.2, a non-woven fabric layer of 50 g/m.sup.2, a non-woven fabric layer of 60 g/m.sup.2, a non-woven fabric layer of 70 g/m.sup.2, a non-woven fabric layer of 80 g/m.sup.2 or a non-woven fabric layer of 90 g/m.sup.2 in other example. A thickness of the composite carbon fiber layer 8 is 15 mm in the this example, and the thickness of the composite carbon fiber layer 8 may be 16 mm, 17 mm, 18 mm, 19 mm, 20 mm, 21 mm, 22 mm, 23 mm, 24 mm or 25 mm in other examples.

(13) Referring to FIGS. 2 and 4, the third-stage filter element component 9 includes a filter container 10 and a filter material arranged in the filter container 10. The filter container 10 is generally made of plastic, and the filter container 10 is made of non-woven fabric in the this example. The filter material is a KDF material in this example.

(14) Referring to FIGS. 1, 5 and 6, each of the upper end cover 1a and the lower end cover 1b is defined with a clamping groove 1c, the two ends of the filter assembly 1 can be inserted into the clamping grooves 1c respectively, a bottom of the clamping groove 1c of the upper end cover 1a is provided with a clamping post 1d, the clamping post 1d can be embedded into the support filter layer 7, and the lower end cover 1b is defined with a through hole.

(15) Meanwhile, a bottom of the clamping groove 1c of the lower end cover (1b) is provided with a filter screen, and the filter screen is a stainless steel filter screen, a plastic filter screen, a glass filter screen or a ceramic filter screen.

Example 2

(16) Disclosed is a shower filter element, and this example is different from Example 1 in that the composite carbon fiber layer is from Preparation Example 2.

Example 3

(17) Disclosed is a shower filter element, and this example is different from Example 1 in that the composite carbon fiber layer is from Preparation Example 3.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLES

Comparative Example 1

(18) Disclosed is a shower filter element, and this comparative example is different from the Example 1 in that equal-thickness non-woven fabric layers of 90 g/m.sup.2 are used to replace the micron-sized filter layers 4.

(19) Detection Method/Test Method

(20) Service life test method: the filter elements from Example 1 and Comparative Example 1 were tested. The turbidity was spiked at 50.5 NTU throughout the test, and the service life of the filter elements was tested by water flow. At the end of each 1000 L water flow section, the outlet water flow rates of the filter elements under water pressures of 0.2 MPa and 0.41 MPa were tested, wherein the filter element is qualified if the outlet water flow rate is higher than 4 L/min after reaching a total water flow of 10,000 L. Experimental data are shown in table 2.

(21) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Service life test data of Example 1 Initial flow rate of 9 L/min, Flow rate at Water flow rate at fixed water 0.42 MPa flow (L) pressure (0.21 MPa) (L/min) (L/min) 1,000 8.63 13.15 2,000 8.63 13.16 3,000 8.49 12.88 4,000 7.95 12.74 5,000 7.26 11.92 6,000 6.16 10.96 7,000 5.63 10.27 8,000 5.12 9.45 9,000 4.91 8.63 10,000 4.76 7.26 Service life test data of Comparative Example 1 Initial flow rate of 9 L/min, Flow rate at Water flow rate at fixed water 0.42 MPa flow (L) pressure (0.21 MPa) (L/min) (L/min) 1,000 6.33 10.23 2,000 5.64 9.98 3,000 5.62 8.95 4,000 4.96 7.84 5,000 4.56 6.59 6,000 4.21 5.11 7,000 3.98 4.56 8,000 / 3.56 9,000 / / 10,000 / /

(22) From the above data, it can be seen that the flow rates under both water pressures show a significant decrease trend as the water flow increases. This indicates that during the use of the filter element, the filter material thereof may be gradually blocked by impurities, resulting in increased resistance to water flow through the filter element, and thus reducing the flow rate. However, the flow rate of the filter element according to the application is higher than 4 L/min when the water flow is 10,000 L, which shows that the service life of the filter element according to the present application can be more than 10,000 L, and the filter element has a longer service time.

(23) Residual chlorine removal rate test: the filter elements from Example 1 and Comparative Example 1 were tested. Residual chlorine was spiked throughout the test. At the end of each 1000 L water flow section, the residual chlorine removal rates of the filter elements at a flow rate of 5 L/min were tested, wherein the spiked concentration of the residual chlorine throughout the test was 2.0+/0.2 mg/L. Experimental data are shown in table 3.

(24) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Residual chlorine removal rate test data of Example 1 Sampling Before After Water flow filtering filtering Removal flow (L) rate (L/min) (g/L) (g/L) rate (%) 0 7.6 2.19 0.01 99.54 5,000 6.23 2.18 0.03 98.62 10,000 4.35 2.19 0.02 96.34 Residual chlorine removal rate test data of Comparative Example 1 Sampling Before After Water flow filtering filtering Removal flow (L) rate (L/min) (g/L) (g/L) rate (%) 0 7.6 2.19 1.29 41.10 5,000 6.23 2.19 0.03 33.33 10,000 4.35 2.18 0.02 23.39

(25) The filter element from Example 1 has an excellent residual chlorine removal rate of more than 96% in the entire testing water flow range (OL to 10,000 L). This shows that this filter element can effectively adsorb or filter the residual chlorine in the water, and can also keep a high removal efficiency even in a later use stage. From OL to 5,000 L, and then to 10,000 L, the residual chlorine removal rate is not changed greatly, which indicates that the filter element has good performance stability. This is probably because the filter material inside the filter element has a large adsorption capacity and high durability, and does not saturate rapidly or degrade rapidly within a certain range of water flow.

(26) This specific embodiment is merely an explanation of the present application and is not a limitation of the present application. A person skilled in the art, after reading the present specification, would have been able to make modifications to the present embodiment as required without inventive contribution, but only within the scope of the claims of the present application are protected by the patent law.

LISTING OF REFERENCE SIGNS

(27) 1. Filter Assembly; 2. First-stage Filter Element Composite Layer; 3. Inner Support Layer; 4. Micron-sized Filter Layer; 5. Outer Support Layer; 6. Second-stage Filter Element Composite Layer; 7. Support Filter Layer; 8. Composite Carbon Fiber Layer; 9. Third-stage Filter Element Component; 10. Filter Container; 11. Filter Material; 1a. Upper End Cover; 1b. Lower End Cover; 1c. Clamping Groove; 1d. Clamping Post.