Patent Application
20100071851
The present invention relates generally to the field of oil filters.
Oil filters are commonly used in many of today's machinery, most notably in automobiles and other vehicles, but they are also an essential component in all engines that rely on oil for engine lubrication in maintaining durability and high engine performance. An oil filter relies on an oil media to filter the oil as it circulates through an engine. The oil media is generally a paper-based material where the fibrous content of the material functions to enhance the filtering of particles and hence a cleaning of the oil as it transgresses through the oil media of the filter. In the high volume production of oil filters, it is necessary to run a paper stock forming the oil media through rollers, referred to as channel rolls, arranged as a pair adjacent to one another to order to move the paper stock along the assembly process where different processes are carried out in completing production of the oil filter. Such an arrangement is illustrated in
One such process is the folding of the paper stock in a certain manner, such as by forming ridges, through a process known as “pleating”. For this step, the channel roll that moves the paper stock is referred to as a pleating roll, as it controls movement of the paper stock prior to the next step of applying the “pleats” into the paper stock for shaping it into a desire pattern or shape arrangement. The current manufacturing process for pleating oil filter media is to have the pleating roll make contact across the full width of the paper stock, that is, from side to side. Disadvantageously, this process significantly crushes the media which compacts the fibers and adversely affects the performance of the media and hence of the oil filter.
The present invention overcomes the above described problem by providing a channel roll with a unique design that minimizes the channel roll surface contact with the oil media. The design includes the formation of ridges projecting from the surface of the channel roll of such a design that is sufficient to control movement of the roll of oil media into the oil media pleating process, yet greatly reduce the surface contact with the oil media. By not compacting the oil media fibers, the performance of the filter is enhanced.
For simplicity and illustrative purposes, the principles of the present invention are described by referring to various exemplary embodiments thereof. Although the preferred embodiments of the invention are particularly disclosed herein, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the same principles are equally applicable to, and can be implemented in other systems, and that any such variation would be within such modifications that do not part from the scope of the present invention. Before explaining the disclosed embodiments of the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of any particular arrangement shown, since the invention is capable of other embodiments. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Further, although certain methods are described with reference to certain steps that are presented herein in certain order, in many instances, these steps may be performed in any order as would be appreciated by one skilled in the art, and the methods are not limited to the particular arrangement of steps disclosed herein.
The present invention provides a channel roll with a unique design that minimizes the channel roll surface contact with the oil filter media. The design includes the formation of ridges projecting from the surface of the channel roll of such a design that is sufficient to control movement of the roll of oil media into the oil media pleating process, yet greatly reduce the surface contact with the oil media. By not compacting the oil media fibers, the performance of the filter is enhanced.
Referring now to the Figures,
Projection ridges 16a-c are formed on the outer surface of roller 12. The number of ridges, and the height and width of the ridges, are matters of design choice depending on the specific application or manufacturing process in which the channel roll is to be used. In an embodiment of the invention where the channel roll is used as a pleater roll for oil media pleaters in the manufacturing of an oil filter, the number of projection ridges could be three on channel roll 10, as shown in
While the invention has been described with reference to certain exemplary embodiments thereof, those skilled in the art may make various modifications to the described embodiments of the invention without departing from the scope of the invention. The terms and descriptions used herein are set forth by way of illustration only and not meant as limitations. In particular, although the present invention has been described by way of examples, a variety of devices would practice the inventive concepts described herein. Although the invention has been described and disclosed in various terms and certain embodiments, the scope of the invention is not intended to be, nor should it be deemed to be, limited thereby and such other modifications or embodiments as may be suggested by the teachings herein are particularly reserved, especially as they fall within the breadth and scope of the claims here appended. Those skilled in the art will recognize that these and other variations are possible within the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims and their equivalents.
