JP7139803B2 - air cleaner - Google Patents

Description

The present disclosure relates to air cleaners used in internal combustion engines and the like.

2. Description of the Related Art Air cleaners for purifying intake air of internal combustion engines and the like are widely used. Examples of air cleaners include, for example, air entering through an inlet is purified while passing through a filter, and the purified air exits through an outlet. Such an air cleaner is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-100000.

JP 2017-082664 A

In order to reduce manufacturing costs, there is a demand to be able to install the air cleaner in different directions. Specifically, if there are cases where the air cleaner must be installed vertically or horizontally due to the arrangement with other parts, a common air cleaner is used. There is a demand to support installation in any direction.

By the way, the air cleaner is sometimes provided with a drain hole for discharging liquid such as water that has entered with the air. Since water flows in the lower direction, for example, in an air cleaner that is assumed to be installed horizontally, the drain hole is provided near the bottom portion when the air cleaner is installed horizontally. For this reason, if an air cleaner that is only supposed to be installed horizontally is used vertically, the drain hole will not be near the bottom, making it difficult to drain the water. be. Therefore, it is difficult to install the same air cleaner in different orientations.

An object of the present disclosure is to provide an air cleaner capable of draining water regardless of the installation direction.

An air cleaner according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes a case, a first discharge portion provided in the case for discharging liquid when installed in a first installation state, provided in the case, and and a second discharge part for discharging the liquid when installed in the installation state of 2, and when installed in the first installation state, the second discharge part is a closing member. , and when installed in the second installation state, the first discharge part is closed by the closing member.

According to the present disclosure, it is possible to suitably drain water regardless of the direction in which the air cleaner is installed.

A diagram for explaining the appearance of an air cleaner according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Illustration showing an example when the air cleaner is installed vertically Illustration showing the flow of air flowing into the case when the air cleaner is placed horizontally A diagram exemplifying the flow of water flowing into the case when the air cleaner is placed horizontally. A diagram exemplifying the flow of air and water flowing into the case when the air cleaner is placed vertically. Diagram for explaining the cap Diagram for explaining the cap Diagram for explaining the cap

Hereinafter, each embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, more detailed description than necessary, for example, detailed description of already well-known matters and redundant description of substantially the same configuration may be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the appearance of an air cleaner 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1 , the air cleaner 10 has a substantially cylindrical case 11 , an inlet pipe 12 , an outlet pipe 13 , a first discharge hole 14 and a second discharge hole 15 . The first discharge hole 14 is an example of the first discharge part of the present disclosure, and the second discharge hole 15 is an example of the second discharge part of the present disclosure. In addition, the up-down direction in this specification is shown from FIG. 1 to FIG. 4 mentioned later.

The case 11 is formed in a substantially columnar shape. An inlet pipe 12 that is a pipe for introducing air into the case 11 is connected to a part of the cylindrical side surface of the case 11 . An outlet pipe 13 is connected to one of the cylindrical bottom surfaces of the case 11 to allow the air in the case 11 to flow out.

The air cleaner 10 is mounted on a vehicle such as a truck. Although not shown, the inlet pipe 12 is connected to an air intake of the vehicle via a rubber tube or the like, and the outlet pipe 13 is connected to an internal combustion engine such as an engine. As a result, the air cleaner 10 can purify the air taken in from the air intake and supply it to the internal combustion engine.

The first discharge hole 14 and the second discharge hole 15 are holes for discharging liquid such as water that has flowed into the case 11 to the outside of the case 11 . In addition, what is discharged from the first discharge hole 14 and the second discharge hole 15 is not limited to water, and other liquids such as oil may be used. As shown in FIG. 1 , the first discharge hole 14 is provided in part of the side surface of the case 11 , and the second discharge hole 15 is provided in part of the bottom surface of the case 11 .

Thus, the air cleaner 10 has a plurality of discharge holes. These plurality of discharge holes are provided to correspond to the case where the air cleaner 10 is installed in a plurality of installation states. The multiple installation states include different installation states assumed in advance when the air cleaner 10 is designed.

As shown in FIG. 1, the air cleaner 10 according to the present embodiment is installed in a laterally placed state in which both bottom surfaces of a cylindrical case 11 face sideways, and as shown in FIG. 11 is assumed to be installed in a vertically placed state in which both bottom surfaces are oriented vertically (in the vertical direction). The horizontal placement state is an example of a first installation state of the present disclosure, and the vertical placement state is an example of a second installation state of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a case where the air cleaner 10 is installed vertically.

1, the inlet pipe 12 is positioned above the case 11, the outlet pipe 13 and the second discharge hole 15 are positioned laterally, and the first discharge hole 14 is positioned below. become.

On the other hand, when the air cleaner 10 is vertically placed as shown in FIG. 2, the inlet pipe 12 and the first discharge hole 14 are positioned laterally of the case 11, the outlet pipe 13 is positioned above, and the second discharge hole 15 is positioned below. become.

With such a configuration, either the first discharge hole 14 or the second discharge hole 15 is positioned at the bottom of the case 11 regardless of whether the air cleaner 10 is placed horizontally or vertically. Therefore, when water flows into the case 11 together with air from the inlet pipe 12, the water is discharged from the lowermost discharge hole of the case 11. As shown in FIG. In this manner, water can be drained appropriately in any of the plurality of presumed installation states in which the air cleaner 10 is installed. Therefore, the air cleaner 10 can be used in both horizontal and vertical positions.

The flow of air and water flowing into the air cleaner 10 will be described below. FIG. 3A is a diagram illustrating the flow of air flowing into case 11 when air cleaner 10 is placed horizontally. The dashed-dotted arrows in FIG. 3A illustrate the flow of air. FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating the flow of water that has flowed into the case 11 when the air cleaner 10 is placed horizontally. The dotted arrows in FIG. 3B illustrate water flow. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the flow of air and water flowing into the case 11 when the air cleaner 10 is placed vertically.

