AU780917B2

AU780917B2 - A filter device

Info

Publication number: AU780917B2
Application number: AU30103/00A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Susanto Be
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2000-04-20
Filing date: 2000-04-20
Publication date: 2005-04-28
Anticipated expiration: 2020-04-20
Also published as: AU3010300A; CN1308054C; ID29900A; CN1344579A

Description

P/00/0o1 Regulation 3.2 r r

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor(s): Address for Service: Invention Title: SUSANTO BE SUSANTO BE

INTELLPRO

Patent Trade Mark Attorneys Level 7, Reserve Bank Building 102 Adelaide Street BRISBANE, QLD, 4000 (GPO Box 1339, BRISBANE, 4001) A FILTER DEVICE The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me: 2 A FILTER DEVICE TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION THIS INVENTION relates to a filter device for filtering a flowable medium and in particular but not limited to a filter device for filtering water from a water tap.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Flowable media such as water, fuels, gases and the like generally contain particulate contaminants. Fi Iter devices are used to fi Iter these contami nants so that the flowable media to be consumed or used are substantially free of the 10 contaminants.

The filter devices known to the applicant usually have a cartridge with a filter material disposed therein. The cartridges are configured to allow a flowable medium to be filtered to permeate through the filter material before passing through the filter devices. While flowing through the filter material the particulate contaminants above certain size are trapped in the filter material. Whereby the media that passed through the filter material are substantially free of the contaminants above said size.

In time these cartridges become clogged with the trapped contaminants and they must be replaced. The costs of replacing these cartridges are high. Where the filter devices are used for filtering flowable media which are consumed or used many times in a day, the time periods for the filter cartridges to become clogged are relatively short. The costs for regular replacements are beyond affordability of many people.

The applicant has attempted to flush clean the filter cartridges of some of the known filter devices. The attempts have only limited success as a substantial amount of the contaminants trapped in the filter material cannot be removed.

Each of the filter cartridges generally has a centre core and an outer casing.

The space between the centre core and the casing is filled with several layers of coils of the filter material in the form of spun threads or strings which are wound tightly around centre core. The spun threads or strings are usually made of a synthetic material. They cannot be removed for cleaning or replacement. If they are forcibly removed the cartridge casing can be damaged and it is not possible to wind replacement spun threads or strings to work up to the same degree of efficiency as in a new filter cartridge.

The spun threads or strings in the cartridges also prone to damage when the cartridges are subject to flushing.

Accordingly there is a desire to have a filter device which is cost effective to purchase. There is also a desire to have a filter device which allows easy replacement of filter material. A further desire is that the filter material is readily available.

OBIECT OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a filter device which alleviates or at least reduces to a certain level one or more of the above prior art disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In one aspect therefore the present invention resides in a filter device for filtering particulate contaminants in a flowable medium. The device comprises a hollow body member having a first open end and a second open end opposite to said first end, a cap member having a through hole, and the cap member is adapted to be removably secured at said first end for the flowable medium to flow through said hole into the hollow of the body member, and a mass of carded or unspun textile fibre material disposed in the hollow and in the a flow path of the flowable medium so that substantial of the contaminants are trapped in the mass and the 10 flowable medium substantially free of said contaminants can flow out of the body member through said second opening.

~Preferably the carded or unspun textile fibre material is cotton wool which is affordable for most people and is readily available commercially.

The applicant has experimented with many different materials for filtering flowable media and has surprisingly discovered that carded or unspun textile fibre :material such as cotton wool has a good filtration property. More over this material can be used in hollows of any shaped. It also can be variably compressed to filter contaminants of different sizes.

The body member may include a plurality of multi stage connectable body parts which are selectively connected for a desired filtering capacity. A sealing member can be arranged between adjacent body parts. Desirably screw thread connections are provided between the adjacent body parts.

It is preferred that the through hole in the cap member is arranged so that initial contact of the flowable medium with the fibre material mass is centrally of the mass.

