Title of Invention

A WATER PURIFIER CARTRIDGE

Abstract

A water purifier cartridge with a hydrophilic purpose plastic sediment filter (1) in the form of a hollow tube closed at one end (2) and open at the other end. A flat plastic disc (3) is placed inside the said sediment filter (1) covering the inside portion of the closed end (2) of the sediment filter (1). A hollow biocide filter (4) open at both ends and made of a polymeric material is placed inside the sediment filter (1) with one end in contact with the said first disc(3). A hollow carbon block (5) open at both ends is placed inside the hollow biocide filter (4) with one end in contact with the said flat plastic disc (3). Open end of the assembly of the sediment filter (1), the biocide filter (4) and the carbon block (5) is fixed to a cap (6) with a center opening (7) providing sealing between the cap (6) and the assembly.

Full Text

The invention relates to a water purifier cartridge which oan be used with a container of water. Filtering and purifying drinking water has been an on going challenge. In many parts of the world, even municipal tap water is contaminated with bacteria and chemicals. Hence, many devices ranging from a simple ceramic filtration to more sophisticated systems like ultra violet, reverse osmosis, ozone etc. have been developed for home use. Outside the home» the problem of polluted water still exists. Spring water or filtered bottle water is some of the options for people to drink outside the home while travelling, in schools and work etc. The need for purified water while outside the home is so large that many products have been introduced in the market. These products range for users who would like the water to be oust filtered, or purify the tap water and some products are even designed for survival in wilderness purifying river and pond water- When it comes to personalize water filter or purifier, most of the products depend on the suction from the mouthpieces and or pressure on the bottle for the water to flow. us patent No.5156335 and US patent Ho.5045195 both! refer to drinking straw/tube. Both of these designs have a filter and purifier media in the tube and the user relies on suction at the mouthpiece to suck the water, US patent Ho.4151092, US patent Ho.5509605, US patent Ho,4995976, US patent Ho.4298475 and US patent No.4798671 all refer to portable filter and purifier, still relying on suction force for the water to flow. US patent No.5273649 refer to personal water purifier tube that relies on suction and pressure for the water to flow. Many products are in the market where the filter and or purifier are inside the water bottle. Most of these rely on pressure on the bottle for the water to flow. In most of these designs, the filter or the purifier unit is attached to the bottle cap. US patent No.4054526 has an external pressurizer for the water to flow through the system* US patent No.5688397, US patent Ho.5518613, US patent 5431813 and US patent Ho,5545316 all relate to filter/purifiers attached to inside of the bottle cap. In all these patents, water flow longitudinally from the bottom to the top, passing through filtration and purification mediums. In all these cases, pressure must be applied on the bottle. US patent 5609759 has the purifier attached to the inside of the bottle cap. The design is such that the water flows radial into the purifier and then flow through the center hole to the top of the bottle. Pressure must be applied on the bottle for the water to flow. The purifier in the US patent 5609759 uses carbon block with pore size in the range of 10 to 120 microns in size. * The purifier cartridge according to this invention is a three-stage system. The first stage is a hydrophillic porous plastic sediment filter. The pore size of the sediment filter can be uniform or can range across the thickness of the filter. The second stage is a biocide molded cylindrical part or a loosely packed biocide media. The third stage is molded carbon block having center core opening through which the purified water flows. The water is sucked in by the hydrophillic property of the sediment filter and the water flows radially into the sediment filter. Water free of sediments and other suspended particles is then pushed into the biocide section and finally the carbon block sucks in the water into the hollow center core-When a container fitted with such a purifier cartridge is inverted, purified water in the hollow center core flows out through the opening of the container by gravity. By applying slight squeeze on the container, water flow through the opening of the container without much pressure. Accordingly the present invention provides a water purifier cartridge comprising a hydrophylic porous plastic sediment filter in the form of a hollow tube closed at one end and open at the other end, a flat plastic disc placed inside the said sediment filter covering the inside portion of the closed end of the sediment filter to prevent water passing through the closed end of the sediment filter, a hollow biooide filter open at both ends and made of a polymeric material placed inside the sediment filt/?r with one end in contact with the said flat disc, a hollow carbon block open at both ends and placed inside the hollow biocide filter with one end in contact with the said flat plastic disc, open end of the assembly of the said sediment filter, the said biocide filter and the said carbon block being fixed to a cap with a center openning providing sealing between the cap and the assembly to prevent water flow through the joint between the cap and the assembly. The three-stage purifier cartridge according to the invention is constructed in the following way. The first stage sediment filter is manufactured using hydrophilic polyethylene preferably having a molecular weight in the range of 400^000 to 7,000,000 gn/mol. A cylinder having one end closed and one end open is made with the above range of material with thickness of the cylinder ranging preferably from 5 to 20 mm and having a central hollow core. The pore size of the sediment filter is preferably in the range from 5 to 15 microns. The prefered height of this sediment filter can range from 4 to 14 cms. The second stage is a biocide stage to disinfect bacteria and virus. The biocide can be preferably an iodine base ion exchange resin molded with a polymeric material to form a cylinder having openings on both ends. The thickness of the biocide filter is preferably ranging from 5 to 10 mm thick. Preferably the polymeric material is in the range of 20 to 70% of the total volume of the molded biocide