JP3873247B2 - Hollow fiber bundle end fixing method - Google Patents

Description

表１に示すように、本発明の実施例ではいずれの場合においても比較例に比し不良率が大幅に改善され、本発明の効果が実証された。
なお、前記実施例では容器の長手方向に垂直な断面における溝形状が半円形である場合について記述したが、本発明における中空糸束保持治具の溝形状はこれに限定されず、図３に示すような溝形状が三角形であるものや図４に示すような溝形状が四角形であるものやその他の形状であっても良い。
【０００７】
【発明の効果】
本発明により、中空糸モジュール製造時において、中空糸が接着剤の流入による力を受けて曲がることを防ぎ、性能的な低下がなく、被処理液の外部への漏れがない中空糸モジュールを製造するための、中空糸束の端部固定方法が得られた。
【図面の簡単な説明】
【図１】本発明による実施例を説明する模式図である。
【図２】図１におけるＡ部の詳細を示す模式図である。
【図３】本発明による実施例のうち溝形状が三角形の例を示す模式図である。
【図４】本発明による実施例のうち溝形状が四角形の例を示す模式図である。
【図５】中空糸モジュールの一例を示す正面模式図及び立面模式図である。
【図６】中空糸モジュールの製造において、中空糸束の両端を容器に固定するための治具を取り付けた例を示す正面模式図及び立面模式図である。
【図７】従来の技術による中空糸束の両端を容器に固定する方法を説明する模式図である。
【図８】図７において、Ａ部、及びＢ部の詳細、中空糸の曲がる様子を示す模式図である。
【符号の説明】
１ 中空糸（中空糸束）
２ 容器
３ 接着剤
４ 中空糸束保持治具
５ 液体流入・流出口
６ ヘッダー
７ シール剤
８ キャップに設けた溝[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for fixing a hollow fiber to a container with an adhesive in a manufacturing process of a hollow fiber module such as an artificial kidney that performs dialysis using a hollow fiber, a water purifier that performs filtration, and a filter.
[0002]
[Prior art]
FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing an example of a hollow fiber module. The hollow fiber module has a structure in which the hollow fiber 1 is fixed inside the cylindrical container 2 with an adhesive 3. In order to fix both ends of the hollow fiber bundle 1 to the container 2 with the adhesive 3 during the manufacturing process of the hollow fiber module, the hollow fiber bundle holding jig 4 is inserted after inserting the hollow fiber into the container as shown in FIG. Is covered with the opening ends on both sides of the container, and both ends of the hollow fiber are held by the hollow fiber bundle holding jig 4, and then bonded from the liquid inflow / outflow port 5 of the container or the adhesive inlet provided in the container. Agent 3 is injected. When the bottom surface of the hollow fiber holding jig 4 is opened, the hollow fiber 1 is inserted into the container after the hollow fiber holding jig 4 is placed on the opening ends on both sides of the container 2, or the hollow fiber 1 is inserted into the container 2. Then, the hollow fiber bundle holding jig 4 is placed on the opening ends on both sides of the container 2, and both ends of the hollow fiber 1 are held by the hollow fiber bundle holding jig 4. The adhesive 3 may be injected from the part.
As shown in FIG. 7, the surface of the conventionally used hollow fiber bundle holding jig 4 that is in contact with the hollow fiber 1 is a smooth surface. When the hollow fiber bundle 1 is held using such a hollow fiber bundle holding jig 4 and then the adhesive 3 is injected, the hollow fiber 1 receives a force from the adhesive 3 and bends as shown in FIG. There is. This phenomenon is likely to occur in the outer peripheral portion of the hollow fiber bundle, and the bent hollow fiber is deformed when the adhesive is cured and the adhesive is cut off at both ends of the container to open both ends of the hollow fiber. Or even if a bent thread is buried in the adhesive and the adhesive is cut, the thread does not open. These phenomena cause the performance to be deteriorated by obstructing the flow of the liquid to be treated flowing inside the hollow fiber while using the hollow fiber module. In addition, the bent yarn may open at the end of the container away from the hollow fiber bundle, and in this case, the opening comes outside the sealing material provided between the cap attached to the container and the cut surface of the adhesive. When the hollow fiber module is used, the liquid to be treated flowing inside the hollow fiber may leak out of the container, and thus a strict inspection is required.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The object of the present invention is to produce a hollow fiber module that prevents the hollow fiber from bending due to the force due to the inflow of the adhesive as described above, has no degradation in performance, and does not leak the liquid to be treated to the outside. An object of the present invention is to provide an end fixing method for a hollow fiber bundle.
[0004]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
As a result of diligent research to solve the above-mentioned problems, a groove along the longitudinal direction of the hollow fiber in the hollow fiber bundle holding jig that covers the open end of the container is formed on the entire circumference of the hollow fiber contact surface. As a result, it was found that the above-mentioned problems of the prior art could be solved at once, and the present invention was obtained.
That is, the present invention relates to a method for bundling a plurality of hollow fibers, filling a cylindrical container having at least one open end, and fixing the end of the hollow fiber bundle to the container with an adhesive. A groove that is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the hollow fiber is provided on the entire circumference of the contact surface of the hollow fiber, and the circle equivalent diameter of the groove is twice the outer diameter of the hollow fiber. The end fixing of the hollow fiber bundle, wherein the adhesive is first injected from the injection port after holding the hollow fiber bundle end in a predetermined position using the hollow fiber bundle holding jig of 10 times or less Is the method.
The hollow fiber referred to in the present invention refers to a fiber having a hollow center part made of a material such as cellulose, polyacrylonitrile, polysulfone, polyethylene, polyamide, polymethyl methacrylate, polyethylene vinyl alcohol, etc., and a blood purification device for medical use Used in drinking water purifiers and the like.
In addition, the container referred to in the present invention contains a bundle of a plurality of the hollow fibers and serves as a liquid flow path that flows outside the hollow fibers. For example, a cylindrical shape is used. As the material, polycarbonate, polystyrene or the like is used.
