Filter with adjacent, similarly-shaped, differently-sized, through holes and through-hole clusters

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10940413-B2
Application number	US-201815964613-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 27, 2018
Priority date	Aug 30, 2016
Publication date	Mar 9, 2021
Grant date	Mar 9, 2021

Abstract

A filter includes a plurality of first through holes which are periodically formed. At least one of the plurality of first through holes is divided by a plurality of second through holes that are smaller than the first through holes. With such a configuration, the cell aggregate having the desired size can be easily sampled.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A filter, comprising:
a base member having:
a plurality of first through holes, each first though hole having the same shape and substantially the same cross-sectional area as the other first through holes;
a first through hole duster comprising a plurality of adjacent second through holes, each second through hole having the same shape and substantially the same cross-sectional area as the other second through holes, the cross-sectional area of the second through holes being smaller than the cross-sectional area of the first through holes; and
a second through hole duster comprising a plurality of adjacent third through holes, each third through hole having the same shape and substantially the same cross-sectional area as the other third through holes, the cross-sectional area of the third through holes being smaller than the cross-sectional areas of first and second through holes.

2. The filter of claim 1 , wherein the first through hole cluster has a shape and outer periphery that is the same as the shape and outer periphery of the first through holes.

3. The filter of claim 2 , wherein the second through hole cluster has a shape and outer periphery that is the same as the shape and outer periphery of the first through holes.

4. The filter according to claim 1 , wherein a principal component of the filter is at least one of metal and a metal oxide.

5. The filter according to claim 1 , wherein the base member has a plurality of identical first through hole clusters.

6. The filter according to claim 5 , wherein the base member has a plurality of identical second through hole clusters.

7. The filter according to claim 1 , wherein:
the first through hole cluster has n adjacent through holes, n being an integer greater than one; and
the second through hole cluster has m adjacent through holes, m being an integer greater than n.

8. The filter according to claim 1 , wherein:
each of the first through holes has the same size;
each of the second through holes has the same size; and
each of the third through holes has the same size.

9. The filter according to claim 1 , wherein the base member is planar a unitary member.

10. A filtering device, comprising:
the filter of claim 1 ; and
a container unit supporting the filter, the container unit having an inlet through which a cell-aggregate-containing liquid can be introduced and passed through the filter and an outlet through which the cell-aggregate-containing liquid which has passed through the filter can be discharged.

11. The filtering device according to claim 10 wherein the first through hole cluster has a shape and outer periphery that is the same as the shape and outer periphery of the first through holes.

12. The filtering device according to claim 11 , wherein the second through hole cluster has a shape and outer periphery that is the same as the shape and outer periphery of the first through holes.

13. The filtering device according to claim 10 , wherein a principal component of the filter is at least one of metal and a metal oxide.

14. The filtering device according to claim 10 , wherein the base member has a plurality of identical first through hole clusters.

15. The filtering device according to claim 14 , wherein the base member has a plurality of identical second through hole clusters.

16. The filtering device according to claim 10 , wherein:
the first through hole cluster has n adjacent through holes, n being an integer greater than one; and
the second through hole cluster has m adjacent through holes, m being an integer greater than n.

17. The filtering device according to claim 10 , wherein:
each of the first through holes has the same size;
each of the second through holes has the same size; and
each of the third through holes has the same size.

Assignees

• Murata Manufacturing Co

Inventors

• Banju Masaru
• Watanabe Junko
• Kondo Takashi

Classifications

• B01D29/03 Primary

  self-supporting · CPC title

• B01D39/2068

  Other inorganic materials, e.g. ceramics · CPC title

• C12M47/02

  Separating microorganisms from the culture medium; Concentration of biomass (separating microorganisms from their culture media C12N1/02) · CPC title

• B01D39/20

  of inorganic material, e.g. asbestos paper, metallic filtering material of non-woven wires (porous ceramic material {C04B38/00} ; sintering metals C22C1/04; {making porous sintered metal bodies B22F3/10, honeycomb filters B01D46/2418, materials used for filtering exhaust gases of an internal combustion engine F01N3/022, ceramic honeycomb structures C04B38/0006}) · CPC title

• B01D39/10 Primary

  Filter screens essentially made of metal · CPC title