JPH0655041A - Method for centrifugal potting and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To stabilize the boundary surface of a filling adhesive inside a material to be potted by dividing operations from the start to the end of potting into three processes and changing centrifugal force in the each process to apply optimum centrifugal force. CONSTITUTION:A jig 5 is rotated to turn a module case 2 along a specified rotary track and a potting agent 4 in a cup 7 is injected into a module case 2 by using centrifugal force on turning. At this time, the revolution of a motor 6 is controlled to control the centrifugal force. In the 1st process, by making the centrifugal force small, the boundary surface 10 of the potting agent 4 injected into the module case 2 is stabilized to prevent the waving, etc., of the boundary surface 10. In the next 2nd process, by making the centrifugal force large, the potting agent 4 is compressed to a high pressure to remove air inside, allowing the missing of potting to be prevented. Further, in the 3rd process, by making the centrifugal force small, the expansion force after release to the atmospheric pressure can be moderated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is used for sealing and fixing hollow fiber membrane modules used in, for example, household water purifiers and medical or industrial filtration devices. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a centrifugal potting method and an apparatus for injecting a drug using centrifugal force.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional centrifugal potting method will be described by taking, for example, potting of a hollow fiber membrane module as an example, a centrifugal potting device as shown in FIG. That is, the module case 102 in which the bundle of hollow fiber membranes 101 is inserted is placed on the disc-shaped jig 100, and the jig 100 is rotated to rotate the module case 102 along a predetermined rotation path. During the turning, the opening 105 of the module case 102 is directed to the outside of the rotation path, and the centrifugal force F, F ′ at the time of turning is used to move the liquid filling adhesive 104 from the cup 103 into the module case 102. It is supposed to be injected.

[0003]

However, in the case of the above-mentioned conventional technique, the boundary surface 106 of the potting agent 104 injected into the module case 102 is not stable, and as shown in FIG. The above phenomenon appeared, and the quality was not stable without potting for a long time.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and its purpose is to:
When injecting the filling adhesive by the so-called centrifugal potting method, while stabilizing the boundary surface of the filling adhesive,
To shorten the potting time.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a potting object is provided with an opening of a void provided in the potting object outside a predetermined rotation path. Turn along the rotation trajectory while facing,
In the centrifugal potting method in which the liquid filling adhesive is injected into the cavity from the opening by utilizing the centrifugal force during turning, the centrifugal force is reduced to stabilize the liquid surface of the filling adhesive injected into the module case. The first step in the initial stage of injection and the second step in the middle stage of injection in which the centrifugal force is made larger than that of the first step to compress the injected filling adhesive to remove air and the like inside
And a third step in the latter stage of injection in which the centrifugal force is made smaller than that in the second step, the compressive force is released while the centrifugal force acts, and the expansive force of the filled adhesive is relaxed by the centrifugal force. It is characterized in that it is composed of.

Further, a jig that holds the potting object and that can rotate the potting object around the rotation axis by rotating the potting object around a predetermined rotation axis is arranged at the center of the jig. A storage part for storing the liquid filling adhesive,
A tube that serves as a flow path for a filling adhesive that connects the storage section and the potting object, and drive means that rotationally drives the jig,
In a centrifugal potting apparatus including: a rotation speed control means for variably controlling the rotation speed of the driving means in an initial period, a middle period, and a latter period of the filling adhesive injection.

[0007]

According to the present invention, the centrifugal potting method in the prior art is performed from the start to the end while the centrifugal force is kept constant, but the centrifugal force is changed in three steps of the initial, middle and late stages. Is.

That is, in the first step, the centrifugal force acting is reduced to stabilize the boundary surface of the injected filling adhesive and prevent waving.

However, in this state, since air and the like are mixed in the filling adhesive, in the second step, the filling adhesive is compressed by increasing the centrifugal force to remove the air inside, and the through hole is formed. Prevents the potting from coming off.

When this high-pressure compressed state is suddenly released to atmospheric pressure, the compressive force of the filling adhesive is released all at once, and the expansion force disturbs the boundary surface. In order to release the pressure without disturbing the boundary surface, the filling adhesive needs to have a high hardness, and the curing time becomes long.

