JPH0626652B2 - Hollow fiber bundle assembly - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial application] The present invention is incorporated in a hollow fiber bundle assembly, specifically, a hollow fiber bundle module used for various treatments such as purification, absorption and separation of liquid or gas. And a hollow fiber bundle assembly.

[Conventional technology]

The hollow fiber bundle assembly incorporated in the hollow fiber bundle module is mainly composed of a hollow fiber bundle formed by bundling a large number of hollow fibers made of polyimide resin or the like. The performance of this hollow fiber bundle assembly is directly dependent on the separation performance of each hollow fiber constituting the hollow fiber bundle.

The hollow fiber is, for example, a hollow fiber (membrane) for gas separation, reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, etc., which is usually composed of a tubular membrane having a space at the center, and the outermost layer Has a homogeneous layer that influences the separation performance of the hollow fiber. Therefore, the hollow fiber does not perform its original function even if the portion corresponding to the outer skin is slightly scratched. In addition, when viewed as a whole hollow fiber bundle, the formed hollow fiber bundle assembly exhibits the expected original performance even if there are very few damaged hollow fibers in the homogeneous layer. Disappear. That is, for example, in the case of a hollow fiber bundle for gas separation, the selective permeation performance by the hollow fiber (membrane) (the ability to separate a gas that permeates the membrane quickly and a gas that permeates the membrane slowly) is reduced.
In the case of a liquid-solid solid hollow fiber bundle for filtration, the hollow fiber may be damaged during filtration or the like, and in an extreme case, the hollow fiber may be cut and a solid may be mixed in the filtrate. Therefore, in the hollow fiber bundle assembly, it is extremely important that the hollow fibers constituting the hollow fiber bundle are not damaged.

Therefore, the hollow fibers are particularly vulnerable to damage during work steps such as forming the hollow fiber bundle, fixing the hollow fiber bundle with a potting material, or inserting the completed hollow fiber bundle assembly into a module container. In order to protect the hollow fibers arranged at the outer peripheral end of the bundle or in the vicinity thereof, the hollow fiber bundle is covered with a covering material such as a film made of plastic or the like, a non-woven fabric or a mesh.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, when protecting with a covering material as described above,
(1) coating operation is required, (2) the hollow fiber membrane area stored in a constant volume is reduced depending on the type and thickness of the coating material, (3) the hollow fiber membrane before and during the coating operation There were problems such as being easily damaged and (4) having to prepare a coating material other than the hollow fiber.

Therefore, according to the present invention, a highly reliable hollow fiber bundle assembly can be manufactured without separately preparing a coating material and performing a coating operation, and the hollow fiber is not damaged during a manufacturing process or a handling operation. To provide.

[Means for solving problems]

According to the present invention, in a hollow fiber bundle assembly in which at least one of the open ends of the hollow fiber bundle is closely fixed by a potting material while maintaining the open state, at least the open end of the hollow fiber located at the outermost periphery is potted. The above object is achieved by providing a hollow fiber bundle assembly characterized by being embedded in a material.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the hollow fiber bundle assembly of the present invention will be described based on the embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an outline of a hollow fiber bundle assembly which is a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 (a) to (d) illustrate a manufacturing process of the hollow fiber bundle assembly. FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of one end of a hollow fiber bundle, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an outline of a hollow fiber bundle module incorporating the hollow fiber bundle assembly.

The hollow fiber bundle assembly shown in FIG. 1 has potting materials 2 and 3 so that both ends of the hollow fiber bundle 1 do not permeate liquid or gas.
Each of them is closely fixed. The hollow fiber bundle 1 is formed by bundling a large number of hollow fibers 4, and the open ends 5 and 6 of the hollow fiber bundle itself formed by the open ends of the hollow fibers 4 are formed at both ends thereof. There is.

In the hollow fiber bundle, the open end 5 located at the left end in the figure maintains the open state, but the open end 6 located at the right end is buried in the potting material 3 that is closely fixed in its vicinity, It is sealed with the potting material 3.

In the hollow fiber bundle assembly of the present embodiment, even in the end portion of the hollow fiber bundle in which the open end 5 in the open state is located, at least the open end of the hollow fiber 4a located at the outermost periphery thereof is placed in the potting material 2. It is characterized by being buried in. In this way, by sealing the open end of the hollow fiber 4a and stopping the original function of the hollow fiber, the hollow fiber 4a functions as a covering material for protecting the hollow fiber 4 located inside thereof. As a result, even in the manufacturing process of the hollow fiber bundle assembly and the working process such as storing the completed hollow fiber bundle assembly in the module container, the hollow fiber 4 which should perform the original function of the hollow fiber is obtained. It is possible to effectively prevent the damage.

