Patent ID: 7360400

Claim:
An apparatus for carrying out an integrity test on filter elements by means of test gases, including an electronic control unit or closed-loop and/or open-loop control of the test program procedure for the filter elements which are to be tested and are arranged in a filter housing, and a pneumatic unit which is connected to the control unit and to the filter housing, in particular for provision and measurement of gas pressures, wherein the improvement is that the control unit is connected to a communication part which is adjacent to the filter elements to be tested, and via which data can be interchanged between the control unit and electronic memory elements which are arranged on the filter elements; wherein said integrity test parameters include at least the following: filter element number, filter element type, maximum diffusion, test pressure diffusion, bubble point limit value, stabilization time and test time; wherein said apparatus further comprises a means for carrying out a test to determine whether limit values and/or limiting data has been reached or exceeded by at least one measured test data item and a means for said control unit to electronically inhibit said filter elements from further use if said limit values and/or said limiting data has been reached or exceeded.