Patent Application
20170100686
This patent disclosure relates generally to a liquid filter and, more particularly, to a replaceable filter unit and filter housing.
Engines typically include a filter, such as a fuel filter in a filter housing and the filter may be periodically inspected or replaced. For the filter to work efficiently, it is preferable that an unobstructed fluid path be maintained around the filter. To accomplish this, conventional filters typically include various spacers to keep the filter centered in the filter housing and prevent the filter from resting against an inside wall of the filter housing.
These spacers or other such devices that are part of the filter are typically discarded along with the filter once the filter has reached the end of its service life. In other instances, complicated mechanisms may be utilized to secure a filter within a filter housing. Such complications may increase manufacturing costs and frustration for the end user as well as being susceptible to accelerated wear and/or breakage.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,096,207 (hereinafter “the '207 patent”), entitled “Filter Cartridge Assembly Having a Reusable Support Core Structure,” purports to describe a reusable core structure to support a replaceable filter within a filter housing. However, the core structure of the '207 patent is a complicated part with threaded portions and several parts that are welded together. In addition to the complication of the core structure, the filter the '207 patent must be handled to attach and remove the filter from the core structure. Depending on the fluid being filtered, removing a used filter may be objectionable to the end user.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved liquid filter to address the problems described above and/or problems posed by other conventional approaches.
The foregoing needs are met, to a great extent, by the present disclosure, wherein aspects of an improved liquid filter are provided.
In one aspect, the disclosure describes a filter unit. The filter unit includes a top plate, a bottom plate, a plug, and a filter medium. The top plate is disposed at a first portion of the filter unit. The bottom plate is disposed at a second portion of the filter unit. The plug extends from the bottom plate along an axis of elongation of the filter unit. The filter medium is disposed between the top plate and the bottom plate.
In another aspect, the disclosure describes a housing assembly configured to filter a fluid. The filter housing assembly includes a filter unit and a housing. The filter unit includes a top plate, a bottom plate, a plug and a filter medium. The top plate is disposed at a first portion of the filter unit. The top plate includes a fluid outlet. The bottom plate is disposed at a second portion of the filter unit. The plug extends from the bottom plate along an axis of elongation of the filter unit. A plug gasket is disposed about the plug. The filter medium is disposed between the top plate and the bottom plate. The housing includes a housing bore defined by a cylindrical surface and the plug gasket is configured to form a seal between the cylindrical surface and the plug.
In yet another aspect, the disclosure describes a filter system configured to filter a fluid. The filter system including a filter base and a filter housing assembly. The filter base includes a base inlet, a base outlet, a connection port, and a housing coupler. The filter housing assembly includes a base coupler, a filter unit, and a housing. The base coupler is configured to mate to the housing coupler. The filter unit includes a top plate, a bottom plate, a plug, a plug gasket, and a filter medium. The top plate is disposed at a first portion of the filter unit. The top plate includes a fluid outlet configured to mate with the connection port to form a top locator. The bottom plate is disposed at a second portion of the filter unit. The plug extends from the bottom plate along an axis of elongation of the filter unit. The plug gasket is disposed about the plug. The filter medium is disposed between the top plate and the bottom plate. The housing includes a housing bore is defined by a cylindrical surface and the plug gasket is configured to form a seal between the cylindrical surface and the plug.
It will be understood that the disclosure is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The disclosed device and method are capable of aspects in addition to those described and the disclosed method is capable of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it will be understood that the terminology employed herein, as well as the abstract, are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the various aspects. Therefore, the claims will be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the various aspects.
The drawings presented are intended solely for the purpose of illustration and therefore, are neither desired nor intended to limit the subject matter of the disclosure to any or all of the exact details of construction shown, except insofar as they may be deemed essential to the claims.
In a particular example, the power source 18 includes an engine configured to combust a fuel such as diesel and the fuel is filtered at a filter housing assembly 20. As fuel passes through the filter housing assembly 20, contaminants such as particulates, debris, water, and the like are filtered out and retained in a filter medium (shown in
While the particular example of filtering and separating particulates and water from fuel is discussed in this disclosure, the various embodiments are not limited to filtering and collecting water from fuel, but rather, include any suitable filtering application in which the housing includes a drain. Examples of suitable filtering applications include hydraulic, lubricant, air, or other such filtration systems.
