Removable Filter Alignment Device for Liquid-Tight Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Filter cartridges often fail to achieve a liquid-tight seal when the housing is positioned in a way that prevents the bowl from being placed under the cartridge, leading to inadequate sealing and potential bypass of fluid.
Innovation Solution
A removable alignment device is used to center and elevate the cartridge within the housing, ensuring proper alignment and sealing of the ports by adding height and width to the cartridge, which can be secured through friction fitting, snap fittings, or other mechanical means, allowing for use with existing housings without modification.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the bowl is placed under the cartridge to assemble the filter system, then the cartridge port can be sealed to the head port, but insufficient room exists when the housing is adjacent to the floor or another component
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an alignment device as an intermediary component between the cartridge and the bowl. This alignment device includes alignment features that extend into the bowl to physically guide and center the cartridge port relative to the head port, enabling proper sealing even when there is insufficient room to place the bowl under the cartridge during assembly
Solution Approach 2:
The alignment device is pre-installed in the bowl before cartridge installation. The alignment features are already in position to receive and guide the cartridge port, eliminating the need for manual alignment maneuvers in constrained spaces
2Ease of operation
If the cartridge is placed in the bowl and dropped down to the furthest extent possible, then assembly can proceed in constrained spaces, but the seal between the ports becomes less than adequate
Solution Approach 1:
The alignment device acts as a mediator that prevents the cartridge from being simply dropped into the bowl. The alignment features physically constrain the cartridge port's position, ensuring it aligns properly with the head port regardless of how the cartridge is inserted
Solution Approach 2:
The alignment features are localized at specific positions in the bowl to provide precise alignment at the port interface, while the rest of the bowl and cartridge remain unchanged
3Reliability
If new housing designs with lockable fittings or lugs are used, then cartridge alignment and sealing are improved, but the housing and cartridge must be permanently replaced or modified
Solution Approach 1:
The alignment device is a simple, inexpensive component that can be installed in existing bowls without modification. It provides the alignment function of expensive permanent modifications but can be removed or replaced if needed, making it suitable for temporary or rental applications
Solution Approach 2:
The alignment device is designed to work with existing standard bowls and cartridges without requiring proprietary modifications. It provides universal alignment functionality that can be applied to various housing configurations
Data Source
AI summary
A removable device that ensures that the port of a filter cartridge is liquid tightly sealed to the port of the head of a housing even when there is insufficient room beneath the bowl to allow one to physically secure the cartridge port to the head port before securing the head and bowl together. The invention uses one or more removably attached alignment devices to center the cartridge in the bowl and maintain it at a height sufficient to ensure that the two ports are aligned and liquid tightly sealed to each other when the bowl and head are mated together.