Codeline pressure vessels have an advance side-porting technology. We focus on developing products that help reduce system cost.
Codeline is proud to announce multiport membrane housings with port size ranging from 1.5" up to 3" and 4".CAUTION: The following information are guidelines only. They are intended to aid the purchaser when using the multiport feature to eliminate manifolds. It is the system designer’s responsibility to evaluate the specific application and carefully consider these guidelines when sizing ports. Improper port sizing could lead to poor system performance and/or damage to membrane elements. Please contact Pentair if clarification of these guidelines is required.
Evaluate the pressure drop
This needs to be done across each vessel plenum as this will affect the permeate and concentrate flows in each vessel.
Typically, the feed and concentrate manifolds connecting to a number of vessels are designed to minimize variations in flow through the vessels. This is accomplished by assuring that the pressure throughout a manifold is nearly equal. The greater the differential across a particular manifold, or set of manifolds, the greater the potential for variations in the average feed pressure as well as the differential pressure across the different vessels in a pass. These factors will affect the flow of the product as well as the flow through the vessels.
The same considerations apply when attempting to eliminate manifolds by linking vessels directly together using Multiport vessels. In this case, the pressure drop across the vessel plenum, as well as the entrance and exit losses through the side ports, must be considered. To simplify this process, we have provided calculated test data, which quantifies the total pressure, drop versus the flow rate for various size ports.
This practice is commonly used when multiple filters are connected in parallel. If the feed comes in the first vessel, the combined concentrate should exit the last vessel.
The down side of this arrangement is that it will cause the average feed flow pressure between the first and last vessel to be the at a maximum value, thus affecting permeate flow in the last vessel.
By splitting the feed flow the velocity will be reduced by one half and the pressure drop by an even greater amount since the pressure drop is proportional to the square of the flow. Feeding from both sides may be most economically feasible where the pressure is low enough to use plastic pipe. This option is shown in the picture below.
The membrane supplier can help with the the evaluation of membrane performance of your proposed system.
When properly sized, use of multiport vessels to eliminate external manifolds will have little if any affect on overall system performance. However, as pressure drops are increased, systems that are already being operated close to the edge of recommended conditions may experience problems within one or more vessels. It is therefore recommended that worst case conditions be evaluated carefully in conjunction with your membrane supplier.Even though the pressure drop across each vessel may be acceptable, the velocity of the water through each port must also be evaluated. It is suggested that the water velocity throughout the entire system be checked for proper velocity, however, the first connection from the feed source is typically where problems can occur. While the length of each feed port is very short, velocities in excess of 11 ft. per second should be avoided to help ensure proper system performance. We have included the published velocities for schedule 40 pipe on this page.
Do not assume, because a set of vessels can be manifolded together, that Codeline recommends or endorses such use in your particular application.Used properly, multi-porting with 3" and 4" ports opens up a whole new world of potential cost savings. With this opportunity comes a responsibility to carefully evaluate projected membrane performance. Codeline recommends that you work directly with your membrane supplier to obtain approval of your proposed design.