Pleated Filter Media with Varying Axial Width
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing filters face challenges in minimizing flow restriction and pressure drop while maintaining efficient fluid filtration, especially in applications requiring high flow rates and structural support.
Innovation Solution
The development of pleated filter media with pleat segments extending in axial and transverse directions, featuring varying pleat widths and angled pleat tips, which form V-shaped channels to increase flow area and reduce pressure drop, while maintaining compatibility with traditional filter housing dimensions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If traditional pleated filter media are used with uniform pleat width, then manufacturing is simpler, but flow restriction and pressure drop increase
Solution Approach 1:
The filter media employs non-uniform pleat width where pleats are wider at certain axial positions and narrower at others. This local variation in pleat geometry optimizes flow distribution across different sections of the filter, reducing pressure drop by allowing greater flow area where needed while maintaining effective filtration surface area. The varying pleat width is achieved through specific bend line configurations that create regions of different flow resistance.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces variation in the pleat width dimension along the axial direction, transforming the traditional uniform two-dimensional pleat pattern into a three-dimensional configuration with depth variation. By modulating pleat width in the axial dimension while maintaining transverse pleat structure, the design creates multiple flow paths with different resistance characteristics, thereby reducing overall pressure drop without sacrificing filtration effectiveness.
2Productivity
If pleat width varies along axial direction, then flow area increases and pressure drop reduces, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The varying pleat width configuration is established during the forming process by pre-defining bend lines at specific axial positions. The filter media is formed with these bend lines already in place, creating the desired non-uniform pleat geometry before the filter is assembled into the housing. This preliminary configuration of bend lines allows for controlled pleat width variation while maintaining manufacturability through standard filtering media formation processes.
3Volume of moving object
If filter media is compressed to reduce thickness, then housing space is saved, but flow restriction increases
Solution Approach 1:
The filter media is segmented into multiple pleats with varying widths along the axial direction. This segmentation creates a distributed flow path structure where fluid can move through multiple parallel channels of different sizes. The wider pleats provide larger flow passages that compensate for the reduced overall thickness, maintaining adequate flow area even when the filter media is compressed to fit within constrained housing space.
Data Source
AI summary
A pleated filter media comprises a plurality of pleats comprised of pleat segments extending in an axial direction between first and second axial ends and extending in a transverse direction that is perpendicular to the axial direction between first and second sets of pleat tips at least partially defined by first and second sets of bend lines. Axial flow channels are defined between the pleat segments in the lateral direction and the plurality of pleats has a width in the transverse direction that varies along the axial direction.