US Patent 7935259 - Molecular filter with acoustic propagation

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7935259.html

This patent from NASA teaches a system to speed up molecular filtering of water using a vibrating actuator. Claim 1 reads:

1. A filtering apparatus, comprising:

a microporous membrane for sifting molecules of a substance; and

an actuator, operatively positioned near the microporous membrane, for propagating acoustic vibration at a particular frequency onto the microporous membrane so as to hasten movement of said molecules through the microporous membrane.