The filter unit 40 includes a filter medium 42 disposed about a center tube 44 and the filter medium 42 is disposed between a top plate 46 and a bottom plate 48. The filter medium 42 may include any suitable material for filtering fluids such as air, fuel, and/or oil. Examples of suitable materials include: paper or other natural material; spun, felted, or woven natural or man-made fibers; polymer foams; and the like. In a particular example, the filter medium 42 includes a card stock of felted polyester fibers. This card stock can be cut, scored, folded and able to retain folds. In particular, the card stock of the filter medium 42 folded into pleats and is wrapped around the center tube 44.
The filter housing assembly 20 is removably secured to the filter base 30 via a base coupler 58 disposed about an opening of a housing 60. In the particular example shown, a threaded portion of the base coupler 58 is configured to mate with a threaded portion of the housing coupler. In general, the housing 60 may include any suitable material such as, for example, metals, plastics, elastomers, and the like. In a particular example, the housing 60 is primarily sheet metal formed into a cylindrical shell and incorporating elastomeric seals. In another particular example, the housing 60 is a cast metal shell to which machined surfaces are subsequently milled and/or elastomeric seals are later added.
A fuel inlet 62 is located between the opening of the housing 60 and the perimeter of the top plate 46. More particularly, the fuel inlet 62 is an annular opening in fluid communication with the base inlet 32 and the fuel inlet 62 is defined by an inside wall of the housing 60 and the outside perimeter of the top plate 46 (shown particularly in
Together, the filter housing assembly 20 and the filter base 30 shown in
To generate a seal and prevent or reduce leaks between the filter base 30 and the filter housing assembly 20, a gasket 84 may be disposed between the housing coupler 38 and the base coupler 58. In the example shown in greater detail in
The plug 22, as shown in various examples, may be configured to mate with a bottom plate bore 88 (
In various examples, the plug 22 may be solid or may include an internal passage 96. In the example shown in
Referring to
Referring to
Also shown in
The present disclosure may be applicable to any machine including a fluid filter. Aspects of the disclosed filter housing assembly may promote ease of use, reduced manufacturing costs, reduced waste in the manufacturing process, operational flexibility, and performance of fluid filter housing assemblies in general and fuel systems in particular. As described herein, it is an advantage of aspects of the filter housing assembly 20 that the top plate 46 is a separate piece from the gasket sleeve 86. For example, the gasket 84 is over-molded on the gasket sleeve 86. This process entails first forming the gasket sleeve 86 and then placing the gasket sleeve 86 into a second mold in which the gasket 84 is molded and integrated onto the gasket sleeve 86. It is more likely that an over-molded component will be rejected during quality control because of the additional steps in the manufacturing process. Also, over-molded components are more difficult to recycle due to the two different materials. By making the gasket sleeve 86 separate from the top plate 46, if the gasket sleeve 86 is rejected, only a relatively low-mass component is rejected and so, material cost can be saved.
It is another advantage of some aspects of the disclosure, that the fuel inlet 62 is unobstructed by conventional webbing spanning between the filter housing and the filter unit. Instead, the fuel inlet 62 is a single, annular opening that may allow greater flow through the fuel inlet 62 and/or may allow the filter unit 40 to be relatively larger—which may increase the service life of the filter unit 40. As shown in
It is yet another advantage of some aspects of the disclosure, that the plug 22 may be formed as a single piece. In this manner, the number of components in the filter housing assembly 20 may be reduced. The number of components may be further reduced by integrating the plug 22 into the bottom plate 48 such that the filter unit 40 and the plug 22 are a single component when assembled.
It is yet another advantage of some aspects of the disclosure, that the plug 22 may be utilized to drain the filter housing assembly 20. As shown in
It will be appreciated that the foregoing description provides examples of the disclosed system and technique. However, it is contemplated that other implementations of the disclosure may differ in detail from the foregoing examples. All references to the disclosure or examples thereof are intended to reference the particular example being discussed at that point and are not intended to imply any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure more generally. All language of distinction and disparagement with respect to certain features is intended to indicate a lack of preference for those features, but not to exclude such from the scope of the disclosure entirely unless otherwise indicated.
Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.
Throughout the disclosure, like reference numbers refer to similar elements herein, unless otherwise specified.