The adhesive referred to in the present invention is for isolating the inside and the outside of the hollow fiber, and a material such as polyurethane or epoxy is used as the material.
Further, the hollow fiber bundle holding jig referred to in the present invention is a jig for holding the hollow fiber bundle in a predetermined position, and also serves to seal the adhesive at the same time. Examples of the shape include shapes shown in FIGS. 1, 3, and 4. The groove 8 parallel to the longitudinal direction of the hollow fiber serves to hold the hollow fiber parallel to the longitudinal direction. The dimension of the groove 8 is defined by a circle-converted diameter. The circle-converted diameter here refers to the area of each groove portion in a cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the container of the hollow fiber bundle holding jig 4. It is the diameter when converted to a semi-circle with the same area. For example, when the shape of the groove in the cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the container as shown in FIG. 1 is a semicircular shape, the diameter of the semicircle is referred to, and the shape of the groove in the cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the container as shown in FIG. Is a semicircular diameter having the same area as the triangle for the triangular shape, and a semicircular shape having the same area as the quadrilateral when the shape of the groove in the cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the container is square as shown in FIG. Say the diameter.
In the present invention, the diameter in terms of a circle is preferably not less than 2 times and not more than 10 times the outer diameter of the hollow fiber. If the diameter in terms of a circle exceeds 10 times the outer diameter of the hollow fiber, the adhesive does not sufficiently permeate into the portion where the hollow fiber is fixed, which causes problems such as liquid leakage, which is not preferable. In addition, since the hollow fiber bends by receiving the force of the adhesive in each groove, it is difficult to solve the problem to be solved by the present invention. If the diameter in terms of a circle is less than twice the outer diameter of the hollow fiber, the proportion of the hollow fiber existing in the vicinity of the outer peripheral portion is reduced by the groove, and as a result, the effect of the present invention is hardly obtained. More preferably, the equivalent circular diameter of the groove is 2.5 to 9 times the outer diameter of the hollow fiber, more preferably 3 to 8 times.
[0005]
[Action]
To fix both ends of the hollow fiber bundle to the container with an adhesive during the manufacturing process of the hollow fiber module, insert the hollow fiber bundle into the container and then place the hollow fiber bundle holding jig over the open ends on both sides of the container. Alternatively, the hollow fiber bundle holding jig is placed over the open ends on both sides of the container, and then the hollow fiber bundle is inserted into the container to hold both ends of the hollow fiber with the hollow fiber bundle holding jig, and then the liquid flows into the container. Inject the adhesive from the outlet or the adhesive inlet provided in the container.
At this time, since the flow of the adhesive also has components other than the longitudinal direction of the hollow fiber, the hollow fiber receives a force, but is provided on the entire circumference of the portion of the hollow fiber holding jig that contacts the hollow fiber and has a specific range of circles. the grooves along the hollow fiber longitudinally with equivalent diameter, Runode hollow fibers are properly held in place, the hollow fiber bending can be prevented.
[0006]
【Example】
Examples of the present invention will be described below, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
Examples 1 to 4
Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a hollow fiber bundle holding jig 4 having a groove is used. The hollow fiber bundle holding jig 4 is provided with a groove 8 having a semicircular groove shape in a cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the container on the entire circumference of the hollow fiber contact surface. After filling, the hollow fiber bundle holding jig 4 was placed on the openings on both sides of the container. Thereafter, an adhesive was injected from the liquid inlet / outlet of the container. Here, a hollow fiber bundle made of polysulfone and having a hollow fiber outer shape of 300 μm, a length of 299 mm, and a hollow fiber number of 9,200 is used, and the container is made of a styrene-based resin and has a longitudinal length of 257 mm. The one with an end inner diameter of 41 mm was used. The hollow fiber bundle holding jig 4 was made of polystyrene, the cap had an inner diameter of 38 mm, the groove had a semicircular shape, and a semicircular diameter of 0.6 mm, 1 mm, 2 mm, or 3 mm. As the adhesive, a urethane adhesive having a viscosity of 1.85 Pa · sec and a specific gravity of 1.1 to 1.3 was used. Here, the diameter of the semicircular groove is 2 times, 3.3 times, 6.7 times, and 10 times the outer diameter of the hollow fiber.
In the comparative example shown in FIG. 7, a hollow fiber bundle holding jig 4 having no groove is used. Each condition of the hollow fiber bundle, the container, and the adhesive was the same as in the above example.
Table 1 shows the defective rate of the modules after bonding in the above examples and comparative examples.
In addition, the defect said here means that there exists a hollow fiber which becomes 25 mm or more in length when a curved hollow fiber is projected on the surface perpendicular | vertical to the longitudinal direction of a container. In this case, the end portion of the hollow fiber is buried in the adhesive, and the defect that the hollow fiber end portion does not open often occurs.

