Patent Application
20140150655
The present disclosure relates to an air intake system for an internal combustion engine of a vehicle.
Internal combustion engines need a supply of air for combustion operation. The air may be filtered to reduce the number of particulates in the intake air. However, air filters may become clogged or otherwise obstructed due to environmental conditions outside of the engine or vehicle. This may be particularly problematic during extreme weather conditions (e.g., snow storms, dust storms, etc.) For example, falling snow may enter an engine air filter, obstructing the intake airflow. As a result, the airflow through the intake system may be substantially reduced, thereby negatively affecting combustion performance and engine efficiency.
Secondary or auxiliary air filters adjacent to a primary air filter have been developed in an attempt to provide a desired amount of filtered air to the engine during extreme weather conditions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,211,197 discloses a filter assembly having a primary air filter and an auxiliary air filter positioned in a single filter mount.
The inventors have recognized several drawbacks with the filter assembly disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,211,197. The size and profile of the air filter assembly is increased when both the primary and secondary air filter are integrated into the same mounting structure. Consequently, it may be difficult to position a large air filter assembly in desired positions in the vehicle, such as the engine compartment, due to packaging constraints. Moreover, when the primary and secondary filters are positioned in a common location in the vehicle, both of the filters may become clogged with the same type of particulates due to their proximal locations despite attempts to segregate their flows.
The inventors herein have recognized the above issues and developed an intake system for an engine including a first air filter assembly in fluidic communication with an intake manifold and a second air filter assembly spaced away from the first air filter assembly and in fluidic communication with the intake manifold.
In this way, the first air filter assembly may be positioned at a remote location from the second air filter assembly, enabling the air filters to be positioned in desired locations in the vehicle that will decrease the overall profile of the intake system as well as provide protection from particulate matter and other external elements such as road debris. Moreover, the spacing the filter assemblies apart decreases the likelihood of both of the filters becoming clogged by similar particulate matter (e.g., snow, dust, etc.) from the surrounding environment.
The above advantages and other advantages, and features of the present description will be readily apparent from the following Detailed Description when taken alone or in connection with the accompanying drawings.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure. Additionally, the above issues have been recognized by the inventors herein, and are not admitted to be known.
An intake system having two air filters assemblies is described herein. The air filter assemblies may be remotely located and spaced away from one another. Furthermore, the air filter assemblies are in parallel fluidic communication. The spacing of the air filter assemblies increases the intake system robustness and decreased the likelihood of both of the air filter becoming damage via external elements, such as road debris. Additionally, spacing the filter assemblies apart decreases the likelihood of both of the filters becoming clogged by similar particulate matter (e.g., snow, dust, etc.) from the surrounding environment.
Arrow 17 depicts the general flow of exhaust gas from the cylinder 16 to the exhaust system 14. The exhaust system 14 may include an exhaust manifold 18 in fluidic communication with the cylinder 16. The exhaust system 14 may further include an emission control device 20 such as a catalyst, exhaust filter, etc. The exhaust gas may flow to the surrounding environment downstream of the emission control device 20. Arrows 22 depict the general flow of exhaust gas through the exhaust system 14. However, it will be appreciated that the flow may have additional complexity that is not depicted.
The intake system 12 includes a first air filter assembly 24 and a second air filter assembly 26. Arrow 25 depicts the airflow into the first air filter assembly 24 and arrow 27 generally depicts airflow into the second air filter assembly 26. As shown, the first air filter assembly 24 is spaced away from the second air filter assembly 26. Therefore, the first air filter assembly 24 and the second air filter assembly 26 do not share a common housing, housing body, filter mount, etc., in the depicted example. When the air filter assemblies are positioned in this way the air filters may be positioned in such a way to reduce the overall profile of the intake system while at the same time provide a back-up air filter which may enable a desired amount of intake air to be supplied to the engine when the main air filter is not functioning as desired (e.g., clogged or otherwise obstructed). Consequently, desired packaging objectives in the vehicle may be achieved. Moreover, positioning the air filters at remote locations reduces the likelihood of both the air filter assemblies becoming clogged with particulate matter.
