Apparatus having tube sheets for hollow fibers

摘要

In apparatus containing a bundle of tubes such as permeators, a tubular spacer substantially surrounds a tube sheet in which tubes are embedded for at least a portion of the lateral surface of the tube sheet. The tubular spacer serves to position the tube sheet within the apparatus. The tube sheet has at least one rise region intermediate a face and an expanded zone having larger cross-sectional dimensions than the corresponding dimensions of the face, and the rise region is adapted to abut the tubular spacer. The tube sheet can have sufficient length along the orientation of the tubes in order to ensure a fluid tight relationship between tubes and the tube sheet, and the amount of material to form the tube sheet can be reduced, thereby minimizing the effect of differential expansions.