Patent ID: 8828233

Claim:
A desalination system for desalinating feed water, the desalination system comprising: an outer pressure vessel having a feed inlet and a product water outlet; a plurality of membrane flow distribution tubes disposed serially within the outer pressure vessel, each flow distribution tube having: an outer surface; a plurality of filter elements arranged within the flow distribution tube wherein filter elements have a serial inlet through which feed water may flow from a previous filter element; a plurality of flow distribution slots formed through the outer surface of the flow distribution tube aligned with a plurality of the filter elements disposed within the tube to communicate feed water to the aligned filter elements; a product water tube configured to collect purified water from filter elements and communicate the purified water to the product water outlet; and a bypass flow path formed within the outer pressure vessel in contact with each flow distribution tube, the bypass flow path connected with the feed inlet so that feed water flows around the outer surfaces of the flow distribution tubes, whereby feed water is available to each filter element that is aligned with a flow distribution slot.