It is further preferred that the device of the present invention includes a spreader member having spaced apertures arranged to spread said flowable medium onto the mass. The spreader member may have a disc-shaped part provided with said apertures and one annular wall extending upwardly from said disc-shaped part and arranged around said apertures. The one annular wall confines substantial of said flowable medium to flow through the apertures so that little or no flowable medium flows can pass over the annular wall. This arrangement assist in preventing the flowable medium and therefore the contaminants therein from tracking between the mass and said hollow body member prior to entering the apertures.

Advantageously the spreader member has another annular wall extending in the opposite direction from said one annular wall. The another annular wall is S• adapted to into said mass so that the apertures are close to the mass. This helps to diffuse the flowable medium on the mass and thereby reduces pressure thereat.

The spreader member, in use, can serves as pressing means for pressing said fibre material into the hollow. The flowable medium in the space between said one annular wall member and the body member exerts a downward pressure onto the mass of fibre material. This in turns reduces pressure on the cap member.

6 Desirably a sealing member is arranged o provide a seal between the cap member and the hollow body member. The sealing member extends radially inwardly to in use, contact said spreader member.

The cap member can be arranged for removably coupling to an adapter for connection to a pipe or tap. Typically the cap member has a ring part, a cylindrical part joined to said ring part in between an axially inner end and an axially outer end thereof, and a periphery part joined to said ring part. Desirably the axially inner end extends into said spreader member so that the gap between the axially inner end and the apertures of the spreader member is minimal. The axially outer end may be threaded for removable coupling to threaded adapter.

The adapter may have a neck arranged for screw connection or clamping connection with a tap or pipe.

A sealing ring can be provided for sealing between said cap member and the adapter when coupling together.

In preference, said periphery part is threaded for removable engagement with a complimentary thread portion at said one end of the body member.

The hollow body member may have a separate filter material disposed downstream of said mass and adjacent to said second open end. Preferably said separate filter material are granular carbon or the like material.

The separate filter material is advantageously contained in a canister having apertured ends for the flowable medium to flow through therethrough. A screen may be arranged at one or both of the apertured ends. A screen can be arranged 7 between the mass and the canister. Desirably the screens are made of a felt material.

The canister may have a tapered wall extending from a larger end to a smaller end, and the portion of the hollow body adapted to receive the canister may also have a complimentary tapered wall. The tapered walls ensure that the canister can only be received in said portion when the smaller end of the canister is adjacent to said second open end.

The tapered walls may also be arranged so that a gap between the tapered walls extending from the larger end to just short of the smaller end.

10 Desirably the portion of the body member having said tapered wall is stepped radially inwardly.

Said second open end may also be arranged for coupling to an adapter for connection to a pipe or a tap.

Typically the flowable medium is water, petrol, oil or gas.

Typically said body member is arranged to allow visual inspection of the mass of fibre material so that a user can see its condition. This allows the user to determine when to clean the mass of fibre material while in use. In this regard the body member may have a window allowing visual inspection or is made of a transparent or translucent material.

The applicant has found that the carded or unspun textile fibre material can be easily removed for cleaning in a solvent or water. The cleaning process can be repeated many times before the fibre material need to be replaced. This substantially reduces he costs in operating the filter device. The cost for 8 manufacturing the filter device is also substantially lower th;_ the prior ari as idoes not require the expensive cartridge.

Experiments have shown that the filter device according to the present invention has a better filtration performance that a 0.5 micron cartridge type filter device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In order that the invention can be clearly understood and put into practical effect the invention will now be described in reference ic the accompanying drawings which illustrate non-limiting embodiments of the present invention, and wherein:- Figure 1 is a cross section side view of an embodiment Gf a single stage filter device of the present invention; Figure 2 a partial cut away side view of an embodiment of a dual stage filter device of the present invention; and Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view of the dual stage filter device So shown in Figure 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring initially to Figure 1 there is shown a single stage filter device according to the present invention. The device 10 as shown is for filtering water and is connected to a water tap 100.

The device 10 has a stepped cylindrical hollow body member 12 with a larger portion 14 and a smaller portion 16. The body member 12 is adapted for 9 water to flow into the open end (inlet end) of the larger portion 14 and to flow out of the device 10 through the open end (outlet end) of the smaller portion 16.

