KR20110085096A - Filter comprising activated carbon fiber and ion exchange fiber and water purifier comprising the filter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A filter including activated carbon fiber and ion-exchange fiber, and a water purifier including the filter are provided to improve the performance a water purifying process and simplify the structure of the water purifier. CONSTITUTION: A filter(1) includes a housing(10). An inlet(12) is formed at one side of the housing, and target water is introduced through the inlet. An outlet(14) is formed at another side of the housing, and purified water is discharged through the outlet. A filter module including an activated carbon fiber layer(20) and an ion exchange layer are formed between the inlet and the outlet. The activated carbon fiber layer and the ion exchange layer are alternately stacked along the side wall of the housing.

Description

Filter Comprising Activated Carbon Fiber and Ion Exchange Fiber and Water Purifier Comprising the Filter {Filter Comprising Activated Carbon Fiber and Ion Exchange Fiber And Water Purifier Comprising The Filter}

The present invention relates to a water purifier including a composite filter for water purification and a composite filter for water purification, and more particularly, to a composite filter and a water purifier including activated carbon fibers and ion exchange fibers.

As environmental concern increases, so does interest in water purifiers. In general, a water purifier provides a function of filtering purified water that requires purified water, such as tap water or natural water, as purified water of hot or cold water. The water purifier should be equipped with a plurality of filters for sterilizing bacteria causing waterborne diseases by removing components and odors harmful to the human body, including suspended solids mixed in purified water.

The water purifier removes contaminants through the granular activated carbon filter which has a filtering function by the adsorption action by the fine pores of the activated carbon and the precipitation filter formed by purified water as the purified water passes sequentially. Hollow fiber membrane filter and UV sterilization filter are optionally installed.

It is necessary to downsize the water purifier while improving the water purifying performance of the water purifier.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a composite filter which can downsize the water purifier while maintaining the performance of the water purifier.

A composite filter according to an aspect of the present invention, the housing; An inlet formed at one side of the housing and into which purified water is introduced; An outlet formed on the other side of the housing and configured to discharge the purified water to be purified; And a composite filter module formed between the inlet and the outlet and having an activated carbon fiber layer and an ion exchange layer, wherein the activated carbon fiber layer and the ion exchange layer are alternately stacked along sidewalls of the housing. .

Purifier according to one aspect of the invention, the housing; An inlet formed at one side of the housing and into which purified water is introduced; An outlet formed on the other side of the housing and configured to discharge the purified water to be purified; And a composite filter module formed between the inlet and the outlet and having an activated carbon fiber layer and an ion exchange layer, wherein the activated carbon fiber layer and the ion exchange layer are alternately stacked along sidewalls of the housing. It includes a composite filter.

The composite filter including the activated carbon fiber and the ion exchange fiber according to the present invention has a simple structure and excellent water purification performance, thereby making it possible to miniaturize the water purifier.

1 illustrates a composite filter for water purification according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 shows an activated carbon fiber according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 illustrates a composite filter for water purification according to another embodiment of the present invention.
4A and 4B are views for explaining an ion exchange reaction according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a view for explaining a method of operating a composite filter according to the present invention.

The above objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like reference numerals designate like elements throughout the specification. In addition, when it is determined that the detailed description of the known function or configuration related to the present invention may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Figure 1 shows a composite filter for water purification according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 shows an activated carbon fiber according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1, the composite filter 1 for water purification according to an embodiment of the present invention is a housing 10, inlet 12, outlet 14, activated carbon fiber 20, granular activated carbon 30, hollow It comprises a desert (60).

The composite filter 1 for water purification may generally refer to a filtering device used for purifying water. The composite filter according to the present invention may provide a function of effectively removing harmful components contained in water while having a small volume. Hereinafter, the filter refers to the composite filter 1. The complex filter 1 for water purification according to the present invention will be described in detail.

The housing 10 may form an external structure of the composite filter 1 for water purification. That is, it may be provided a place where the composite filter module can be located. For example, the composite filter module may include an activated carbon fiber 20, granular activated carbon 30, and a hollow fiber membrane 60.

The cross section of the housing 1 may have a shape corresponding to that of the activated carbon fiber 20, the granular activated carbon 30, and the hollow fiber membrane 60.

In addition, the inlet 12 and the outlet 14 may be formed in the housing 10.

Inlet 12 is where the purified water is introduced. Here, the purified water may refer to general purified tap water. Raw water is a term included in purified water.

The outlet 14 is where the purified water flows out. That is, the purified water subject through the inlet 12 may be discharged after the purified water.

Activated carbon fiber 20 (ACF) may provide a function for purifying purified water.

