Tapered Filter Element for Injection Molded Housings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Air filter housings with tapered shapes due to manufacturing constraints pose design challenges for filter elements, leading to difficulties in maximizing filtration capacity and ensuring proper orientation and sealing within the housing.
Innovation Solution
The filter element features a design with larger inlet flow channels and smaller outlet flow channels, creating a tapered shape that matches the housing's draft angle, maximizing media usage and ensuring proper orientation, while the filter media's varying channel heights reduce restriction and enhance dust loading characteristics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the housing is manufactured with injection molding requiring draft angles, then manufacturing ease is improved, but the filter element design becomes more difficult and space utilization is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The filter element employs asymmetric geometry with different inlet and outlet face areas, matching the draft angle requirements of injection-molded housings. The element is larger at the inlet end and tapers toward the outlet end, allowing it to conform to the tapered housing geometry while maximizing filter media utilization.
Solution Approach 2:
The filter element varies its dimensions locally along its length, with the cross-sectional area changing from inlet to outlet to match the housing's draft angle. This local variation in geometry allows the element to optimize space utilization in different regions of the tapered housing.
2Volume of moving object
If the filter element matches the housing draft angle with larger inlet and smaller outlet, then space utilization is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The filter element geometry is defined by specific dimensional parameters including the draft angle match, inlet face area, and outlet face area. These parameters are optimized to conform to standard injection molding draft angles while maximizing the volume of filter media that can be installed in the housing.
3Productivity
If the inlet face area is larger than the outlet face area, then filtration capacity is increased, but flow restriction may increase
Solution Approach 1:
The filter element utilizes the third dimension by varying its cross-sectional area along its length, creating a tapered geometry that increases filtration capacity through greater media volume while managing flow restriction through the dimensional transition from inlet to outlet.
Data Source
AI summary
Various example embodiments relate to filter elements. One such filter element includes filter media having a plurality of flow channels. Each of the plurality of flow channels comprises an inlet having an inlet height and an outlet having an outlet height. The inlet height is larger than the outlet height. The filter media defines an inlet face having an inlet face area and an outlet face having an outlet face area. The inlet face is structured to receive air to be filtered. The outlet face is structured to output filtered air. The inlet face area is larger than the outlet face area.