The first air filter assembly 24 includes porous foam 28 or other suitable porous material and a filter element 30. As shown, the porous foam spans a leading side of the filter element. However, porous foam and filter element positions, geometries, contours, etc., have been contemplated. The porous foam 28 and the filter element 30 may comprise different materials. Additionally, the porous foam and the filter element may be of unequal size and/or shape. For instance, the porous foam is larger in size than the filter element. Arrow 29 denotes the general flow of intake air into the first air filter assembly 24 and specifically the porous foam 28. The porous foam 28 may span the filter element 30 in a direction perpendicular to the general flow direction of exhaust gas through the filter element, in some examples. Further, the porous foam 28 may be positioned vertically below the filter element 30. As a result, the likelihood of snow, dust, and/or other particulates clogging and/or obstructing the first air filter assembly is reduced. However, other relative positions of the porous foam and the filter element have been contemplated.
In some examples, the first air filter assembly 24 may have a removable cover positioned over the porous foam 28. The cover may substantially inhibit airflow into the first air filter assembly 24. The cover may be removed when the second air filter assembly 26 is clogged or otherwise degraded. Further in some examples, the removable cover may be removed or opened via a cover actuation device controlled by the controller 11. In other examples, the removable cover may be manually removed. However, in other examples the first air filter assembly 24 may not include a removable cover.
The first air filter assembly 24 is removably coupled to a connector duct 32. A quick coupling apparatus 33 enabling the removable coupling of the aforementioned components is discussed in greater detail herein with regard to
The second air filter assembly 26 further includes an intake duct 40. The intake duct 40 may receive air from the surrounding environment. The intake duct 40 is in direct fluidic communication with an unfiltered air compartment 42. Arrow 43 depicts the general direction of airflow through the unfiltered air compartment 42. A filter element 44 is positioned downstream of the unfiltered air compartment 42. The filter element 44 is included in the second air filter assembly 26. The second air filter assembly 26 further includes the filtered air compartment 38 positioned downstream (e.g., directly downstream) of the filter element 44. Directly downstream infers that there are no intervening components, parts, etc., between the elements. The filter element 44 may span a housing 45 of the second air filter assembly 26. In this way, all of the air passing through the air assembly may be filtered via the filter element 44. The housing 45 may define sections of the second air filter assembly 26 such as the intake duct 40, the unfiltered air compartment 42, and the filtered air compartment 38.
In some examples, the filter element 44 and the filter element 30 may comprise different materials. In this way, each of the air filter assemblies may have different filtering characteristics, if desired. Further in some examples, the filter element 30 may have a smaller cross-sectional area than the filter element 44. The cross-sectional area may be measured across a plane perpendicular to the general direction of gas flow through each respective filter element.
The filter element 44 is positioned upstream of the filtered air compartment 38 and therefore provides filtered air to the filtered air compartment 38. Arrows 47 depict the general direction of airflow in the filtered air compartment. The filtered air compartment 38 is directly coupled to the intake conduit 46. Thus, the filtered air compartment 38 and more generally the second air filter assembly 26 is in fluidic communication with the intake conduit 46. The intake conduit 46 is in fluidic communication with the intake manifold 48. Arrow 50 depicts the general flow of exhaust gas through the intake conduit 46. The intake manifold 48 is configured to provide intake air to the cylinder 16. Arrow 52 depicts the flow of intake air from the intake manifold 48 to the cylinder 16. In some examples, a vector normal to an inlet face 80 of the first air filter assembly 24 is not parallel with a vector normal to an inlet face 82 of the second air filter assembly 26. Additionally in some examples, the inlet face 80 of the first air filter assembly may face downward and is approximately parallel with a filter in the first air filter assembly, and the inlet face 82 of the second air filter assembly faces approximately horizontal and perpendicular to the inlet face 80 of the first air filter assembly.