The activated carbon fiber 20, also called fibrous activated carbon, will be described in detail below.

Activated Carbon Fiber (ACF)

Activated carbon fiber 20 refers to an adsorbent that greatly improves the adsorption capacity and adsorption rate of the existing granular activated carbon. The activated carbon fiber 20 is formed of a myriad of micropores involved in adsorption. Therefore, the adsorption capacity is large and the adsorption rate is very fast because micropores are developed on the surface. In particular, it can be effectively adsorbed to volatile organic compounds (VOC) such as free residual chlorine, trihalo methane, chloroform and lead. In addition, it has the ability to remove amine odor and remove methyl mercaptan.

In addition, since the fiber form, processing can be easy in various forms. For example, a needle-punch method may be used to process activated carbon fibers. The needle-punch method may refer to a method of producing a nonwoven yarn into a web and then punching and bonding the needles.

In other words, the needle-punch method can be used to cut or perforate the activated carbon fiber in the felt (felt) state can be made in the shape desired by the user. Here, felt can be a soft, thick cloth made by compressing wool or hair.

In summary, activated carbon fiber 20 is a material that is easy to process and has an excellent adsorption capacity to remove harmful components contained in water.

The activated carbon fiber 20 may have a shape corresponding to the housing 10. That is, when the housing 10 is circular, the activated carbon fiber 20 may also have a circular shape.

The purified water introduced from the inlet 12 may first be purified by the activated carbon fibers 20. That is, as described above, the activated carbon fiber 20 can adsorb and remove free residual chlorine, trihalo methane, chloroform, and lead contained in purified water.

Since the activated carbon fiber 20 has a high adsorption rate due to a high adsorption rate, the filter may be miniaturized. That is, the amount of the existing granular activated carbon 30 can be reduced. Therefore, since the filter mounting space of the water purifier becomes small, it may be possible to reduce the size and weight of the water purifier.

The activated carbon fiber 20 may also provide a dispersion plate function. Since the diameter of the housing 10 is larger than the diameter of the inlet 12, the purified water flowing in needs to be spread widely. Since the activated carbon fiber 20 is made of a fiber material, it is possible to provide a dispersion plate function to widen the introduced purified water.

In addition, since the activated carbon fiber 20 has excellent hydrophilicity and a high adsorption rate with harmful substances, the purified purified water may not accumulate in the inlet 12. In other words, the pressure loss can be reduced because it can provide an effect of reducing the clogging phenomenon.

That is, by placing the inlet 12 and the activated carbon fiber 20 so that the purified water introduced into the inlet 12 first passes the activated carbon fiber 20, the purified water is evenly distributed, so that no separate plate is required. As a result, water clogging may be reduced.

The activated carbon fiber 20 may be made of felt or block molded body.

Referring to Figure 2, the felt-like activated carbon fiber 22 may be used in a multi-stage stacking.

For example, the felt-like activated carbon fiber 22 may have a thickness of about 3 mm. The felt-like activated carbon fibers 22 may be laminated by using about 7 to 8 steps. As described above, the felt-like activated carbon fiber 22 can be easily processed by a needle-punch method.

Alternatively, activated carbon fibers 24 in the form of block molded bodies can be used. For example, the activated carbon fiber 24 in the form of a block molded body may have a thickness of about 20 mm.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the granular activated carbon 30 may be located under the activated carbon fiber 20 so that the water purified by the activated carbon fiber 20 may be directed to the granular activated carbon 30.

The granular activated carbon 30 may provide a function of purifying water and improving the taste of the water.

Water purified from the granular activated carbon 30 may face the dispersion plate 40.

The dispersion plate 40 may provide a function of widening the water that is driven to a specific area during the water purification process.

The water passed through the dispersion plate 40 may again face the activated carbon fiber 20. Since the activated carbon fibers 20 may also provide a function of dispersing water, the dispersion plate 40 may be of an arbitrary configuration.

The activated carbon fiber 20 may be made of the activated carbon fiber 22 in the form of a felt or activated carbon fiber 24 in the form of a block as described above, and may provide the same function as described above.

By creating a plurality of layers of activated carbon fibers 20, the interior of the composite filter 1 can be partitioned. That is, the layers constituting each composite filter in the composite filter 1 can be prevented from being mixed. It is thus possible to provide the ability to selectively replace only the feature filter zones.

The water passing through the layer of activated carbon fiber 20 may pass through the granular activated carbon 30 and the activated carbon fiber 20 to undergo a water purification process repeatedly.

The number of layers of the activated carbon fiber 20 layer and the granular activated carbon 30 layer may be easily modified by those skilled in the art.

