Breather Device Water Stop Filter for Motor Case Pressure Recovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional breather devices for regulating the pressure of a target case, such as a motor case, fail to prevent water entry when submerged, leading to delayed recovery of internal pressure to normal levels, which can cause electrical discharges and operational issues.
Innovation Solution
A breather device with an intake path and an exhaust path that includes a water stop filter positioned upstream of the intake valve, allowing gas passage while blocking liquids, and a configuration that minimizes size by sharing paths and strategically placing the water stop filter to prevent clogging, ensuring rapid pressure recovery and preventing water entry.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the intake valve opening pressure is set to high pressure to prevent water entry during submersion, then water prevention capability is improved, but the recovery time from negative pressure to atmospheric pressure is extended
Solution Approach 1:
The breather device segments the pressure regulation function into two separate valves: an intake valve for negative pressure conditions and an exhaust valve for positive pressure conditions. The intake valve is equipped with a water stop filter that segments the flow path to allow gas passage while blocking liquid water, enabling the intake valve to open at lower pressure thresholds without compromising water prevention capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The water stop filter acts as an intermediary component between the intake valve and the external environment. It mediates the flow by selectively permitting gas molecules to pass through its porous structure while blocking liquid water droplets, thus enabling the intake valve to operate at lower opening pressures without allowing water entry during submersion events.
2Productivity
If the intake valve opening pressure is set to low pressure for rapid recovery, then recovery speed is improved, but water may enter the target case during submersion
Solution Approach 1:
The water stop filter utilizes porous material with carefully controlled pore sizes that are large enough to allow gas molecules to pass through freely but small enough to block liquid water droplets. This enables the filter to differentiate between gas and liquid phases, permitting rapid gas flow for pressure recovery while preventing water entry during submersion.
Solution Approach 2:
The water stop filter introduces local quality differentiation into the flow path by creating a region with specific porous properties that selectively interact with different phases of matter. The filter's local structure is optimized to have high permeability to gas while maintaining low permeability to liquid, enabling differentiated flow control at the local level without affecting overall system performance.
3Device complexity
If the water stop filter is placed in the shared section of intake and exhaust paths, then device size is reduced, but the filter may become clogged with exhaust gas contaminants
Solution Approach 1:
The device segments the intake and exhaust flow paths into separate sections, with the water stop filter positioned exclusively in the intake path section. This segmentation prevents exhaust gas contaminants from reaching the filter while maintaining a compact overall structure by allowing the paths to converge and share common components downstream of the filter location.
Solution Approach 2:
The water stop filter is positioned upstream in the intake path to perform preliminary filtration of incoming air before it enters the target case. By placing the filter at this preliminary stage in the intake flow, contaminants are removed from the incoming air stream before it can mix with exhaust gases, preventing filter clogging while maintaining compact path sharing downstream.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The breather device effectively prevents water entry and enables rapid recovery of internal pressure to normal levels, reducing the risk of electrical discharges and ensuring reliable operation of the motor case.
Implementation Method 1
a water stop filter which is disposed, in the intake path, upstream of the intake valve in an intake air flowing direction and is configured to allow passage of gas while blocking passage of liquid
Data Source
AI summary
A breather device includes an intake path configured to communicate between an interior space of a target case and an exterior space, an exhaust path configured to communicate between the interior space and the exterior space and at least partially separated from the intake path, an intake valve inserted in the intake path and configured to allow outside air to flow into the interior space only when an internal pressure Pi is lower, at least by a fixed extent, than an external pressure Po, and an exhaust valve inserted in the exhaust path and configured to allow gas within the interior space to flow toward the exterior space only when the internal pressure Pi is higher, at least by a fixed extent, than the external pressure Po, and a water stop filter disposed downstream of the intake valve in an intake air flowing direction in the intake path.