Centrifugal filtration device

US6517612B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• Gore Enterprise Holdings, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Steven P. Crouch · Chapel Hill, US
• Steve Robin Wright · Hillsborough, US
• Jeffrey Storm · Durham, US
• Wai Sing Poon · Hockessin, US
• Stephen K. Stark · Nonatum Mills, US
• Daniel W. Thorpe · Hockessin, US
• Glenn R. Voshell · Newark, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 29, 2001
• Grant date: Feb 11, 2003
• Expiry date: Oct 29, 2021

Classification

• Technology area (CPC B): Performing Operations; Transporting
• CPC primary: B01D63/16
• WIPO field: Chemical engineering
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

This invention is directed to a continuously cleanable, high performance filtration apparatus and a method for using the apparatus. The apparatus is a radial inflow centrifugal filtration device, which includes a filter element located within a chamber and rotatably coupled to a filtered fluid outlet in a bulkhead that abuts the chamber. The filter element is generally tubular, its side-walls encircling and, thus, defining an interior plenum. The filter element side-walls incorporate a filter media, preferably a laminated microporous membrane filter media. The filter element is rotatably coupled at the filtered fluid outlet by a seal which can maintain a seal as filter element rotates. Additionally, the device can include a boundary layer momentum transfer device made up of a plurality of stacked annular disks having central openings, each disk separated from adjacent disks by a desired gap. The central openings define a cavity in which the filter element is mounted.