Pleated Filter Pack Spacing Members for Stable Pleat Distance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing filter packs with pleated media and hot-melt adhesive spacers require precise folding to maintain pleat distance, which is cumbersome and prone to displacement, leading to increased pressure loss and reduced airflow efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The filter pack incorporates paired spacing members with flat surfaces orthogonal to each other, allowing for easy folding and stable pleat maintenance, as the flat surfaces enable sliding contact without displacement, even when subjected to external forces, and include protruding and recessed portions for additional stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If hot-melt adhesive is applied to form spacers on the filter medium, then spacing between pleats is maintained, but the folding process becomes complex and requires precise positioning to avoid displacement
Solution Approach 1:
The hot-melt adhesive is applied to the filter medium in advance to form spacers with flat contact surfaces before folding. This preliminary action ensures that when the filter medium is folded, the spacers are already positioned and shaped to maintain pleat distance without requiring complex folding operations or precise real-time positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The spacers are designed with specific geometric parameters, including flat contact surfaces with predetermined widths and heights. The width of the flat contact surface is optimized to provide sufficient contact area for stable spacing while preventing displacement during folding. The adhesive material's viscosity and curing characteristics are also controlled to ensure proper spacing formation.
2Ease of manufacture
If the filter medium is folded while hot-melt adhesive is soft, then spacers are formed, but displacement of adhesive occurs leading to unstable pleat distance
Solution Approach 1:
The spacers are designed with non-uniform cross-sections, featuring flat contact surfaces at specific locations that provide stable contact between adjacent pleats. The local geometry of the spacers is optimized so that the flat surfaces are positioned to maintain consistent pleat distance while the overall spacer shape prevents displacement during folding and operation.
3Productivity
If spacers are provided to maintain pleat distance, then airflow is improved, but the structure becomes more complex and harder to fold
Solution Approach 1:
The spacers are designed to automatically maintain pleat distance through their own geometric structure without requiring external support or complex assembly operations. The flat contact surfaces of adjacent spacers naturally engage to maintain spacing, and the spacer geometry itself prevents displacement, making the folding and assembly process simpler despite the added structural elements.
Data Source
AI summary
A filter pack includes a pleated filter medium and spacing members that maintain a distance between adjacent mountain or valley folded portions of the filter medium. The filter medium includes pairs of extension portions that extend to both sides of folds of the filter medium and face each other when filter medium is folded. The plurality of spacing members include paired spacing members that are respectively provided on the extension portions so as to linearly extend in a direction that is orthogonal to the folds. The paired spacing members are in contact with each other when the filter medium is folded. Surfaces of the paired spacing members that come into contact with each other each include a flat surface that extends in a direction that is orthogonal to a direction in which the spacing members face each other when viewed along an extending direction of the spacing members.