Patent ID: 7326190

Claim:
An odor-absorbing gas filter assembly for body waste collection pouches, comprising an envelope having first and second walls of flexible thermoplastic film joined together along edges to define a filter chamber; a porous radial flow filter pad with activated carbon therein located within said chamber and having a pair of planar opposite faces; said pad having a passage extending therethrough from one face to the other and having an outer peripheral surface fully exposed within said filter chamber; said opposite faces being joined respectively to the inner surfaces of the first and second walls of said envelope to block the axial flow of gases through said filter pad; said first wall of said envelope having a first aperture communicating with said passage; a first microporous gas-transmissible membrane of hydrophobic material sealed to said first wall about said first aperture and extending over said first aperture to prevent liquids from entering said passage and said filter pad; said second wall of said envelope having a second aperture spaced laterally from said first aperture; and a second microporous gas-transmissible membrane of hydrophobic material sealed to said second wall about said second aperture and extending over said second aperture to prevent liquids external to said envelope from entering said chamber; said filter pad being oblong in shape with opposite end portions; said passage constituting a first passage located in one of said end portions of said pad; said pad also having a second passage therethrough located in the opposite end portion of said pad; said first and second passages being spaced a predetermined distance x from each other; said second passage communicating with said second aperture and said second membrane; said passages together being spaced from said peripheral surface of said pad a combined distance no less than distance x.