Reverse osmosis system
AssigneeDow Corning Corporation
InventorSun-Tak Hwang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The relative concentrations of solvent and solute in a solution are altered by a system which includes a cell having chambers separated by a membrane and a means for creating a pressure differential across the membrane. A solution moves through an inlet means around the system and countercurrent and reflux flow and outlet means. The cell may be formed of modular units in such a way as to effect a tapered configuration so that the flow rate is homogeneous around the system.
Claims11
A system for altering the relative concentration of solute to solvent in a solution, the system comprising a plurality of interconnected units wherein each unit comprises
- (a) a cell having chambers separated by a semi-permeable membrane, the membrane having a different permeability constant for the solute and the solvent, the chambers each having a sufficiently small cross section to direct the movement of the solution in substantially non-turbulent flow across the face of the membrane;
- (b) means for conducting the solution which has passed through one chamber into the other chamber and for directing the solution so that it moves in opposite directions on either side of the membrane;
- (c) means for creating a pressure differential across the membrane;
- (d) at least one inlet means for feeding the solution into the system;
- (e) at least one outlet means for recovering the solution from the system after the relative concentrations of solute and solvent have been altered;
- characterized in that the units are interconnected to form a configuration which is tapered in such a way that the linear velocity of the solvent is substantially constant throughout the system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.