Therefore, unlike the present invention, the compression force is not released all at once, but the compression force is released while applying a centrifugal force of a predetermined magnitude, so that the expansion force when the compression force is released is relaxed. Even if the hardness is low, the compression force can be released without disturbing the boundary surface.

Further, in the centrifugal potting device of the present invention, the filling and bonding is performed by variably controlling the number of rotations of the driving means for rotationally driving the jig in the initial period, the middle period and the latter period of the filling adhesive injection. Controls the centrifugal force that acts on the agent.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 2 (a) shows an example of a hollow fiber membrane module into which a filling adhesive is injected by the centrifugal potting method of the present invention. Hollow fiber membrane module 1 of the illustrated example
Is a full-volume filtration type, and roughly includes a module case 2 having a hollow space inside, and the module case 2
It is composed of a large number of hollow fiber membranes 3 filled inside, and a potting agent 4 as a filling adhesive that fixes the ends of each hollow fiber membrane 3 to the module case 2.

The module case 2 has a tubular shape, and each hollow fiber membrane 3 is bent in a U shape. Both ends of the hollow fiber membrane 3 are aligned with the open end portion of the module case 2 and bundled together. The terminal portion is fixed to the module case 2 by the potting agent 4. The potting agent 4 is each hollow fiber membrane 3
The gaps between them and the gaps between the hollow fiber membranes 3 and the module case 2 are filled in an airtight state to separate the internal space and the external space of the module case 2.

FIG. 2 (b) is a schematic view of the centrifugal potting device of the present invention.

That is, a disc-shaped jig 5 which rotates about a predetermined rotation axis, a motor 6 for rotationally driving the jig 5, and a potting agent arranged in the central portion of the jig 5 are used. And a cup 7 for storing. Further, the rotation speed of the motor 6 is controlled by the control means C in the initial period, the middle period, and the latter period.

The module case 2 as the potting object in which the hollow fiber membrane 3 is inserted on the jig 5.
Are set so as to surround the cup 7.

The module case 2 is arranged such that its central axis extends along the radial direction of rotation, and the opening into which the potting agent 4 is injected is directed outward in the radial direction. An adapter 8 for potting is attached to the opening of the module case 2, and the adapter 8 is connected to the cup 7 via a tube 9 as a tube.

Then, by rotating the jig 5, the module case 2 is swung along a predetermined rotation path, and the centrifugal force at the time of swiveling is used to remove the potting agent 4 stored in the cup 7. Tube 9 and adapter 8
It is injected into each module case 2 via.

The potting process is as shown in FIG.
It is divided into an initial first step, a middle second step, and a latter third step, and the centrifugal force is changed for each step. In this embodiment, the control of the centrifugal force is performed by controlling the rotation speed of the motor 6, but the radius of the rotating orbit may be changed.

In the first step, as shown in FIG. 1A, the centrifugal force is reduced to stabilize the boundary surface 10 of the potting agent 4 injected into the module case 2. In this embodiment, by lowering the rotation speed of the jig 5 to reduce the centrifugal force F1, the boundary surface 10 of the potting agent 4 is stably injected and the corrugation of the boundary surface 10 is prevented.

However, since the centrifugal force acting on the potting agent 4 is small in this state, air 11 or the like is mixed inside, and in the second step, the centrifugal force F2 is increased to compress the potting agent 4 under high pressure. Then, the air 11 inside is removed to prevent the potting from slipping out of the through hole or the like (see FIG. 1).
(See (b)).

Since a high hardness is required for the potting agent 4 in order to release the high-pressure compressed state to the atmospheric pressure, the centrifugal force F3 is reduced in the third step (see FIG. 1).
(See (c)), and relax the expansion force F4 after opening to atmospheric pressure (see FIG. 1 (d)).

That is, when the high pressure compression state is suddenly changed to the atmospheric pressure state (the apparatus is stopped), the compression force (expansion force) is released at once, and the expansion force holds the boundary surface without disturbing it. In order to do so, the filling adhesive must have high hardness. Therefore, since the compression force (expansion force) can be weakened while holding down the boundary surface by holding it in the low-pressure compressed state, the expansion surface will disturb the boundary surface due to the expansion force. It will be easier to hold and will lead to stabilization.

