Reverse osmosis water-on-water control valve
Assignee3M Innovative Properties Company
InventorsLaurence W. Bassett, Dian Zheng
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Described are water-on-water valves for use in reverse osmosis filtration systems. The water-on-water valves are regulated by the pressure in a product line, which contains fluid from a product line of the filter module and/or the product side of a water-on-water storage tank. Exemplary valves are shuttle valves that are regulated by the pressure downstream of the product side of a reverse osmosis filter module. The valves may comprise a piston within a housing, and an end of the piston may have an enlarged diameter relative to the maximum diameter of the remainder of the piston.
Claims19
A filtration system comprising:
- a water-on-water storage tank comprising a squeeze side and a product side separated by a membrane;
- a filter module in fluid communication with the water-on-water storage tank, a feed source, a product outlet, and a drain outlet;
- a feed line connecting the feed source to a feed inlet of the filter module;
- a product line connecting a filtrate outlet of the filter module to the product side of the storage tank and the product outlet;
- and
- a drain line connecting a reject outlet of the filter module to the squeeze side of the storage tank and the drain outlet of the system;
- and
- a shuttle valve comprising a piston body in a housing, the piston body having a first group of sections effective to block fluid flow and a second group of sections with reduced diameter to enable fluid flow, the piston having a first end connected to a spring and a second end having a piston face with an enlarged diameter relative to the first group of sections, the second end enclosed in a chamber, an inlet check valve located between a product line port and the chamber and an outlet check valve located between the product line port and the chamber, and a plurality of ports including a drain port connected to the drain outlet, a tank squeeze port connected to the squeeze side of the storage tank, a reject port connected to a reject outlet of the filter element, and the product line port connected to the product outlet and to the product side of the storage tank, and wherein pressure in the product line acting on the piston face determines the position of the piston body.
A reverse osmosis water-on-water shuttle valve comprising:
- the shuttle valve comprising a piston body in a housing, the piston body having a first end connected to a spring and a second end having a piston face with an enlarged diameter relative to the piston body, the diameter of the piston face is greater than a maximum diameter of the remaining piston body, the second end enclosed in a chamber, an inlet check valve located between a product line port and the chamber and an outlet check valve located between the product line port and the chamber and an outlet check valve to the chamber;
- the shuttle valve having a valve feed inlet port, a valve feed outlet port, a drain port, a reject port, and a tank squeeze port, and the product port the piston body has at least three positions, wherein:
- in the first position, a first fluid path is defined by the valve feed inlet port that is in fluid communication with the valve feed outlet port, and a second fluid path is defined by the reject port that is in fluid communication with the tank squeeze port;
- in the second position, a third fluid path is defined by the valve feed inlet port that is in fluid communication with the valve feed outlet port, and a fourth fluid path is defined by the tank squeeze port that is in fluid communication with the drain port;
- and
- in the third position, the valve feed inlet port is not in fluid communication with the valve feed outlet port.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.