Hollow fiber membrane module

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11090610-B2
Application number	US-201816482089-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 31, 2018
Priority date	Jan 31, 2017
Publication date	Aug 17, 2021
Grant date	Aug 17, 2021

Abstract

The present invention relates to a hollow fiber membrane module provided with: a tubular casing having a first end and a second end in the axial direction; a plurality of hollow fiber membranes; a first potting part; and a second potting part, the hollow fiber membrane module further having a flow regulation structure in which a fluid flowing outside the hollow fiber membranes from the second end side toward the first end side forms a flow directed to the radial center on the second end side of the first potting part, and further forms a radial flow directed from the radial center to the radially outer peripheral side on the second end side of the first potting part.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A hollow-fiber membrane module comprising:
a cylindrical case having a first end and a second end in an axial direction;
a plurality of hollow-fiber membranes housed in the case;
a first potting part bonding end parts of the plurality of hollow-fiber membranes located on the first end side of the case while the end parts being open; and
a second potting part bonding end parts of the plurality of hollow-fiber membranes located on the second end side of the case, wherein
the hollow-fiber membrane module further has a flow-regulating structure in which a fluid flowing outside the hollow-fiber membranes from the second end side to the first end side generates a flow directed to a radial center part on the second end side of the first potting part, and further generates a radial flow directed from a radial center part to a radially outer peripheral side on the second end side of the first potting part,
the flow-regulating structure includes an inner pipe and a flow-regulating cylinder which are provided on the second end side of the first potting part,
the inner pipe is provided on a radial center part of the case,
the inner pipe includes one or more side opening parts on a side surface thereof adjacent to the second end side of the first potting part,
when defining an inside diameter of the side nozzle as D, a length of the inner pipe is D or more and 5×D or less,
a filling ratio of the hollow-fiber membranes inside of the inner pipe is smaller than a filling ratio of the hollow-fiber membranes outside of the inner pipe,
the flow-regulating cylinder is provided between the hollow-fiber membranes and the case,
the flow-regulating cylinder has one or more flow-regulating holes on a side surface thereof, and
the case has a side nozzle on a side surface thereof; and
wherein
the inner pipe has one or more first side opening parts on the side surface thereof, and
a proportion R1 according to formula (4) of a total opening area occupied by the first side opening parts to a total opening area of the side opening parts is 50% or more:
R 1[%]=[total opening area of first side opening parts]/[total opening area of side opening parts] ×100  (4).

2. The hollow-fiber membrane module according to claim 1 , wherein
defining the filling ratio of the hollow-fiber membranes on inside of the inner pipe as A1,
the filling ratio of the hollow-fiber membranes outside of the inner pipe as A2,
a cross-sectional area of a cross section perpendicular to an axial direction of the inner pipe as T1, and
a cross-sectional area of the cross section perpendicular to the axial direction of the case as T2,
a flow parameter F in the following formula (1) is from 1.0 to 8.0;
F =( A 2− A 1)× T 1/ T 2  (1)

3. The hollow-fiber membrane module according to claim 1 , wherein a proportion R2 according to formula (5) of the total opening area of the first side opening parts of the inner pipe to the cross-sectional area T2 of the cross section perpendicular to the axial direction of the case is from 5% to 50%:
R 2[%]=[total opening area of first side opening parts]/ T 2×100  (5).

4. The hollow-fiber membrane module according to claim 1 , wherein a proportion R3 of a total opening area of the flow-regulating holes of the flow-regulating cylinder to the cross-sectional area of the cross section perpendicular to the axial direction of the case is from 5% to 50%.

5. The hollow-fiber membrane module according to claim 1 , wherein
the flow-regulating cylinder has one or more first flow-regulating holes on the side surface thereof, and
a proportion R4 according to formula (7) of a total opening area occupied by the first flow-regulating holes to the total opening area of the flow-regulating holes is 50% or more;
R 4[%]=[total opening area of first flow-regulating holes]/[total opening area of flow-regulating holes]×100  (7)

Assignees

• Toray Industries

Inventors

• Kobayashi Atsushi
• Nakashima Naoki
• Hayashida Kenji
• Hanakawa Masayuki

Classifications

• B01D63/024 Primary

  with a single potted end · CPC title

• B01D65/08

  Prevention of membrane fouling or of concentration polarisation · CPC title

• B01D2313/08

  Flow guidance means within the module or the apparatus · CPC title

• B01D2321/02

  Forward flushing · CPC title

• B01D65/02

  Membrane cleaning or sterilisation {; Membrane regeneration} · CPC title