Next, an outline of the method for manufacturing the hollow fiber bundle assembly will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 2 (a), a large number of hollow fibers 4 are bundled into a cylindrical shape to form a hollow fiber bundle 1. Next, the hollow fiber bundle 1 is trimmed and cut from the one end thereof over a predetermined length and from the outermost periphery to a predetermined depth, and cut to form the shape shown in FIG. Then, the end portion that has been trimmed as described above is fixed in a state in which it is in close contact with a potting material as shown in FIG. After that, the open end of the hollow fiber 4a is buried in the potting material 2 by cutting at the position shown by the arrow in FIG. 2 (c), but it is located inside the hollow fiber 4a. The hollow fibers 4 can be formed with open ends 5 that are all open. Although not shown, the other end is formed simply by closely fixing the open end of the hollow fiber bundle 1 in the state shown in FIG. 2 (a) with a potting material 3 (potting molding with a curable resin). it can.

Here, an example of the usage of the hollow fiber bundle assembly of the above embodiment will be briefly described.

What is shown in FIG. 3 is a hollow fiber bundle module in which the hollow fiber bundle assembly shown in FIG. 1 is housed. The module comprises a cylindrical container having a space for accommodating the hollow fiber bundle assembly, and an inlet 7 for supplying a raw material fluid such as gas or liquid into the module, and a hollow fiber. An outlet 8 for supplying the fluid that has permeated to the other and an outlet 9 for ejecting the non-permeated fluid are provided.

The hollow fiber bundle module is used when separating a specific fluid component from a raw material fluid composed of a mixture. For example, the raw material fluid is introduced into the module from the introduction port 7 and the hollow fiber bundle 1 is introduced. Permeating through the hollow fiber 4 constituting the
At the same time as taking out the separated permeated fluid consisting of the specific component from the supply port 8, the non-permeated fluid is excluded from the discharge port 9 to the outside, whereby the separation and purification of the raw material fluid is achieved.

In the above module, the open end of the hollow fiber 4a is sealed by the potting material 2 even if the hollow fiber 4a located around the outer periphery of the contained hollow fiber bundle assembly is damaged. Therefore, a fluid having a low permeability or a substance that originally does not permeate the hollow fiber (membrane) is not discharged from the hollow fiber 4a to the supply port 8. Therefore, it is not damaged because it is protected by the hollow fiber 4a,
Since only the fluid that has passed through the hollow fibers 4 located inside the hollow fibers 4a is supplied to the supply port 8, the separation performance originally possessed by the hollow fibers 4 can be exhibited.

Next, the hollow fiber bundle assembly of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the above embodiment.

In the hollow fiber bundle assembly of the above-described embodiment, the hollow fiber 4a having the open end buried in the potting material 2 should have a function of protecting the hollow fiber 4 located inside thereof from an external stimulus. It suffices that one layer located at the outermost periphery of the hollow fiber bundle (corresponding to the thickness of one hollow fiber) is allocated.

The hollow fiber 4a is not particularly limited in its thickness, and may have a desired thickness such as two layers, three layers.
The thicker the hollow fibers 4a, that is, the larger the number of the hollow fibers 4a, the greater the protective effect, but the effective membrane area decreases and the processing capacity decreases. Therefore, in actuality, an appropriate thickness that exhibits sufficient performance as the hollow fiber bundle assembly is appropriately selected according to the purpose.
The preferred range will be described in detail. The area occupied by the cross section of the hollow fibers 4a with respect to the total area of the cross section of the hollow fiber bundle 1, that is, the number of all the hollow fibers constituting the hollow fiber bundle, If the number of threads 4a is expressed as a percentage, then 0.
5 to 20% can be mentioned as a suitable range, and 1.0 to 10% can be mentioned as a further suitable range.

As the hollow fiber constituting the hollow fiber bundle assembly of the present invention, a porous membrane hollow fiber, a non-porous membrane hollow fiber and the like can be used without particular limitation. As a material for forming the hollow fiber, various resins such as polyolefin-based resins such as polyethylene and polypropylene, cellulose-based, polyamide-based, polysulfone-based, and polyimide-based resins can be used without limitation.

The potting material is not particularly limited, and a curable resin such as polyurethane, epoxy resin or silicon resin can be used.

As described above in detail, the hollow fiber bundle assembly of the present invention can effectively prevent damage to the hollow fiber that should perform its original function in the manufacturing process, module assembly process, and the like. Assures a stable degree of separation (ratio of permeation rate of slow fluid to permeation rate of fast fluid) as a hollow fiber bundle assembly, and that substances that originally do not permeate hollow fibers (membranes) are mixed in the permeated fluid. Can be prevented. Further, such excellent performance can be obtained only by embedding the open end portion of the hollow fiber arranged on the outer peripheral portion of the hollow fiber bundle in the potting material, so that the hollow fiber bundle assembly of the present invention can be made very easily. It can be manufactured. Further, since the protective layer of the hollow fiber bundle can be formed by the hollow fiber itself, it is not necessary to prepare a special material, and it is not necessary to perform a covering operation, so that the hollow fiber bundle assembly can be easily manufactured. You can

Next, the hollow fiber bundle assembly of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to examples.

