Filter Element With Alternating Pleat Heights
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional filter elements with uniform fold heights face issues with reduced filter surface area due to fold contact and instability, leading to decreased filtration performance over time, especially in systems with limited space and fluctuating fluid flows.
Innovation Solution
The filter element features filter folds of different heights, where shorter folds support taller ones, maintaining a larger surface area and preventing fold contact, with an alternating arrangement that stabilizes the fold geometry and maximizes exposure to fluid flow, supported by a circular cylinder and M-fold structure for optimized filtration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If uniform fold heights are used in filter elements, then manufacturing is simplified, but fold contact occurs reducing effective filter surface area
Solution Approach 1:
The filter element divides the filter medium into multiple layers with different fold heights. The first layer has folds of first height while the second layer has folds of second height (different from first height). This segmentation prevents adjacent folds from contacting each other, maintaining larger effective filter surface area while remaining manufacturable through standard pleating processes.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the filter element have different fold heights to optimize local performance. The first layer provides maximum filtration surface area while the second layer with different fold heights provides structural support and prevents fold contact. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction between manufacturing simplicity and effective surface area maintenance.
2Stability of the object's composition
If uniform fold heights are used, then structural consistency is maintained, but fold stability decreases leading to performance degradation
Solution Approach 1:
The filter medium is segmented into multiple layers with different fold heights. The first layer with folds of first height provides structural consistency, while the second layer with folds of second height provides enhanced stability. This segmentation allows both structural consistency and fold stability to be maintained simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The filter element uses a composite structure with multiple layers of filter medium having different fold heights. This composite approach combines the benefits of structural consistency from uniform folding with the stability benefits of varied fold heights, preventing performance degradation over time.
3Area of stationary object
If larger filter surface area is provided, then filtration performance improves, but device space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention utilizes the radial dimension by creating folds of different heights in the pleated filter medium. This allows the filter element to pack more filter surface area into a compact cylindrical volume. The varied fold heights enable greater surface area within the same device space by optimizing the three-dimensional arrangement of filter material.
Solution Approach 2:
The multi-layered structure with different fold heights creates a nested arrangement where folds are positioned at different radial distances from the center. This nesting maximizes the use of available space, allowing larger filter surface area to be contained within compact device dimensions suitable for hydraulic systems.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
AI summary
2. A filter element (1) with a preferably multi-layered structure of a filter medium (3) which has pleated filter folds (5, 7) with different fold heights (h1, h2), with filter folds (7) with a first fold height (h1) and with filter folds (5) with a correspondingly lower second fold height (h2), wherein the filter element has a flow direction for the fluid to be cleaned from a dirty side to a clean side (R), is characterized in that the transitions of all filter folds (5, 7) arranged adjacent to the clean side (R) or to the dirty side (S) terminate along an imaginary circular cylinder (9) which extends coaxially through the filter medium (3) to its longitudinal axis (LA).