Conductive Filter Element Laser Welding Charge Dissipation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing filter elements face issues with voltage buildup during fluid filtration, leading to potential destruction, and current bonding methods are costly and inefficient, with high space and maintenance requirements.
Innovation Solution
The filter element incorporates partially electrically conductive components and a barrier layer that absorbs laser light to facilitate welding and charge dissipation, using materials like carbon nanotubes and glass fibers to ensure reliable bonding and charge management during the laser transmission welding process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If adhesive cementing is used to bond filter element components, then the components can be joined together, but the production cost increases and recycling becomes problematic due to dissimilar materials
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces adhesive cementing with laser transmission welding to bond filter element components. The laser beam penetrates through a laser-transmissive component (such as an end cap) and heats a laser-absorbing barrier layer, melting it to create a welded joint. This eliminates the need for adhesives and dissimilar materials, reducing complexity and improving recyclability while maintaining bonding effectiveness
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces specific material properties (laser transmissivity and absorption characteristics) to enable welding. By selecting materials with appropriate optical parameters—where one component transmits laser light and another absorbs it—the welding process achieves controlled heating and bonding without requiring adhesives or complex multi-material assemblies
2Ease of manufacture
If epoxy resin adhesive is used to join filter elements, then components can be bonded, but space requirements for reaction accumulators and storage areas increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces adhesive-based bonding with laser transmission welding, eliminating the need for reaction accumulators and extensive storage areas for adhesives. The welding process occurs directly at the bonding location without requiring separate storage spaces for adhesive materials and their associated handling infrastructure
3Ease of manufacture
If adhesive cementing is used to bond filter elements, then components can be joined, but production time increases and productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces time-consuming adhesive application and curing processes with rapid laser transmission welding. The laser beam can be applied directly to the bonding location, heating the barrier layer and melting it instantly to create a strong joint, significantly reducing cycle time and improving production speed
Solution Approach 2:
The laser welding process can be applied in a periodic or pulsed manner, allowing for rapid heating and cooling cycles that accelerate the bonding process compared to continuous adhesive application and curing, thereby reducing overall production cycle time
4Reliability
If conductive wires are introduced to provide conductivity to the filter medium, then charge dissipation is enabled, but the filter element structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses composite materials where conductive particles or fibers are embedded within the filter medium matrix, or where the barrier layer itself is made of a conductive material. This integrates conductivity into the existing structure rather than adding separate conductive wires, maintaining reliability while minimizing structural complexity
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
This solution ensures economical production with reduced thermal and mechanical stress, effective charge dissipation, and cost savings by eliminating the need for adhesives and reaction accumulators, while preventing voltage-induced damage to the filter elements.
Implementation Method 1
at least one additional component, designed in the manner of a barrier layer, is made of a material that is at least partially non-transmissive to laser light to carry out a transmission welding process by laser light
Implementation Method 2
welding the end cap and the filter medium by irradiating a laser transmissive material adjacent to the barrier layer, with laser energy such that by heating the region adjacent to the barrier layer, a welding volume is made available
Implementation Method 3
some of the components of the filter element that are exposed to the laser light during the transmission welding operation at least partially electrically conductive. A reliable dissipation of the charges generated at the filter medium can then be reliably carried out
Implementation Method 4
providing at least one end cap that forms a covering of the filter cavity on at least one end, the end cap being made of a laser transmissive thermoplastic material
Implementation Method 5
by heating the region adjacent to the barrier layer, a welding volume is made available as a joining element for the welded joint produced by laser transmission welding
Data Source
AI summary
A filter element (20) includes individual components (2, 4, 8), such as a filter medium (8) as one component and further filter element components (2, 4), of which at least one component (4) is made of a material that is at least partially transparent to laser light and at least one further component (2), in the manner of a barrier layer, is made of a material that is at least partially opaque to laser light to perform a transmission welding method by laser light for connecting associable components to each other. At least some of the components of the filter element that are exposed to the laser light during the transmission welding method are at least partially electrically conductive.