This invention relates generally to fluid filters and more particularly to fluid filters usable in cramped quarters such as in the engine compartment of an automobile.
Filters are used to clean and remove debris from a wide variety of automotive fluids. For example, oil filters filter engine oil, transmission filters filter automatic transmission fluid, and coolant filters filter engine coolant as it circulates through the engine. Filters also may be used to filter air conditioning refrigerant as it circulates into and/or out of the compressor of an automotive air conditioning system. In this regard, my previous U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,093 issued on Jan. 23, 2001 discloses an automotive air conditioning refrigerant filter and method wherein a thimble-shaped filter element is installed in an air conditioning compressor to trap debris that may be entrained in the refrigerant. The disclosure of this patent is hereby incorporated by reference.
A unique aluminum tubing coupler is used in many automotive air conditioning systems to couple together the ends of two pieces of aluminum tubing. Such a coupler is used, for instance, to couple the condenser unit of the air conditioning system in the refrigerant line from the compressor. A coupler is the ideal location in many instances where a refrigerant filter can be inserted in the refrigerant line because there is a natural break in the line at this location. However, the tubing couplers mentioned above often are located in tight or cramped quarters within an engine compartment such as, for instance, between the condenser unit and the firewall or within the radiator cowling. For this reason, it often is impossible to install a traditional in-line type filter unit in the refrigerant line because there simply is not enough space to accommodate such a filter unit. Smaller in-line filters may be selected to fit the space, but the correspondingly smaller area of filter media in these smaller filters generally is unacceptable because the filter clogs quickly and must be replaced often. Replacement is a problem in the cramped and sometimes inaccessible quarters in which the filters reside.
Thus, there is a need for an automotive air conditioning filter unit that can easily be installed in cramped and tight locations where tubing couplers of the system are located but that nevertheless provides a large filter media area that effectively filters for a long period of time without becoming clogged. It is to the provision of such a filter unit that the present invention is primarily directed.
Briefly described, the present invention, in a preferred embodiment thereof, is an extremely thin profile block filter unit designed to be installed in an automotive air conditioning system at locations of tube couplers. The filter unit has thin generally square or rectangular shells that fit together to form a thin rectangular housing defining a correspondingly thin rectangular interior chamber. An inlet port is formed on one shell and an outlet port is formed on the other shell. The inlet port of the filter unit matches the configuration of the female (or male as the case may be) portion of a tubing coupler and the outlet port matches the configuration of the male (or female as the case may be) portion of the tubing coupler. In this way, the filter unit can be sandwiched between the sections of a tubing coupler so that fluid flows through the interior chamber. When the filter housing is assembled, it is exceeding thin compared to traditional in-line filter units and easily fits in virtually any cramped or tight region of an engine compartment.
A large flat rectangular filter screen having a correspondingly large surface area is disposed in and spans the interior chamber of the housing. Air conditioning refrigerant that enters the housing through its inlet port encounters and passes through the filter screen prior to exiting the filter unit through its outlet port and is thereby filtered. As the filter screen becomes clogged at the location of the path of the fluid, the fluid simply spreads out laterally across the clogged portion of the screen until it encounters a clean region of the screen. It then passes through the clean region of the filter screen, is filtered, and moves out through the outlet port. Since the surface area of the filter screen is large and comparable to that of traditional in-line filters that otherwise might be used, the filter of this invention functions for long periods of time without becoming clogged. However, the thickness of the filter unit is only a fraction of the length of a comparable in-line filter and thus easily fits in a cramped area.
Thus, a filter unit is now provided that can be installed in automotive air conditioning systems in the extremely tight and cramped locations where tubing couplers are located but that nevertheless provides filter media with a large surface area comparable to much larger filters that will not fit in such regions. These and other features, objects, and advantages of the filter of the present invention will become more apparent upon review of the detailed description set forth below taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures, which are briefly described as follows.
Referring now in more detail to the drawings, wherein like numerals refer where appropriate to like parts throughout the several views,
Referring to
The housing of the filter 21 forms a thin rectangular interior chamber within which is mounted a rectangular filter screen or sheet of another appropriate filter medium. The filter screen is substantially sandwiched between the shells of the filter. In this way, refrigerant flowing through the tubes 11 and 12 is constrained to pass through the filter screen, which traps entrained particles within the refrigerant. Because of the relatively large rectangular shape of the filter housing and filter screen, a large surface area of filter media relative to the very small thickness of the filter is presented to the fluid. However, unlike in-line filters, the filter of this invention takes up very little space and does not require any reconfiguration of the aluminum tubing for its installation. It easily fits in existing spaces that are tight or confined.
As mentioned above, the filter 21 has a first shell 22 and a second shell 23 that fit together to form the housing of the filter. The first shell 22 is formed with a mounting lobe 24 that has a bolt hole 33 formed through its upper portion. The bolt hole is sized and positioned to align with the bolt hole 26 when the filter is disposed between the sections of the coupler. The first shell 22 is formed with a face 34 that mimics the configuration of the inside face of the female section 13 of the coupler. More specifically, the face 34 is formed with a circular seat 36 that mimics the seat 32 and a passageway 37 that mimics the passageway 31. It will thus be seen that the face 34 of the first shell 22 mates with the inside face of the male section of the coupler in the same way as the inside face of the female coupler in a normal configuration of the coupler. The opposite side of the shell 22 is configured to define a recessed generally rectangular well 38 surrounded by a shallow recessed rim 39. The passageway 37 communicates with the well 38.
