Assembly comprising a foraminous core, resinous tubesheet and self-locking, helically wound, hollow fiber bundle

Claim 3

The method of Claim 1 additionally comprising forming a resinous, radially disposed, generally toroidal wall member, through which the fibers and core pass in sealing engagement therewith, at a location other than at an end of the bundle.

Claim 4

The method of Claim 2 which includes: A. providing as the core a rigid, generally cylindrical, elongated conduit having two end sections and an intervening foraminous section, B. selecting a hoop of the core surface as a site for construction of the wall members and, optionally, one or more additional hoops for construction of additional such wall members, C. forming the bundle and the wall members on the core by (1) helically winding a band, or a succession of bands, of hollow fiber lengths around the core in an alternating series of right- and left-handed helices, each band starting at about the midline of one of the sites and terminating in a plane at about the midline of the same or a different one of the sites while (2) applying a hardenable resin to the core and the band at each of the sites and thereafter continuing to apply such a resin to the resulting resin/fiber bodies forming at those sites, and D. allowing or causing the resin/fiber bodies to harden; the winding being done in a succession of stages, as follows, to form the bundle; in stage I (a) several (N ) coverages of about equal axial length and of successively greater diameters are wrapped on to produce a first stratum which does not extend to either end of the core and is at least slightly humped proximal to.each end of the stratum, as a consequence of the more localized accumulations of fiber during the turnaround portion of each end-to-end wind, the turnaround range and dwell, the value of N a and the tension on the fiber lengths being selected, according to the fiber and band dimensions, so that the first stratum will not slip on the core and the taper of the non-cylindrical end portions of the stratum will be sufficiently abrupt to provide substantial resistance to axial motion of an overlying, longer, second stratum if the latter is formed and emplaced as in (b) following; (b) the second stratum is formed in essentially the manner in which the first stratum was formed and has a length such that the second . stratum extends beyond each end of the first stratum; (c) a succession of additional strata are added, as in (b), until the two ends of the resulting first formation are at least noticeably humped, in stage II step a is repeated, except that the resulting first stratum is shorter or longer than the preceding first stratum, and steps b and c are repeated until the resulting second formation is at least noticeably humped at each end, with the result that the hump peaks of the second formation are closer together or further apart than those of the underlying first formation; in each stage thereafter, steps a-c are repeated as in stage II, the lengths and N values of the successive strata being such that: each formation has a substantially different inter hump-peak distance than the immediately preceding formation and each end of the finished bundle has the general configuration of a dome with a polar opening conforming to the core end protruding therefrom.

Claim 5

The method of Claim 1 wherein the walls of the fibers are permeable.

Claim 6

The method of Claim 3 comprising, as a preliminary step, incorporating in the core plumbing fixtures essential to the utility of the assembly in a permeator.

Claim 8

An assembly which can be adapted for use as a component of a permeator and comprises a core, a fiber bundle and one or more wall members, the core being a rigid, generally cylindrical, elongated conduit having two end sections and an intervening foraminous section, the bundle comprising hollow fiber lengths disposed, as separate lengths or as bands thereof, around the core in the form of two generally dome-shaped end portions and an intervening, generally cylindrical portion, and each of the wall members being a generally toroidal, resin body through which the core and the fiber lengths pass in sealing engagement therewith; the fiber lengths being wound around the core as a series of criss-crossed helices of successively greater diameter and in such manner that the unpotted portions of the bundle are stable and self-anchored to the core, at least one of the one or more wall members being adaptable.to function as a tubesheet in the permeator and each end of each of the fiber lengths or bands being disposed within one of the wall members which is so adaptable.

Claim 9

An assembly which can be adapted for use as a component of a permeator and comprises a core, a fiber bundle and one or more wall members, the core being a rigid, generally cylindrical, elongated conduit having two end sections and an intervening foraminous section, the bundle comprising hollow fiber lengths disposed, as separate lengths or as bands thereof, around the core in the form of two generally dome-shaped end portions and an intervening, generally cylindrical portion, and each of the wall members being a generally toroidal, resin body through which the core and the fiber lengths pass in sealing engagement therewith; the fiber lengths being wound around the core as a series of criss-crossed helices of successively greater diameter and in such manner that the unpotted portions of the bundle are stable and self-anchored to the core, at least one of the one or more wall members being adaptable.to function as a tubesheet in the permeator and each end of each of the fiber lengths or bands being disposed within one of the wall members which is so adaptable.

Claim 10

An assembly as in Claim 7 in which the walls of the fiber lengths are selectively permeable.

Claim 11

An assembly as in Claim 7 wherein the number of the wall members comprised therein is one and that wall member is axially equidistant from the ends of the bundle.

Claim 12

- 10. An assembly as in Claim 7 in which the number of the wall members comprised therein is two or more, the number of the wall members located at the bundle ends is 0, 1 or 2 and the axial distance between any two adjacent wall members, neither of which is at an end of the bundle, is twice the distance from either end of the bundle to the nearest wall member spaced from that end.

Claim 13

An assembly as in any of Claims 7, 8, 9 and 10 wherein the winding angle of the helices is within the range of from 40° to 50° and the bundle is a radial series of successively longer or shorter formations, each consisting of successively longer strata of the helices.

Claim 14

A permeator comprising a core,.a hollow fiber bundle and one or more tubesheets, the core being a rigid, generally cylindrical, elongated conduit having two end sections and an intervening foraminous section, the bundle comprising hollow fiber lengths disposed, as separate lengths or bands thereof, around the core in the form of two generally dome-shaped end portions and an intervening, generally cylindrical portion, and each of the tubesheets being located at other than an end of the bundle and being derived by adaptation of a generally toroidal resin body through which the core and the fibers pass in sealing engagement; the fiber lengths being wound around the' core as a series of criss-crossed helices of successively greater diameter and in such manner that those portions of the bundle not potted in the tubesheets are stable and self-anchored to the core, and each end of each of the fiber lengths being disposed within one of the tubesheets.

Claim 15

A permeator comprising a core,.a hollow fiber bundle and one or more tubesheets, the core being a rigid, generally cylindrical, elongated conduit having two end sections and an intervening foraminous section, the bundle comprising hollow fiber lengths disposed, as separate lengths or bands thereof, around the core in the form of two generally dome-shaped end portions and an intervening, generally cylindrical portion, and each of the tubesheets being located at other than an end of the bundle and being derived by adaptation of a generally toroidal resin body through which the core and the fibers pass in sealing engagement; the fiber lengths being wound around the' core as a series of criss-crossed helices of successively greater diameter and in such manner that those portions of the bundle not potted in the tubesheets are stable and self-anchored to the core, and each end of each of the fiber lengths being disposed within one of the tubesheets.

Claim 16

A permeator as in Claim 12 wherein the winding angle of the helices is within the range of from 40° to.50° and the bundle is a radial series of successively longer or shorter formations, each consisting of successively longer strata of the helices.