Infinite Water Solutions Private Limited is the joint venture company of Eureka Forbes Limited &

Pentair Global. It basically manufacture RO (Reverse Osmosis) Membrane.

Brief description & function of critical parts of RO membrane

Flat Sheet :the RO heart of the Membrane

Permeate Carrier: Nylon Mesh which carries purified water to the centre tube

Feed Spacer: PP mesh which facilitates passage of raw water as a thin film across the
membrane surface and also creates turbulence of feed water thus reduces deposition on
membrane surface

Body Tape: Retains shape & integrity of spirally wound

Adhesive: Epoxy based 2 part adhesive which joins the multiple layers of the membrane
element

Core Tube: Plastic tube which gives structural strength and acts as permeate water
channel

Home RO clement construction

Home RO Elements Rolling Process

Receipt of Raw materials
Inspection & Storage as per the manufacturers specification (generally at 25 2 C)
Slitting
All Materials are generally supplied in width of 40 the sheets are slit in to required width,
(generally slit to 12)
Rolling
Placing multiple layers of the sheet, spacer & Permeate carrier on rolling machine and adhesive
applied and rolled
Trimming
As multiple layers of materials are rolled together the layers tend to drift. To make the sided
uniform the elements are trimmed to size on both the ends.
Testing
All elements are tested for possible leakages on vacuum. Ans on sampling basis the elements are
tested on water at 250 TDS To ensure permeate flow rates and salt rejections are as per the
specification ( 200 ml of permeate / min & 98 % slat rejection for 75 GPD membrane)
Inspection & Packing
After testing the elements are put in preservative and packed ( Wet type vacuum packed Dry in
dry polyethylene)

Rejections Problem
Any process will vary with time and membrane rolling is also has process variables and this
results in rejections. The rejections in semi automatic rolling process are generally higher
compared to fully automatic machine as operator skill plays major role .

Classification of Rejections In RO Element Manufacturing

Low Salt Rejection( < 98% at 250 TDS NaCl spiked water )
Low Permeate flow( Flow lesser than 200 ml/ min at 1500 ppm of TDS and 75 Psi feed pressure )
Visual failures( Defects due to un even sided, trimming, body tape dents, residual glue on core
etc.,)

Test Skid Data Permeate low Ml/ 30 Sec

160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53 55 57 59 61
Series1

Flow rate Ml/ 30 Sec

Average

115.79

Min

98

Max

140.94

Std Deviation

11.01

Low slat rejection Analysis

VACUUM FAIL MEMBRANE 5.04.2016 to 28.04.2016

SR. NO.

MODEL

LINE

OPERATOR NAME

VACUUM FAIL QTY.

HTFC-75

Rakesh

HTFC-75

Abinav

HTFC-75

Thapa

17

HTFC-75

Ramesh

13

HTFC-75

Subodh

HTFC-75

Manish

12

HTFC-75

Santhosh

18

HTFC-75

Goswami

105

HTFC-75

Saxens

13

10

HTFC-75

Ravi

11

HTFC-75

Raju

11

TOTAL VACUUM FAIL

204

Operator wise rejection data

5.71

6.00
5.00

4.42

4.00
3.00

2.65
1.89

2.00
1.00

3.67

3.34

2.42

2.09

0.90
0.70

3.55

3.20

2.31

1.84
1.030.89
0.49

1.14
1.09

0.71

0.91
0.81

0.52

1.21
0.79

0.23

0.00

April
Top Five Problems
1.Dent Problem in Membrane
2.Wrong Selection of Shaft for Trimming

May

June

2.73
1.51
0.93

3.Excess Consumption of Membrane

4.Double side tape & holes during Ultrasonic welding
5. 5s was not maintained

Do Analysis by various Quality tool (at least 5) to reduce the rejection of membrane .

Thank You!!
Team Opcellence

E-mail: opcellence@mdim.ac.in
Management Development Institute, Murshidabad