Hollow fiber membrane module and method for preparing the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10046277-B2
Application number	US-201314040416-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2013
Priority date	Oct 17, 2012
Publication date	Aug 14, 2018
Grant date	Aug 14, 2018

Abstract

A hollow fiber membrane module and a method for preparing a hollow fiber membrane module. A hollow fiber membrane module includes a header, and a sheet block inserted into the header, and the sheet block includes a hollow fiber membrane block, wherein the hollow fiber membrane block comprises a plurality of hollow fiber membranes arranged at regular intervals in a vertical direction of the header; and a resin block formed at an end of the hollow fiber membrane blocks and contacting an inner wall of the header to be secured thereto, and a potting agent is filled between hollow fiber membranes of the hollow fiber membrane blocks in a space between an upper side of the resin block to an inlet of the header to secure the hollow fiber membranes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A hollow fiber membrane module comprising:
a header; and
a sheet block inserted into the header,
wherein the sheet block includes: a hollow fiber membrane block, wherein the hollow fiber membrane block comprises a plurality of hollow fiber membranes arranged at regular intervals in a vertical direction of the header; and a resin block formed at an end of the hollow fiber membrane block and contacting an inner wall of the header to be secured thereto,
wherein a width of a region of the header is increasingly narrower in a first direction from an inlet of the header toward the center of a bottom thereof, wherein a region of the resin block contacts and is captured by and secured to the inner wall at the region of the header having the increasingly narrower width, the region of the resin block contacting the inner wall being increasingly narrower in the first direction toward a lower side of the resin block and corresponding to the region of the header having the increasingly narrower width, and
wherein a potting agent is filled between hollow fiber membranes of the hollow fiber membrane block and fills a space from the region of the resin block contacting the inner wall to the inlet of the header to secure the hollow fiber membranes.

2. The hollow fiber membrane module according to claim 1 , wherein the resin block is formed of a thermoplastic resin.

3. The hollow fiber membrane module according to claim 1 , wherein a space from the lower side of the resin block to an inner surface of the header forms a water collecting section, and hollow fiber membranes of the hollow fiber membrane block protrude into the water collecting section.

4. The hollow fiber membrane module according to claim 1 , wherein a space from the lower side of the resin block to an inner surface of the header forms a water collecting section, and hollow fiber membranes of the hollow fiber membrane block do not protrude into the water collecting section.

5. The hollow fiber membrane module according to claim 1 , wherein the header comprises a protrusion on which the lower side of the resin block is mounted.

6. The hollow fiber membrane module according to claim 1 , wherein the hollow fiber membrane block comprises a plurality of hollow fiber membranes arranged at regular intervals in a widthwise direction.

7. A method for preparing the hollow fiber membrane module according to claim 1 , the method comprising:
arranging hollow fiber membranes of the plurality of hollow fiber membranes in a line to form a sheet in which ends of the hollow fiber membranes are bound to each other via a resin binding portion so as to be separated by a distance from each other;
preparing a plurality of the sheets and stacking the sheets to prepare the sheet block, on which the resin block is formed to have a width greater than an arrangement width of the plurality of hollow fiber membranes;
inserting the sheet block into the header such that the resin block contacts the inner wall of the header to secure the resin block; and
securing the plurality of hollow fiber membranes in a space from an upper side of the resin block to the inlet of the header by potting.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the resin binding portion is formed in a perpendicular direction with respect to a longitudinal direction of the hollow fiber membrane.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the resin binding portion is formed of a thermoplastic resin.

10. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the sheet block is inserted into the header in which a sealing agent is not present.

11. The method according to claim 7 , wherein a distal end of the hollow fiber membrane protruding from the resin block is cut before the sheet block is inserted into the header.

12. The method according to claim 7 , wherein a ratio of the arrangement width of the plurality of hollow fiber membranes to a stack height of the plurality of sheets is about 3:1 to about 10:1 in the sheet block.

13. The hollow fiber membrane module according to claim 1 , wherein the region of the resin block that is increasingly narrower in the first direction directly contacts the inner wall.

14. The hollow fiber membrane module according to claim 1 , wherein a sealing agent is not provided in a space between the region of the resin block that is increasingly narrower in the first direction and the inner wall.

15. The hollow fiber membrane module according to claim 2 , wherein the thermoplastic resin does not require a curing process, and the potting agent is cured.

16. The hollow fiber membrane module according to claim 2 , wherein the thermoplastic resin comprises at least one of ethylene vinyl acetate, polyolefin, polystyrene, polycarbonate, polyvinyl chloride, or polyamide.

Assignees

• Cheil Ind Inc
• Lotte Advanced Mat Co Ltd
• Lotte Chemical Corp

Inventors

• Ahn Hyoung Wook
• Koo Young Lim

Classifications

• B01D2313/21

  Specific headers, end caps · CPC title

• B01D63/021

  Manufacturing thereof · CPC title

• B01D63/022

  Encapsulating hollow fibres · CPC title

• B01D63/024 Primary

  with a single potted end · CPC title

• B01D63/0223

  by fixing the hollow fibres prior to encapsulation · CPC title