As shown in Table 1, in any of the examples of the present invention, the defect rate was greatly improved as compared with the comparative example, and the effect of the present invention was demonstrated.
In addition, although the said Example described the case where the groove shape in a cross section perpendicular | vertical to the longitudinal direction of a container was a semicircle, the groove shape of the hollow fiber bundle holding jig in this invention is not limited to this, FIG. The groove shape as shown may be a triangle, the groove shape as shown in FIG. 4 may be a square shape, or other shapes.
[0007]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, when producing a hollow fiber module, the hollow fiber module is prevented from bending due to the force due to the inflow of the adhesive, producing a hollow fiber module that has no performance degradation and does not leak to the outside of the liquid to be treated. Thus, a method for fixing the end of the hollow fiber bundle was obtained.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing details of a part A in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing an example in which the groove shape is triangular in the embodiment according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing an example in which the groove shape is a quadrangle in the embodiment according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a front schematic view and an elevation schematic view showing an example of a hollow fiber module.
FIGS. 6A and 6B are a front schematic view and an elevational schematic view showing an example in which a jig for fixing both ends of a hollow fiber bundle to a container is attached in the manufacture of a hollow fiber module. FIGS.
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a method for fixing both ends of a hollow fiber bundle to a container according to a conventional technique.
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the details of part A and part B and the state of bending of the hollow fiber in FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Hollow fiber (hollow fiber bundle)
2 Container 3 Adhesive 4 Hollow fiber bundle holding jig 5 Liquid inflow / outflow 6 Header 7 Sealing agent 8 Groove provided in the cap

Claims (1)

In a method of concentrating a plurality of hollow fibers, filling a cylindrical container having at least one open end, and fixing the hollow fiber bundle end to the container with an adhesive, the hollow fiber bundle is held at a predetermined position. A jig that is provided with a groove parallel to the longitudinal direction of the hollow fiber in a portion in contact with the hollow fiber on the entire circumference of the hollow fiber contact surface , and the circular equivalent diameter of the groove is not less than 2 times and not more than 10 times the outer diameter of the hollow fiber. A method for fixing an end of a hollow fiber bundle, wherein an adhesive is injected from an injection port for the first time after holding the end of the hollow fiber bundle in a predetermined position using a hollow fiber bundle holding jig.

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