Disposable device for filtering a large medium volume

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11633697-B2
Application number	US-201816766805-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 8, 2018
Priority date	Nov 27, 2017
Publication date	Apr 25, 2023
Grant date	Apr 25, 2023

Abstract

A single-use device for filtration of a large volume of medium including a plurality of single-use filter units, at least some of which, preferably all of which, are connected to each other by rigid pipes. The filter units include at least one prefilter and at least one main filter for virus filtration which is configured as a hollow fiber capsule.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A single-use filtration device for filtering a large volume of medium, comprising:
a plurality of single-use filter units, at least some of which are connected to each other by rigid pipes, the filter units including a plurality of prefilters and a plurality of main filters for virus filtration which are configured as hollow fiber capsules;
a common outlet pipe for the plurality of prefilters;
at least one shut-off valve between the prefilters and the main filters in the common outlet pipe allowing a grouping of all of the plurality of main filters separate from the prefilters,
the plurality of main filters having vent connections on their upper front sides opening into a common vent pipe which leads to an unfiltrate-side sterile air filter, configured so that test gas can be supplied via the sterile air filter through the common vent pipe to all of the plurality of main filters to jointly test integrity of the plurality of main filters.

2. The single-use filtration device according to claim 1 , characterized in that a rigid pipe is provided between the at least one prefilter and the at least one main filter.

3. The single-use filtration device according to claim 1 , characterized in that an inlet pipe to the at least one main filter is configured as a rigid pipe.

4. The single-use filtration device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the at least one prefilter and the at least one main filter are connected in series.

5. The single-use filtration device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the rigid pipes are formed by pressure-stable tubes having a defined diameter.

6. The single-use filtration device according to claim 1 , characterized in that it has both a common inlet connection and a common outlet connection for the medium and is adapted to be integrated into a filtration branch by sterile connectors.

7. The single-use filtration device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the filter units and the rigid pipes are arranged such that all prefilters and the main filters are each exposed to a flow in parallel.

8. The single-use filtration device according to claim 1 , characterized in that the prefilters are designed for dead-end filtration and the main filters for cross-flow filtration.

9. The single-use filtration device according to claim 1 , characterized in that some of the rigid pipes are formed by common housings of filter units.

10. The single-use filtration device according to claim 1 , characterized in that at least one filter unit is configured as a multiple capsule having at least two identical or different filter elements installed in a common housing.

11. The single-use filtration device according to claim 10 , characterized in that the filter elements are arranged so as to be exposed to a flow in parallel.

12. The single-use filtration device according to claim 10 , characterized in that the filter elements are arranged so as to be sequentially exposed to a flow.

13. The single-use filtration device according to claim 10 , characterized in that the multiple capsule includes at least one pleated filter element and one hollow fiber filter element.

14. The single-use filtration device according to claim 1 , characterized in that a group of main filters and/or a group of prefilters, are each configured as a module.

15. The single-use filtration device according to claim 1 , characterized in that a pressure-stable sight glass is integrated into the vent pipe and/or in that at least one indicator which reacts to water is arranged in the vent pipe and/or in that a protective filter for protecting the air filter is interposed between a vent connection and an inlet of the air filter.

16. The single-use filtration device according to claim 1 , characterized in that a releasable vent valve is provided in the vent pipe or on the sterile air filter.

17. The single-use filtration device according to claim 1 , characterized in that at least one filter unit, are oriented so as to be exposed to a flow from bottom to top.

18. The single-use filtration device according to claim 17 , characterized in that at least one filter unit includes a lower unfiltrate inlet and a lower filtrate outlet, and an upper filtrate outlet and an upper vent connection.

19. The single-use filtration device according to claim 18 , characterized in that valves are provided for blocking the lower unfiltrate inlets and for blocking the vent connections.

20. The single-use filtration device according to claim 1 , characterized in that a flow-reducing element is provided at an outlet of a filter unit or a group of filter units to produce a differential pressure for a flushing process.

21. The single-use filtration device according to claim 1 , characterized by a connection on a filtrate side of the device to which a filtrate-side sterile air filter can be connected through which gas can be pumped after completion of a filtration for discharging filtrate remaining in the device.

22. The single-use filtration device according to claim 1 , characterized by a valve for blocking the vent pipe or the unfiltrate-side sterile air filter connected thereto.

23. The single-use filtration device according to claim 1 , characterized in that pipes towards the filter units, away from the filter units or between the filter units are configured so as to be adapted to be separated in a sterile manner.

24. A method of performing an integrity test in a single-use filtration device for filtering a large volume of medium, the single-use filtration device comprising a plurality of prefilters, a plurality of main filters for virus filtration which are configured as hollow fiber capsules, and a common outlet pipe for the plurality of prefilters, a shut-off valve being provided between the prefilters and the main filters in the common outlet pipe, the plurality of main filters having vent connections on their upper front sides opening into a common vent pipe which leads to an unfiltrate-side sterile air filter, the method comprising steps of:
grouping all of the plurality of main filters independently of the plurality of prefilters by closing the shut-off valve to shut off the plurality of main filters from the plurality of prefilters, and
supplying a test gas via the sterile air filter through the common vent pipe to all of the plurality of main filters.

Assignees

• Sartorius Stedim Biotech Gmbh

Inventors

• Wortmeyer Johannes
• Sommer Maik
• Friese Thomas
• Loewe Thomas

Classifications

• B01D46/2411

  Filter cartridges · CPC title

• B01D29/52

  in parallel connection · CPC title

• B01D29/56

  in series connection · CPC title

• B01D2313/54

  Modularity of membrane module elements · CPC title

• B01D2317/02

  Elements in series · CPC title