Explaining this point in more detail, in order to stop the apparatus, the filling adhesive has a hardness sufficient for self-holding the shape (a state in which the boundary surface of the filling adhesive does not change even if it is inclined). Just do it. When the high pressure compression state is suddenly changed to the atmospheric pressure state (the apparatus is stopped) and when the low pressure compression state is temporarily held and then changed to the atmospheric pressure state, the compression force after the atmospheric pressure is released (when the apparatus is stopped) ( There is a difference in hardness of the filling adhesive required for self-holding the expansion force). In other words, when the low pressure compression state is once held and then the atmospheric pressure is released, the shape can be held by itself even if the hardness of the filling adhesive is low, and the curing time is short.

By changing the centrifugal force acting on the potting agent 4 in each of the first, second, and third steps, the boundary surface 10 of the potting agent 4 in the module case 2 is stabilized and It has become possible to shorten the potting time.

Incidentally, according to the experiment, the potting conditions which were conventionally about 60 G for 20 minutes were changed to 10 G for 4 minutes in the initial first step, and 60 G for 2 minutes in the second step in the middle period. As a result of performing 3G for 3 minutes in the latter stage of the third step, the potting time required for 20 minutes at the beginning was 9 minutes, and the boundary surface 1 of the potting agent 4
A stabilization of 0 was also realized.

In the control of the centrifugal force in the third step, the rotation speed of the motor 6 may be decreased in several steps, or the rotation speed may be decreased steplessly.

In the above embodiment, the hollow fiber membrane module of the total volume filtration type is described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to such a type of total volume filtration type, and the openings at both ends of the module case may be used. Of course, it can be widely applied to various types of hollow fiber membrane modules such as potted cross-flow type hollow fiber membrane modules and other potting objects.

[0031]

Industrial Applicability The present invention has the above-mentioned structure and action, and the process from the start to the end of potting is divided into three steps, and the centrifugal force is changed in each step so that the optimum centrifugal force is applied. Therefore, the boundary surface of the filling adhesive in the potting object can be stabilized, and the potting time can be shortened.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A to 1D are schematic cross-sectional views for explaining each step of the centrifugal potting method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 (a) is a longitudinal sectional view showing an example of a hollow fiber membrane module sealed and fixed by the manufacturing method of the present invention, FIG.
(b) is a schematic diagram showing an example of an apparatus used in the potting method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 (a) is a schematic view of an apparatus to which a conventional centrifugal potting method is applied, and FIG. 3 (b) is a schematic cross-sectional view of a waved state of a potting agent.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Hollow Fiber Membrane Module 2 Module Case 3 Hollow Fiber Membrane 4 Potting Agent (Filling Adhesive) 5 Jig 6 Motor 7 Cup 8 Adapter 9 Tube 10 Boundary 11 Air

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A potting target object is swung along a rotary orbit with an opening of a cavity provided in the potting target object facing the outside of a predetermined rotary orbit, and centrifugal force at the time of turning is used. In the centrifugal potting method of injecting the liquid filling adhesive into the void through the opening, the first step in the initial stage of injection for stabilizing the liquid surface of the filling adhesive injected into the module case by reducing the centrifugal force. And a second step in the middle stage of injection in which the centrifugal force is made larger than that in the first step to compress the injected filling adhesive to remove air and the like inside, and a centrifugal force is made smaller than that in the second step. A centrifugal potting method, which comprises a third step in the latter stage of injection, in which the compressive force is released while the centrifugal force is applied, and the expansive force of the filled adhesive is relaxed by the centrifugal force. 2. A jig that holds a potting object and that is capable of rotating about a predetermined rotation axis to swivel the potting object around the rotation axis, and a jig that is arranged at the center of the jig. A centrifuge including: a storage unit for storing a liquid filling adhesive, a pipe serving as a flow path for the filling adhesive that connects the storage unit and a potting object, and a drive unit that rotationally drives the jig. The potting device is provided with a rotation speed control means for variably controlling the rotation speed of the drive means in the initial stage, the middle stage, and the latter stage of the injection of the filling adhesive.