The larger portion 14 at said inlet end is externally threaded for coupling to a cap member 18. The cap member 18 has a disc-shaped part 20, a peripheral part 22 extending axially inwardly from the part 20, a neck part 24 and a water guide part 26. The peripheral part 22 is internally threaded for screw coupling to the larger portion 14 and the neck part 24 has seat 25 (see Figure 3) for receiving a sealing member.

The neck portion 24 is also threaded for engagement with a threaded adapter oo.9o9 S. 10 28 for connection to the tap 100. The adapter 28 may be selected to suit the tap .9 100. In the Figure 1 embodiment the adapter 28 has a closure member 30 with a central opening through which extends a resilient tube 32 positioned on the spout of the tap 100. A clamp 34 fixedly secure the device 10 to the tap 100. The clamp 34 also prevents water leakage from the tube 32.

The tube 32 is integrally formed with a flange 36 functioning as a sealing 999* member and seated on the seat In assembly a canister 38 containing powered or granular carbon material is placed in the smaller portion 16. As both the smaller portion 16 and the canister 38 have tapered walls the canister 38 can only be inserted with its smaller end first in.

The carbon material 40 is sandwiched between a top felt screen 42 and a bottom felt screen 44 which are respectively positioned adjacent to the top cover 46 and the cotton cover 48 of the canister 38. It should be noted that the covers 46 and 48 are apertured for water to flow through the device A felt pad 50 is placed on the cover 46 before a mass of cotton wool 52 is put in the larger portion 14. A water spreader 54 (see Figure 3) is used to compact the wool 52 in the portion 14.

The spreader 54 has a central disc 56 which extends substantially to the wall of the larger portion 14, an axially outwardly directed annular wall 58 and an axially inwardly d i rected annular wall 60. The central disc 56 has spaced apertures 62 positioned within the annular wall 58. The annular walls 58 and 60 direct 10 substantially all water initially into the middle of the cotton 52 and then spreading therefrom. This arrangement ensures that contaminants in the water are trapped in the wool 52 and any discolouring of the wool 52 will commence from the middle 4444 and is more pronounced thereat.

The body member 12 is made of a transparent material so that a user can 15 visually inspect the state of the wool 52 and to decide the time for cleaning the wool 52.

The spreader 54 apart from spreader water changes the stream of water from the tap 100 into a spray of water on the cotton 52. This arrangement reduces pressure on the wool 52 and prevents any damage that may possibly caused by high water pressure.

The outlet end of the device 10 can also be threaded for engaging an adapter for coupling to a hose (see Figure 2) or for providing a stream of water.

11 Referring now to Figure 2 there is shown an embodiment of a dual stage filter device 70. The device 70 is substantially similar to the device 10 shown in Figure 1 except for an hollow extension stage member 72 and a different adapter 74 for connection to a pipe or hose 102. In order to be consistent like numeral references are employed for the same components.

The extension stage member 72 has an internally threaded skirt portion 76 at its lower end. The skirt portion 76 has a seat 78 arranged above the threaded part of the skirt portion 76 for accommodating a sealing ring 80. The rest of the extension stage member 72 are the same as the larger portion 14 of the device oo 0e To convert from a single stage to a dual stage fil Iter device 70 all that the use: needs to do is to couple the extension stage member 72 to the hollow body member 12 and insert more cotton wool 52. The spreader 54 can again bc used to *555 compress the wool 52. The processes of adding and compressing may be repeated if more wool 52 is required to fill the device The exploded view shown in Figure 3 clearly shows all the components for 0rSr ,o the device 10 and 70 and how the components can be assembled into a single stage filter devicelO and a dual stage filter device Whilst the above has been given by way of illustrative examples of the present invention many variations and modifications thereto will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the broad ambit and scope of the invention as herein set forth.

Claims

1. A filter device for filtering particulate contaminants in a flowable medium, the device comprises a hollow body member having a first open end and a second open end opposite to said first end, a cap member having a through hole, and the cap member is adapted to be removably secured at said first end for the flowable medium to flow through said hole into the hollow of the body member,a mass of carded or unspun textile fibre material disposed in the hollow and in the a flow path of the flowable medium so that substantial of the contaminants are trapped in the mass and the flowable medium substantially free of said contaminants can flow out of the body member through said second opening, and a spreader member having a disc-shaped part arranged over the mass and provided with spaced apertures located centrally thereof, and one annular wall extending upwardly from said disc-shaped part and arranged around said apertures, the one annular wall being adapted to confine substantial of said flowable medium from said hole to 15 flow through the apertures so that initial contact of the flowable medium with the fibre material mass is centrally of the mass.