Water passing through the activated carbon fiber 20 and the granular activated carbon 30 layer may face the hollow fiber membrane 60.

The hollow fiber membrane 60 is filled with hollow hollow hollow yarns, and can adsorb impurities and the like. For example, bacteria and microorganisms can be removed.

Water passing through the hollow fiber membrane 60 exits the composite filter 1 through the outlet 14.

It will be apparent that the above-described composite filter 1 can be installed in a water purifier.

The purified water of the composite filter 1 according to the embodiment disclosed in FIG. 1 is arranged to flow naturally from the top to the bottom according to gravity. That is, the purified water of the composite filter 1 may flow in one direction. At this time, each of the activated carbon fibers 20, granular activated carbon 30, and hollow fiber membrane 60 constituting the composite filter 1 is disposed at right angles to the direction of the purified water and the purified water is in each layer. It has a stacked structure that can be filtered alternately. That is, the activated carbon fiber 20 and the granular activated carbon 30 are disposed along the side of the composite filter. The advantage of such an arrangement is that when the filter is selectively replaced, the filter of the uppermost layer is replaced with the fastest time, so that the filter can be selectively replaced and the entire filter does not need to be replaced, thereby reducing the cost.

3 is a view illustrating a composite filter for water purification according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 4A and 4B are views for explaining an ion exchange reaction according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The composite filter for water purification according to another embodiment of the present invention may provide a function of purifying water by using an ion exchange principle by providing an ion exchange unit.

The difference from the embodiment disclosed in FIG. 1 is that the composite filter 1 of the embodiment disclosed in FIG. 3 further includes an ion exchange unit 50.

The ion exchange unit 50 may be made of ion exchange fibers, ion exchange resins and activated carbon fibers having an ion exchange function. The ion exchange unit 50 may include an ion exchange layer.

The ion exchange reaction is described in detail with reference to FIG. 4A as follows.

The backbone 52 has a functional group 54 of a cation or an anion bonded thereto. Backbone 52 may provide a skeleton of functional group 54. When functional group 54 reacts with reactant 56, it may cause reactant 56 to bind to backbone 52. The reactant 56 refers to a hazardous substance contained in water.

For example, when a reactant 56 having a cation comes to the functional group of the cation, the reactant 56 may bind to the backbone 52, thereby removing the reactant 56. Therefore, it is possible to remove the harmful heavy metal in the purified water. For example, Pb ^{2 +} and CU ^{2 +} can be removed.

Referring to Figure 4b when water, Cu ^{2 +,} Pb ^{2 +} passes through the ion-exchange unit ^{(50), Cu 2 +,} Pb 2 + is removed and illustrating the water only passing through.

As described above, the ion exchange fibers capable of ion exchange reactions are as follows.

<Ion Exchange Fiber>

Ion-exchange fiber is formed by forming an ion-exchange resin having a functional group with ions having the same sign as heavy metal ions contained in purified water and forming a fibrous form. The ion exchange fiber may have a shape in which a polymer matrix inside the fiber has a high tensile strength and high concentrations of functional groups are implanted in the polymer matrix. The polymer matrix may have high ion exchange ability, excellent impurity adsorption capacity and strength, and may have strength, elasticity and elasticity. In addition, it is excellent in workability because it is a fiber.

The cation exchange fiber of which the functional group is a cation is acidic, and the anion exchange fiber of which the functional group is an anion may be medium basic.

<Method for producing ion exchange fiber>

Ion exchange fibers can be prepared by the following method.

The ion exchange fiber may be based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Styrene polymerization is performed on the base material. Styrene polymerization can modify a base material by irradiating radiation, an ultraviolet-ray, a plasma, etc.

It then creates a functional group. The functional groups can produce functional groups that can exchange cations or anions through sulfuric acid or other chemical treatments. For example, the type of ion exchange fibers may be classified into cation exchange fibers, anion exchange fibers, and chelate resins according to the characteristics of the functional groups of the ion exchange groups.

Cation exchange fiber is a form in which a cationic functional group is bonded to a polymer backbone.

The cationic functional group may be a sulfonic acid group (SO ₃ H) or a carboxy group (COOH).

When the cationic functional group is sulfonated groups (SO ₃ H), H + ions in SO ₃ H can be exchanged for cations contained in water. It can be exchanged with a strongly acidic cation which is inorganic in nature.

When the cationic functional group is a carboxyl group (COOH), H + ions in COOH can be exchanged for a cation contained in water. It can be exchanged with the weakly acidic cation corresponding to the organic acid in nature.

Anion exchange fiber is a form in which an anion functional group is bonded to a polymer backbone.

