Filing Information

Inventor(s)	Jonathan F. Hester · Brian E. Spiewak · Philip D. Radovanovic · Stefan R. Reimann · Robert S. Kody ·
Assignee(s)	3M Innovative Properties Company ·  View assignee updates
Attorney/Agent(s)	Douglas B. Little ·
Primary Examiner	W. L. Walker ·
Assistant Examiner	K S Menon ·
Application Number	US10438090
Filing date	05/14/2003
Issue date	01/17/2006
Prior Publication Data	US20040226886 - 11/18/2004
Predicted expiration date	08/15/2023
Patent term adjustment	93
U.S. Classifications	210/488  · 210/321.84  · 210/316  · 210/321.6  · 210/321.75  · 210/314  · 554/97  · 554/98  · 555/20  · 210/486  ·
International Classifications	B01D2907  ·
Kind Code	B2

Patent Family

Abstract

The present invention includes a membrane construction for selectively transferring a constituent to or from a fluid. The membrane construction includes a multi-layer fluid impermeable support sheet having a plurality of supports on at least one side of the support sheet that form a plurality of flow channels. At least one layer of the multi-layer support sheet is a bonding layer. A fluid permeable layer extends over the flow channels and is bonded to the plurality of the supports by the bonding layer.

Independent Claims | See all claims (20)

1. 1. A membrane construction comprising: a) a multi-layer fluid impermeable support sheet having a plurality of supports on at least one side of the support sheet, said supports forming a plurality of flow channels, at least one layer of the multi-layer sheet being a bonding layer; and b) at least one fluid permeable microporous or ultraporous membrane covering a plurality of said flow channels and bonded to a plurality of said supports by means of the bonding layer, said bonding layer comprising a resin layer having a lower softening temperature than the part of the fluid permeable layer that faces away from the bonding layer, such that the support sheet is bonded to the fluid permeable membrane by heat without damaging the structure of the fluid permeable layer of the membrane construction.