2. The device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the carded or unspun textile fibre material has a wool or like property.

3. The device as claimed in claim 2 wherein the carded or unspun textile fibre material is cotton wool or sheep wool.

4. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the body member including a plurality of multi stage connectable extension members which are selectively connected for a desired filtering capacity. 13 The device according to claim 4 wherein a sealing member is arranged between adjacent extension members.

6. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the through hole in the cap member is arranged in substantial alignment with the one annular wall.

7. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the spaced apertures being arranged to spread said flowable medium onto the mass.

8. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein the spreader member having another annular wall extending in the opposite direction to said one annular wall, the said another annular wall is adapted to protrude into said 10 mass so that the apertures are close to the mass and the flowable medium is directed into a central part of the mass.

9. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein the spreader member, in use, serving as pressing means for pressing said fibre material into the S: hollow. 15 10. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 9 wherein a part of the flowable medium in the mass of fibre material flows into a space between said one annular wall member and the body member thereby applying a force to said spreader member to exert a downward pressure onto the mass of fibre material.

11. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 10 wherein a cap sealing member is arranged to provide a seal between the cap member and the hollow body member.

12. The device according to claim 11 wherein the sealing member extends radially inwardly to, in use, contact said spreader member. 14

13. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 12 wherein the cap member is arranged for removably coupling to an adapter for connection to a pipe, or hose, or tap.

14. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 13 wherein the cap member having a ring part, a cylindrical part joined to said ring part in between an axially inner end and an axially outer end thereof, and a periphery part joined to said ring part. The device according to claim 14 wherein the axially inner end extending into said spreader member so that the gap between the axially inner end and the 10 apertures of the spreader member is minimal. S16. The device according to any one of claims 14 to 15 wherein the axially outer end being threaded for removable coupling to a threaded adapter, and the adapter having a neck arranged for screw connection or clamping connection with a tap or pipe. 15 17. The device according to any one of claims 14 to 16wherein said periphery part being threaded for removable engagement with a complimentary thread S•"portion at said one end of the body member.

18. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 17 wherein he hollow body member having a separate filter material disposed downstream of said mass and adjacent to said second open end.

19. The device according to claim 18 wherein the separate filter material is contained in a canister having apertured ends for the flowable medium to flow through therethrough. The device according to claim 19 wherein a screen is arranged adjacent to one or both of the apertured ends.

21. The device according to one of claims 19 to 20 wherein a further screen is arranged between the mass and the canister.

22. The device according to any one of claims 19 to 21 wherein said screens are made of a felt material.

23. The device according to any one of claims 19 to 22 wherein the canister having a tapered wall extending from a larger end to a smaller end, and the portion of the hollow body adapted to receive the canister having a complimentary tapered o•O.o wall, the tapered walls ensuring one way reception of the canister. S24. The device according to claim 23 wherein the tapered walls being arranged *o so that a gap exists between the tapered walls when the canister is received in said portion of the hollow body, and the gap extending from the larger end to just short oO*o of the smaller end. S 15 25. The device according to one of claims 23 to 24 wherein the portion of the ,body member having said tapered wall being stepped radially inwardly from remaining portion of the hollow body..

26. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 25 wherein said second open end being arranged for coupling to an adapter for connection to a pipe or a tap.

27. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 26 wherein the flowable medium is water, petrol, oil or gas.

28. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 27 wherein said body member is arranged to allow visual inspection of the mass of fibre material so that 16 a user can see its condition for determining when to clean the mass of fibre material while in use.

29. The device according to claim 28 wherein the body member having a window allowing visual inspection or is made of a transparent or translucent material. A filter device as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 and 3 of the drawings.

31. A filter device as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 2 and 3 of the drawings DATED this 25th day of February 2005 o o* SUSANTO BE By his Patent Attorneys INTELLEPRO *oo