The anionic functional group may be an oxime group (NOH) or an amino group (NH ₂ ).

If the anion functional group is an oxime group (NOH), the OH-ion contained in the NOH may be exchanged for the anion contained in the water. It can be exchanged with strong basic anions which are basic in nature.

When the anionic functional group is an amino group (NH ₂ ), NH ₂ can react with water to form OH-ions. OH-ions can be exchanged for anions contained in water. It can be exchanged with a weak basic anion which is basic in nature.

Chelating resins are ion-exchange fibers with functional groups of ligands that can chelate.

Chelates are complex compounds in which two or more ligands coordinate with a central metal atom to form a ring. In addition, a ligand means the molecule | numerator and ion which are couple | bonded around the center metal ion of the compound currently coordinated. To act as a ligand, it must have a non-covalent electron pair.

For example, the chelate resin can be in the form of the CH ₂ N (CH ₂ COOH) ₂ is bound to the polymer backbone. H + ions contained in COOH can be exchanged with heavy metal ions. The heavy metal may be selectively removed depending on the type of functional group.

The ion exchange unit 50 may be formed in one layer as shown in FIG. 4, or may be stacked in a plurality of layers, although not shown. When formed of a plurality of layers may be located between the activated carbon fiber 20, granular activated carbon 30.

In addition, the ion exchange fibers can be prepared in the form of a sheet. When the ion exchange part 50 is formed of an ion exchange fiber sheet, it may not need a diaphragm part that separates the layer and the layer when stacked. In addition, since it is not mixed with the granular activated carbon 30, it is easy to separate the granular activated carbon and ion exchange fibers during regeneration after filter collection.

Further, since the ion exchange fibers in the form of sheets can be easily stacked on the housing 10, the structure of the composite filter 1 can be simplified and the composite filter 1 can be miniaturized.

5 is a view for explaining a method of operating a composite filter according to the present invention. FIG. 5 is based on the structure according to the embodiment of the invention disclosed in FIG.

The purified water may be introduced into the composite filter 1 through the inlet 12 (S510).

The introduced purified water is passed through the activated carbon fiber 20 (S520).

The activated carbon fiber 20 may adsorb and remove organic matter contained in purified water.

In addition, the activated carbon fiber 20 can provide the function of the dispersion plate to spread the purified water.

The purified water past the activated carbon fiber 20 is passed through the granular activated carbon 30 (S530).

The granular activated carbon 30 can improve the water taste of purified water and can adsorb and remove organic matter.

The purified water passing the granular activated carbon 30 passes through the ion exchange unit 50 (S540).

The ion exchange unit 50 may remove harmful heavy metals contained in purified water.

Thereafter, as described above, it may be filtered while passing through the activated carbon fiber 20, granular activated carbon 30, ion exchange unit 50.

The purified water passing through the ion exchange unit 50 passes through the hollow fiber membrane 60 (S550).

The hollow fiber membrane 60 may remove bacterial substances such as bacteria and microorganisms contained in purified water.

10: housing 20: activated carbon fiber
50: ion exchange unit

Claims (10)

housing;
An inlet formed at one side of the housing and into which purified water is introduced;
An outlet formed on the other side of the housing and configured to discharge the purified water to be purified; And
Is formed between the inlet and the outlet, and comprises a composite filter module having an activated carbon fiber layer and an ion exchange layer,
The activated carbon fiber layer and the ion exchange layer are alternately stacked along the side wall of the housing
Composite filter. The method of claim 1, wherein the composite filter module
Further comprising granular activated carbon
Composite filter. According to claim 1, wherein at least one of the activated carbon fiber layer and the ion exchange layer is provided with a plurality of layers
Composite filter. The method of claim 1, wherein the activated carbon fiber layer,
In the form of a block or a plurality of felts
Composite filter. The method of claim 1, wherein the ion exchange layer,
Ion exchange fiber, characterized in that
Composite filter. The method of claim 1, wherein the ion exchange layer,
Consisting of a polymer and a functional group bonded to the polymer,
The functional group includes a cationic functional group, an anionic functional group and a chelate functional group.
Composite filter. The method of claim 6, wherein the cationic functional group,
Consisting of at least one of a sulfonic acid group (SO ₃ H) and a carboxyl group (COOH)
Composite filter. The method of claim 6, wherein the anion functional group,
Consisting of at least one of an oxime group (NOH) and an amino group (NH ₂ )
Composite filter. The method of claim 6, wherein the chelate functional group,
CH ₂ N (CH ₂ COOH) ₂
Composite filter. A water purifier comprising the composite filter according to claim 1.

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