An engine compartment 54 may also be included in the vehicle 100, in one example. In such an example the first air filter assembly 24 may be positioned outside of (e.g., external to) the engine compartment 54 and the second air filter assembly 26 may be positioned within the engine compartment 54. However, in other examples both the first air filter assembly 24 and the second air filter assembly 26 may be positioned within the engine compartment 54 adjacent to one another. Additional, the engine 10 may be positioned within the engine compartment 54. However, in other examples both the first air filter assembly 24 and the second air filter assembly 26 may be positioned in the engine compartment 54 and spaced away from one another. Still in other examples, both the first air filter assembly 24 and the second air filter assembly 26 may be positioned outside of the engine compartment 54. Additionally, the air filter assemblies may be referred to as air filter boxes and may generally be included in an air cleaner system.
The engine 10 and the intake system 12 and exhaust system 14 may be controlled at least partially by a control system including controller 11 and by input from a vehicle operator 132 via an input device 130. In this example, input device 130 includes an accelerator pedal and a pedal position sensor 134 for generating a proportional pedal position signal PP.
Controller 11 is shown in
The protrusion 200 is shaped and sized to mate with a recess 202 in the housing 205 of the connector duct 32. In the coupled configuration shown in
At 302 the method includes flowing intake air through a first air filter assembly including porous foam positioned upstream of a filter element, the first air filter assembly spaced away from a second air filter assembly in fluidic communication with an intake manifold.
Next at 304 the method includes flowing filtered intake air from the first air filter assembly to the intake manifold. Flowing filtered intake air from the first air filter assembly to the intake manifold may include at 306 flowing filtered intake air from the first air filter assembly to a filtered air compartment in the second air filter assembly. At 308 the method includes flowing intake air through the second air filter assembly and at 310 the method includes flowing intake air from the second air filter assembly to the intake manifold. In some examples, the filter element may have a smaller cross-sectional area perpendicular to the direction of air flow through the filter than a second filter element included in the second air filter assembly.
Method 300 enables intake air to be flowed through both the first and second air filter assemblies. Therefore, when the flowrate of intake air decreases in one of the filters, due to filter contamination, the other filter may provide intake air at a higher flowrate, thereby increasing the efficiency of the intake system as well as combustion efficiency.
In some examples, the configuration may depend on the type of intake sensors, such as MAF or MAP. In systems including a MAF sensor, the quick disconnect connection described in
Note that the example routines included herein can be used with various engine and/or vehicle system configurations. As such, various acts, operations, or functions illustrated may be performed in the sequence illustrated, in parallel, or in some cases omitted. Likewise, the order of processing is not necessarily required to achieve the features and advantages of the example embodiments described herein, but is provided for ease of illustration and description. One or more of the illustrated acts or functions may be repeatedly performed depending on the particular strategy being used.
It will be appreciated that the configurations and methods disclosed herein are exemplary in nature, and that these specific embodiments are not to be considered in a limiting sense, because numerous variations are possible. For example, the above technology can be applied to V-6, I-4, I-6, V-12, opposed 4, and other engine types. The subject matter of the present disclosure includes all novel and non-obvious combinations and sub-combinations of the various systems and configurations, and other features, functions, and/or properties disclosed herein.
The following claims particularly point out certain combinations and sub-combinations regarded as novel and non-obvious. These claims may refer to “an” element or “a first” element or the equivalent thereof. Such claims should be understood to include incorporation of one or more such elements, neither requiring nor excluding two or more such elements. Other combinations and sub-combinations of the disclosed features, functions, elements, and/or properties may be claimed through amendment of the present claims or through presentation of new claims in this or a related application. Such claims, whether broader, narrower, equal, or different in scope to the original claims, also are regarded as included within the subject matter of the present disclosure.
The present application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/733,733, filed Dec. 5, 2012, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61733733 | Dec 2012 | US |
