Filter Element Support Knobs for Vibration-Resistant Sealing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing air filter systems for internal combustion engines face challenges in maintaining reliable and temperature-resistant sealing, especially under extreme vibrations, and require frequent replacements, which demands robust and vibration-resistant designs without metallic components.
Innovation Solution
A filter element with concentrically arranged support knobs that deform radially and axially, providing secure positioning and enhanced stiffness, combined with a filter system featuring rib-shaped projections and a reinforcement plate, ensures stable installation and sealing, even under heavy dust loads and vibrations, and allows for easy exchangeability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional sealing designs are used, then the filter element can be installed in the housing, but the sealing action is not reliable under strong vibrations and temperature fluctuations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs flexible sealing elements made of elastomeric or polymeric materials that can deform elastically under vibration and temperature changes. These flexible seals maintain contact pressure between the filter element and housing throughout the operational range, ensuring reliable sealing without metallic components while resisting the harmful effects of vibrations and thermal fluctuations.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing design incorporates temperature-compensating mechanisms that allow the sealing elements to expand or contract with temperature changes. The geometric configuration and material selection enable the sealing parameters to automatically adjust to maintain optimal sealing pressure across extreme temperature fluctuations, preventing seal failure while maintaining reliability.
2Productivity
If the filter element is designed for frequent exchange, then maintenance productivity is improved, but the sealing action may be compromised during repeated installations
Solution Approach 1:
The filter element incorporates pre-formed sealing surfaces and elastic sealing elements that are already positioned and configured to engage with the housing upon insertion. The sealing elements are pre-stressed to maintain continuous contact, eliminating the need for complex alignment procedures during frequent exchanges while ensuring consistent sealing reliability with each installation.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing system uses dynamically adaptable elements that can self-adjust to minor misalignments and wear during repeated installations. The elastic sealing elements maintain optimal contact pressure through their inherent flexibility, allowing the filter element to be frequently exchanged without compromising sealing performance, thus balancing productivity with reliability.
3Stability of the object's composition
If support knobs are designed to deform axially only, then the filter element can be secured in the housing, but the centering action and stiffness are insufficient under strong vibrations
Solution Approach 1:
The support knobs are designed to deform in multiple dimensions - both axially and radially - rather than solely axially. This multi-directional deformation capability allows the support knobs to simultaneously achieve secure positioning, strong centering action, and adequate stiffness under vibration, resolving the contradiction between stability and strength by adding dimensional freedom to the deformation mode.
Solution Approach 2:
The support knobs are constructed from composite or multi-phase materials that provide both flexibility for deformation and rigidity for structural strength. This composite construction enables the support knobs to deform axially and radially while maintaining sufficient stiffness to resist vibration-induced displacement, achieving both stable positioning and structural strength simultaneously.
4Strength
If metallic elements are used in the filter element, then structural strength is improved, but thermal disposal becomes problematic
Solution Approach 1:
The filter element uses polymeric or elastomeric materials that maintain sufficient mechanical strength at operating temperatures but can be thermally disposed of at lower temperatures without problematic reactions. The material selection and temperature-dependent property changes enable the element to provide adequate structural strength during service while allowing environmentally friendly thermal disposal afterward, eliminating the harmful thermal disposal issue associated with metallic elements.
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 robust, vibration-resistant, and thermally stable filter element with enhanced sealing and positional stability, extending service life and facilitating quick replacement, particularly in construction and agricultural machinery applications.
Implementation Method 1
support knobs which are arranged in a circular arrangement about the longitudinal axis and extend axially outwardly and, upon installation in a housing for receiving the filter element, fold outwardly in radial direction as they are contacting an inner cover contour of the housing and are axially and radially supported on the housing
Data Source
AI summary
A filter element has a filter body having a longitudinal axis and a concentric shape relative to the longitudinal axis. The filter body has a first end face and a second opposite end face. A first end disk is arranged at the first end face. A second end disk is arranged at the second end face. A support tube concentric to the longitudinal axis extends between the first and second end disks. At least one of the first and second end disks has support knobs arranged in a circular arrangement about the longitudinal axis and extending in axial direction outwardly. The support knobs, when the filter element is mounted in a housing that receives the filter element, rest against an inner cover contour of the housing and fold over in radial direction outwardly so as to be supported axially and radially on the housing.