filter. The third stage is the carbon block to remove snell, odor, and even trap any bacteria that has escaped from the biocide second stage. The carbon block is preferably made with a pore size ranging from 0.2 to 5 microns. Surface charge is created on the polymeric binder such that the carbon block is very hydrophilic. The carbon block is manufactured preferably in a cylinder from with openings on both ends. The thickness of the carbon block is preferably in the range from 5mm to 15mm. The three stage elements are assembled as follows. A plastic disc is placed inside the bottom of the sediment filter. The biocide element that has opening on both sides is placed inside of the sediment filter. The carbon block with opening on both sides is placed inside of the biocide cylinder. The diameter of the three sections are such that all of them fit tight and there is no air gap between sections. The top part of the assembly is open and the heights of the three sections are such that at the top all are at even height. A cap is fitted, either bonded or sonic welded on to the top of the above assembly to form the purifer cartridge. The purifier cartridge can be made to fit into the inside of a container cap. The container cap has an opening for the purified water to flow. This opening can be opened and closed by either a conventional screw cap and or push/pull cap. The container cap with the purifier cartridge is screwed on to the container to form container which can supply purified water. To purify the water, remove the container cap, fill in the water to be treated, close the cap with the purifier cartridge. Tilt the container and with a small squeeze water will flow in the radial direction in to the purifier cartridge. The water first flows through the sediment filter, and all the suspended particles are removed in the stage. Water free of suspended particles flows into the second stage into the biocide element. Bacteria and virus are disinfected in this stage. Water free of suspended particles and bacteria flow into the third stage which is the carbon block. In this stage all odor, smell, oolor and any bacteria are removed. Clean purified water flows through the center opening of the carbon block into the opening the bottle cap. With reference to the accompanying drawings : Fig. 1 shows a prefered embodiment of the water purifier cartridge according to the invention. Fig, 2 shows a prefered embodiment of the water purifier cartridge with a water container. The water purifier cartridge is made up of three stages. The first stage is a sediment filter (1) to remove all suspended particles* The sediment filter (1) is a porous filter preferably made of hydrophilic polyethelene. The pore size is preferably in the range from 5 to 15 microns. The sediemnt filter is closed at one end (2) and open on the other end * A flat plastic disc (3) is placed inside of the sediment filter (1). This will prevent the water to flow through the bottom of the purifier cartridge, and allow the water to flow only in the radial direction into the purifier cartridge. The second stage is a biocide filter (4), A biocide material with polymeric material is molded in the form of a hollow cylinder with openings on both ends. The biocide filter is formed in a tube form with thickness preferably ranging from 5 to 10 mm. The third stage is a carbon block (5). Activated carbon with a polymeric binder is used to make the carbon block. The carbon block is preferably made in a cylindrical form with both ends open. Preferably the thickness of the carbon block ranges from 5 to 20 mm. Prefered pore size of the carbon block is in the range from 0.2 to 5 microns. The three segments of the purifier cartridge are made with diameters such that, the biocide filter (4) slides into the sediment filter (1) and the carbon block (5) slides into the biocide filter A cap The purifier cartridge is push fitted into the container cap (6), The 0-rings The purifier cartridge according to the invention can be used in various embodiments for the supply of purified water. I CLAIM 1, n water purifier cartridge comprising a hydrophylic porous plastic sediment filter (1) in the form of a hollow tube closed at one end open at both ends and made of a polymeric material placed inside the sediment filter (1) with one end in contact with the said flat disc , the said biocide filter (4) and the said carbon block (5) being fixed to a cap (6) with a center openning (7) providing sealing between the cap (6) and the assembly to prevent water flow through the noint between the cap and the assembly. 2. A water purifier cartridge, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sediment filter (1) is made of hydrophilic polyethelene having a molecular weight of 400,000 to 7,000,000 gm/mol and the pore size is in the range of 5 to 15 microns. 3. A water purifier cartridge, as claimed in claims 1 or 2, wherein the biocide filter 4. A water purifier cartridge, as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 3, wherein the carbon block (5) has a pore size in the range of 0.2 to 5 microns. 5. A water purifier cartridge, as claimed in any one of the previous claims, wherein the said cap (6) is a removable closure of a container (10) for containing water. 6. A water purifier cartridge, as claimed in any one of the previous claims, wherein the sediment filter (1), the flat plastic disc (3), the biocide filter (4) and the carbon block (5) and the cap ($) are all cylindrical. 7. A water purifier cartridge, as claimed in any one of the previous claims, wherein the cap (6) and the assembly of the sediment filter (1) the biocide filter are fixed to the cap by sonic welding. 8 A water purifier cartridge, as claimed in claim 5, wherein the container is a plastic bottle with the cap (6) and the cap is provided with an opening (7) for taking out purified water, the opening being provided with a closure 9. A water purifier cartridge, as claimed claim 8, wherein the bottle is compressable by hand. 10. A water purifier cartridge^ as claimed claim 9> wherein the bottle is made of low density polyethelene. 11. A water purifier cartridge, substantially as hereinabove described and illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Documents:

668-mas-1999-abstract.pdf

668-mas-1999-claims filed.pdf

668-mas-1999-claims granted.pdf

668-mas-1999-correspondnece-others.pdf

668-mas-1999-correspondnece-po.pdf

668-mas-1999-description(complete)filed.pdf

668-mas-1999-description(complete)granted.pdf

668-mas-1999-drawings.pdf

668-mas-1999-form 1.pdf

668-mas-1999-form 19.pdf

668-mas-1999-form 26.pdf

668-mas-1999-form 3.pdf