Filter Element with Pre-separator and Overmoulded Frame
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing filter elements for fluids, particularly in internal combustion engines and motor vehicles, face issues with stability and leakage due to bending or twisting, and require complex fastening methods that increase manufacturing costs and process complexity.
Innovation Solution
A modular filter element design featuring a filter bellows overmoulded with plastic to create a stable frame, integrated with a pre-separator fastened using Velcro-style fasteners, which simplifies manufacturing and assembly while ensuring mechanical stability and effective sealing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If filter elements are stabilized with glue on end faces and longitudinal sides, then they can maintain structural integrity, but they are still prone to bending and twisting during use
Solution Approach 1:
The filter element is divided into multiple pleated sections or folds, each stabilized independently by the adhesive applied to the pleats. This segmentation allows each section to maintain its shape while accommodating overall structural flexibility, preventing bending and twisting of the entire filter element.
Solution Approach 2:
Adhesive is applied in advance to the pleats and edges of the filter element during manufacturing, creating pre-stabilized bonds that prevent deformation before the filter is installed. This preliminary bonding ensures the filter maintains its intended geometry during installation and operation, eliminating the need for additional stabilization measures.
2Reliability
If complex fastening methods are used to prevent leakage, then sealing reliability improves, but manufacturing cost and process complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The adhesive serves multiple functions simultaneously: it bonds the pleats to each other for structural stability, seals the edges to prevent leakage, and anchors the filter element to the housing. This merging of functions into a single adhesive application simplifies the fastening process while maintaining reliable sealing, eliminating the need for separate fastening components.
Solution Approach 2:
The adhesive is applied directly to the filter element itself during the manufacturing process, allowing the filter to be self-stabilizing and self-sealing without requiring additional fastening hardware or complex assembly procedures. The filter element essentially fastens and seals itself through the adhesive bonds created during production.
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 solution provides a cost-effective, stable, and easily manageable filter element with improved filtration performance by preventing deformation and leakage, and allows for easy exchange and recycling of the pre-separator, enhancing the overall filter system's reliability and efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
The filter bellows is overmoulded with plastic in the form of a frame, so that the front edge surfaces are sealed
Implementation Method 2
the pre-separator being fastened with fastening elements arranged on the frame
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
The invention relates to a filter element (10) for filtering a fluid. The filter element (10) comprises at least one filter bellows (12) with a defined raw side (52) and, opposite this, a defined clean side (50), the bellows being made of a filter medium (14) which is folded along fold lines (26) to give zigzag-shaped folds (34) that extend respectively between opposite end edges (22a, 22b) of the filter bellows (12), and which has respectively on opposite end sides (18, 19) mutually parallel end edge faces (20a, 20b), and at least one pre-separator (30) that is in the form of a planar mat and is arranged on the raw side (52) of the filter bellows (12). In that context, plastic is injection-molded around the filter bellows (12) in the form of a frame (28) so as to seal the end edge faces (20a, 20b). Furthermore, the pre-separator (30) is secured by means of securing elements (32) arranged on the frame (28). The invention also relates to a filter system (100) having such an interchangeable filter element (10), and to the use of the filter system (100) for air filtration, in particular for air filtration for an internal combustion engine or as an interior filter of a vehicle.