Abstract: An appliance for fragmenting heterogeneous elements of a fluid medium comprising a filter module with an inlet connected to a supply line for the fluid medium including heterogeneous elements and an outlet connected to a fluid medium outlet line. The filter module comprises a series of channels inside which the fluid medium is to be circulated. The appliance further comprises a planar fragmentation device which is located upstream of the inlet and comprises passages. In accordance with the invention, the planar device constitutes a screen comprising passages which have one dimension equal to the smallest dimension of the cross section of flow of the channels divided by n, where n is in the range 1.4 to 10. The passages are formed from cutting separator elements which define the passages and have a minimum thickness in the range 0.1 mm to 2 mm to ensure fragmentation of heterogeneous elements of the fluid medium.

Abstract: The invention relates to an inorganic filter element comprising:a rigid inorganic porous support; andchannels classifiable into n categories where n.gtoreq.2, with all of the channels in each category having identical right cross-section, identical hydraulic diameter, and identical equivalent diameter, the shapes of the right cross-sections of the channels differing between categories.According to the invention, the channels of the various categories have:hydraulic diameters such that the ratios between any two hydraulic diameters lie in the range 0.75 to 1.3;right cross-sectional areas such that the ratios between any two right cross-sectional areas lie in the range 0.75 to 1.3; andequivalent diameters such that the ratio of the equivalent diameter over the hydraulic diameter of each channel is less than or equal to 2.

Abstract: The invention consists in a method of making inorganic filter structures of the type consisting in:in shaping and baking a porous substrate;in depositing on the substrate a suspension containing at least one sinterable composition designed to constitute a filter layer after baking;in selecting, as the sinterable composition, a powder including at least aggregates made up of individual particles; andin destroying the aggregates contained in the sinterable composition in such a manner as to cause the composition to be composed essentially of individual particles.

Abstract: An inorganic filtration unit includes a filter element made up of an inorganic rigid porous support having a face covered with at least one separating layer, and an element for circulating a liquid medium containing particles to be separated therefrom which forms, together with the face of the filter element, a sheet of the liquid, the sheet having a height of between 0.1 and 3 mm and preferably between 0.2 and 1.5 mm.