A generally rectangular mesh screen 41 is sized to fit within the recessed rim 39 of the first shell 22. The mesh screen preferably has a mesh size sufficiently small such that harmful particulates entrained in a refrigerant flow are trapped as refrigerant passes through the screen. A mesh screen is the preferred filter medium in the present invention; however, it should be understood that any type of filter medium may be substituted for the mesh screen and all such filter media are considered equivalent to the disclosed mesh screen.
The second shell 23 of the filter housing has an inside face formed to define a recessed rectangular well 51 that is substantially the same width and height (although possible a different depth) as the well 38. It will thus be seen that when the screen 41 is disposed in the recess 39 and the shells are joined together, the periphery of the well 51 overlaps the edges of the screen. The screen is thus held firmly in place spanning the interior cavity or chamber formed by the wells of the joined shells. The second shell 23 has an outside face that is configured to mimic the shape of the inside face of the male section 14 of the coupler. More specifically, the second shell is formed with a passageway 47 that extends from the well 51 through a projecting nipple 48. The projecting nipple 48 is disposed in the center of a circular land 49 that has the same size and shape as the land 28. With this configuration, it will be seen that the female section 13 of the coupler can sealingly couple to the outside face of the second shell in the same way that it couples to the male section of the coupler in a normal coupling installation. The second shell 23 is formed with a bolt hole 46 that aligns with the bolt holes 26 and 33.
The filter is assembled by simply installing the mesh screen 41 in the first shell and positioning the second shell over the first shell to form the filter body and capture the screen. The shells can be secured together and sealed by epoxy, welding, a gasket, or other appropriate means. The coupler is then disassembled and the assembled filter is located between the male and female sections of the coupler with its bolt holes aligned with the bolt hole 26 and the threaded stud 16. The sections of the coupler are then brought together until the nipple 29 seats within the passageway 37 and the nipple 48 seats within the passageway 31. Nut 17 is threaded onto the end of threaded stud 16 and tightened to secure and seal the filter 21 in place sandwiched between the coupler sections and in line with refrigerant tubes.
With the filter 21 in place, refrigerant entering from the left, for example, in
As best illustrated in
A mounting boss 62 having bolt hole 64 is provided for mounting the filter of
To mount the filter of this embodiment inline with a tubing coupler of the type shown in
With the filter 57 of this embodiment installed, the air conditioning system can be re-charged with refrigerant and operated in the normal way, which causes the refrigerant to circulate within the tubing of the air conditioning system. As illustrated by flow arrows in
At predetermined service intervals, the filter of this embodiment should be replaced, which, with the mounting boss arrangement, is a simple matter. The nut 17 is merely loosened and the halves of the coupler separated slightly until the filter body can be slipped from between the coupler halves. The mounting boss, in contrast, stays in place. The cover plate 61 can then be removed, which allows the filter element 67 to be removed and replaced with a fresh filter element. The filter is then re-installed as described above for continued use.
In the event that the filter becomes clogged and is not replaced as scheduled, the filter of this embodiment provides a bypass mechanism that will allow the refrigerant to continue to flow and avoid damage to the air conditioning system. More specifically, in the event that the filter medium becomes too clogged for efficient passage of refrigerant therethrough, a natural backpressure develops on the inlet side of the filter. The fluid dam 72 is carefully designed such that backpressure above a preselected threshold causes the dam to rupture or break, which allows refrigerant to flow directly through the upper portion of the filter and continue to circulate, albeit unfiltered. To accomplish this, the dam can be formed with a carefully engineered thickness, with a thin region engineered to rupture under pressure, with a set of scores that rupture in a controlled manner, or in any of a number of other ways to insure that the fluid dam ruptures when backpressure exceeds the threshold.
The invention has been described herein in terms of preferred embodiments and methodologies. It will be understood by those of skill in the art, however, that various modifications to the illustrated embodiments might be made by those of skill in the art, all within the scope of the invention. For instance, the filter has been illustrated with a generally rectangular shape. However, other shapes such as round or triangular are possible and all shapes are contemplated to be within the scope of the invention. Any appropriate type of filter media might be substituted for the mesh screen of the first preferred embodiment and the particular configurations of the faces of the filter are, of course, dependent upon the configuration of the particular coupler in which the filter is to be installed. Generally, the faces of the filter mimic the faces of the coupler sections so that the filter can be sandwiched and installed between the coupler sections. The housing of the filter preferably is formed of metal; however, it also might be formed of plastic or other durable resilient material, with comparable results. Finally, the filter of this invention has been illustrated for use with automotive air conditioning systems, for which it initially was designed. However, the concept is adaptable to any system, such as, for instance, a power steering fluid circuit, where a flowing fluid can benefit from continuous filtering. These and other modifications, additions, and deletions might well be made by those of skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.
Priority is hereby claimed to the benefit of the filing date of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/578,648 filed on Jun. 10, 2004.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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60578648 | Jun 2004 | US |