Reinforced, three zone microporous membrane
AssigneeCuno Incorporated
InventorsMark T Meyering, Jack H. Vining, Jr., C. Thomas Badenhop
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Abstract
A three zone, reinforced, continuous, geometrically symmetrical microporous membrane including a porous support material encapsulated within a middle zone disposed between an upper zone and a lower zone wherein at least one of the three zones has a pore size at least about twenty (20%) percent different than the pore size of the other two zones is disclosed. Apparatus and methods for fabricating three zone reinforced, continuous, geometrically symmetrical, microporous membrane are also disclosed.
Claims59
A three zone, reinforced, continuous microporous membrane comprising:
- a porous support material substantially encapsulated by a first microporous polymer to form a middle membrane zone having two sides;
- and
- a second membrane zone and a third membrane zone each membrane zone comprising at least one additional microporous polymer, each of the second and third membrane zones having an inner interface and an outer surface and being continuously, connected to opposite sides of the middle membrane zone such that all three membrane zones are continuous, wherein the second and third continuous membrane zones have different pore sizes.
A three zone, reinforced, continuous, geometrically symmetrical, microporous membrane comprising:
- a porous support material;
- and
- a continuous microporous membrane having a middle microporous polymer zone disposed between an interfacing upper microporous polymer zone and an interfacing lower microporous polymer zone, each of the upper and lower microporous polymer zones having an outer surface, wherein the support material is substantially encapsulated within the middle microporous polymer zone and wherein the individual thickness of the upper and lower zones is from about twenty-five (25) microns to about one hundred (100) microns.
A three zone, reinforced, continuous, geometrically symmetrical, microporous membrane comprising:
- a porous support material substantially encapsulated by a first microporous polymer to form a middle membrane zone;
- and
- a second membrane zone and a third membrane zone formed from at least one additional microporous polymer, each membrane zone having an inner interface and an outer surface, each of the second and third membrane zones being continuously connected to the middle membrane zone such that all three membrane zones are continuous, wherein at least one of the three continuous membrane zones has a pore size at least about twenty (20%) percent different than the pore size of at least one of the other continuous membrane zones and the three zones have a total combined thickness less than about ten (10) mils wherein the individual thickness of the second and third zones is from about twenty-five (25) microns to about one hundred (100) microns.
A three zone, reinforced, continuous, geometrically symmetrical microporous membrane comprising:
- a porous support material having two sides substantially encapsulated by a first microporous polymer to form a middle membrane zone;
- and
- a second membrane zone and a third membrane zone formed from at least one additional microporous polymer, each of the second and the third membrane zones having an inner interface and an outer surface and being continuously connected to the middle membrane zone such that all three membrane zones are continuous, wherein at least one of the three continuous membrane zones has a pore size at least about twenty (20%) percent greater than the pore size of at least one of the other continuous membrane zones and the pore size of the second and third zones is greater than about 0.45 microns and wherein the individual thickness of the second and third zones is from about twenty-five (25) microns to about one hundred (100) microns.
A three zone, reinforced, continuous, geometrically symmetrical microporous membrane comprising:
- a porous support material having two sides substantially encapsulated by a first microporous polymer to form a middle membrane zone;
- and
- a second membrane zone and a third membrane zone formed from at least one additional microporous polymer, each of the second and third membrane zones having an inner interface and an outer surface and being continuously connected to the middle membrane zone such that all three membrane zones are continuous wherein the three zone membrane has a discontinuous pore structure with a continuous entanglement of the three separate zones of microporous polymer such that the continuous microporous membrane produced is structurally integral and wherein the second and third continuous membrane zones have different pore sizes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.