-Example- After forming a hollow fiber bundle having a yarn bundle diameter of 40 mm consisting of 4000 polyimide hollow fibers having an inner diameter of about 200 µ and a wall thickness of about 90 µ, the hollow fiber bundle is arranged on the outer peripheral portion of the hollow fiber bundle 200.
One end of the hollow fiber of the book was cut 20 mm shorter than the other hollow fibers. Then, the both ends of the hollow fiber bundle were fixed to each other with a potting material made of an epoxy resin yarn thermosetting resin to manufacture a precursor of a yarn bundle assembly.

Then, the hollow fiber bundle is cut together with the potting material at a position 10 mm from the open end of the hollow fiber bundle at the one end of the precursor, and the open end of the hollow fiber located inside is opened. An assembly was formed. The hollow fiber openings at the other end of the hollow fiber bundle assembly are all sealed with the curable resin. The hollow fiber bundle assembly thus formed is substantially the same as that shown in FIG.

The above-mentioned yarn bundle assembly was housed in a cylindrical container, and a hollow yarn bundle module substantially the same as that shown in Fig. 3 was assembled.

Using the above module, pure gases of only helium gas and only nitrogen gas were individually supplied from the raw material gas inlet 7, and the flow rates of the gases flowing out from the permeated gas outlet 8 at that time were measured. From the result, when the pure gas separation degree calculated from each permeation rate of pure gas was calculated, the separation degree (helium gas / nitrogen gas) = 240.

After that, the operation of extracting the yarn bundle assembly from the cylindrical container and then storing it in the cylindrical container again was repeated 50 times, and the pure gas separation was measured again.
It was 50.

Thereafter, the operation of pulling out the yarn bundle assembly from the cylindrical container again and reducing the yarn bundle diameter from 40 mm to 35 mm with a rubber band was repeated 50 times, and then the pure gas separation degree was measured again. It was 240.

As described above, the hollow fiber bundle assembly of the present invention showed almost no change in its performance even when the operation of giving a stimulus such that the hollow fiber was damaged from the outside was repeatedly performed.

Although the present invention has been specifically described above based on the embodiments, it goes without saying that the hollow fiber bundle assembly of the present invention is not limited to the single-ended open type hollow fiber bundle assembly shown in the previous embodiment. Nor.

For example, the type of the hollow fiber bundle assembly may be the double-ended open type hollow fiber bundle assembly shown in FIG. 4 or the U-shaped hollow fiber bundle assembly shown in FIG. Good. In any of these hollow fiber bundle assemblies, the hollow fibers 4a located at the outermost periphery of the hollow fiber bundle or in the vicinity of the hollow fiber bundle are buried in the potting materials 2 and 2'by their open ends, thereby making Similarly, the intended purpose can be achieved.

In addition, in the experimental example, an example in which it is applied only to gas separation is taken, but it is not limited to this, and it goes without saying that the hollow fiber bundle assembly of the present invention can be applied to separation of other fluids.

〔The invention's effect〕

The hollow fiber bundle assembly of the present invention is hollow in a work process such as manufacturing the hollow fiber bundle assembly or assembling the hollow fiber bundle module, even if a covering material is not separately prepared to cover and protect the hollow fiber bundle. It is possible to effectively prevent the yarn from being damaged.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an outline of a hollow fiber bundle assembly which is a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 (a) to (d) are views for explaining a manufacturing process of the hollow fiber bundle assembly. FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of one end of the hollow fiber bundle, FIG. 3 is a sectional view schematically showing a hollow fiber bundle module incorporating the hollow fiber bundle assembly, FIG. 4 and FIG.
Each of the drawings is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a hollow fiber bundle assembly which is another embodiment. 1 ... Hollow fiber bundle 2, 2 ', 3 ... Potting material 4, 4a ... Hollow fiber 5, 6 ... Open end

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a hollow fiber bundle assembly in which at least one of the open ends of the hollow fiber bundle is tightly fixed by a potting material while maintaining the open state, at least the open end of the hollow fiber is located at the outermost periphery. A hollow fiber bundle assembly characterized by being embedded in a potting material. 2. The number of hollow fibers having the open ends buried in the potting material is 0.5 to 20% of the total number of hollow fibers constituting the hollow fiber bundle. The hollow fiber bundle assembly according to the item (1).