Bubble Test Equipment

Bubble test equipment are filter testing equipment that are used for applications that do not require high sensitivity. The equipment is used to test the leakage in filters. The test is conducted by submerging a pressurized test object in water tank and if a bubble emerges there is a leak. Specialized soap films that are employed to the surface of test object can be used to aid the procedure by reducing the surface tension and increasing the wetting ability of water.

Bubble Point Test Apparatus
The bubble test equipment is used to conduct the bubble point test, which verify the integrity of an assembled filter holder with filter in place. The method is simple and non-destructive that can be performed before and after filtration.

Bubble point is the pressure, which is required to force the air or gas to pass through the pores of a liquid-saturated filter. Till the time, pressure reaches this point, the flow of air through the filter is very little (rate of diffusion). Failure to retain the pressure below this point indicates a leakage bigger than the pore size. This leakage may occur due to several factors, like - a puncture in the filter, insufficient wetting of the filter or improper placement of the filter in holder.

The bubble point can be determined by applying gas or air at an increasing pressure till the time a steady stream of bubbles appear at the observed downstream of filter holder.

Advantages
The most important advantage of bubble testing equipment is that these can be used to conduct test on filters under the actual use conditions and with any type of filter. A non-destructive procedure, the bubble test does not contaminate the filter and hence can be used to ascertain the integrity as well as the absolute rating of a filter at any given point of time.

With rapid technological advancements in the computer software and control, it may be possible in the future to use the data on flow rate or pressure increases to more accurately and precisely determines what occurs in a sample before the bubble point is reached, like diffusion.