3A shows a cross-sectional view of the horizontally placed air cleaner 10 on a plane including the central axis of the cylindrical shape of the case 11 and passing through the first discharge hole 14. FIG. FIG. 3B shows a cross-sectional view of the horizontally placed air cleaner 10 on a plane perpendicular to the central axis of the cylindrical shape of the case 11 and passing through the first discharge hole 14 . FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the air cleaner 10 placed vertically on a plane including the central axis of the cylindrical shape of the case 11 and passing through the second discharge hole 15 .

As shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 4, inside the case 11, a filter element 111, a first space 112, and a second space 113 are provided.

The filter element 111 is a generally called chrysanthemum-shaped filter element formed by folding a filter material such as non-woven fabric or filter paper into a pleated shape and further bending the folded filter material into a cylindrical shape. The filter element 111 allows air (gas) to pass through but does not allow water (liquid) to pass through. The inside of case 11 of air cleaner 10 is divided into first space 112 and second space 113 by filter element 111 .

The first space 112 is a space defined by the inner wall surface of the case 11 and the filter element 111 . The second space 113 is a space inside the cylindrical filter element 111 .

As shown in FIGS. 3A and 4 , the air flowing into the case 11 from the inlet pipe 12 passes through the first space 112 , passes through the filter element 111 , is filtered, and reaches the second space 113 . The purified air in the second space 113 then flows out through the outlet pipe 13 .

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 3B and 4, the water flowing from the inlet pipe 12 flows through the first space 112 without passing through the filter element 111. It is discharged to the outside from the discharge hole located at the bottom. The discharge hole positioned at the bottom of the case 11 is the first discharge hole 14 when the air cleaner 10 is horizontally placed as shown in FIG. 3B, and is the second discharge hole 15 when the air cleaner 10 is vertically placed as shown in FIG. . As described above, the air cleaner 10 is configured to discharge water from one of the plurality of discharge holes according to the installation state.

It is desirable that a drain valve is provided in the drain hole from which water is drained. That is, as shown in FIG. 3A, a first drain valve 141 is provided in the first drain hole 14 when the air cleaner 10 is placed horizontally. Similarly, as shown in FIG. 4, a second drain valve 151 is provided in the second drain hole 15 when the air cleaner 10 is placed vertically. The specific configurations of the drain valve 141 and the drain valve 151 are not particularly limited in the present disclosure. For example, a check valve to prevent dust or water from entering from the outside of the air cleaner 10, or a water discharge hole that automatically discharges water when a predetermined amount or more of water accumulates. , or an on-off valve that is opened and closed at will by a vehicle mechanic or the like to discharge water.

In addition, when the air cleaner 10 is placed horizontally, water is not discharged from the second discharge hole 15 which is not positioned at the bottom of the case 11 . Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3A, when the air cleaner 10 is placed horizontally, the second discharge hole 15 is closed to prevent dust, water, etc. from entering and to prevent air from escaping. is desirable.

Similarly, when the air cleaner 10 is placed vertically, water is not discharged from the first discharge hole 14 that is not positioned at the bottom of the case 11 . Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, it is desirable that the first discharge hole 14 be closed when the air cleaner 10 is placed vertically.

The cap 20 for closing the first discharge hole 14 or the second discharge hole 15 will be described below. As shown in FIG. 3A , a cylindrical first protrusion 142 that protrudes outward from the case 11 is provided around the first discharge hole 14 . Similarly, as shown in FIG. 4 , a cylindrical second protrusion 152 that protrudes outward from the case 11 is provided around the second discharge hole 15 . When closing the first discharge hole 14 or the second discharge hole 15 , the cap 20 is put on the tip portion of the first projecting portion 142 or the second projecting portion 152 . The cap 20 is made of elastic resin such as rubber. Such a cap 20 can prevent dust, water, and the like from entering through a discharge hole that is not used for draining water, and can also prevent the air in the air cleaner 10 from escaping.

5A to 5C are diagrams for explaining the cap 20. FIG. As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, cap 20 has lid portion 21 , inner wall 22 , and outer wall 23 . In FIG. 5A, the cap 20 is viewed from the lid portion 21 side, and in FIG. 5B, the cap 20 is viewed from the inner wall 22 and outer wall 23 sides.

In the following description, for the sake of simplicity, the case where the cap 20 is put on the first projecting portion 142 provided around the first discharge hole 14 will be described, and the case where the cap 20 is placed around the second discharge hole 15 A description of the case where the provided second projecting portion 152 is covered will be omitted.

The lid portion 21 is a portion that serves as a lid that closes the first discharge hole 14 when the cap 20 is put on the first projecting portion 142 . The inner wall 22 and the outer wall 23 contact the outer side or the inner side of the cylindrical side surface of the first protrusion 142 when the cap 20 is placed over the first protrusion 142 , thereby making the cap 20 the first protrusion. 142 is a member for fixing. That is, the cap 20 has a structure in which the side surface of the first projecting portion 142 is sandwiched between the inner wall 22 and the outer wall 23 to prevent it from coming off. Although the distance between the inner wall 22 and the outer wall 23 is emphasized in FIG. formed almost identically.

FIG. 5C is a cross-sectional view of the plane including the central axis of the cap 20 with the cap covering the first discharge hole 14 . As shown in FIG. 5C , the inner wall 22 is in close contact with the inner side of the first protrusion 142 , and the outer wall 23 is in close contact with the outer side of the first protrusion 142 . With such a configuration, the cap 20 does not have an inner wall and only the outer wall is in close contact with the outside of the side surface of the protrusion. Can take up a lot of area. Therefore, it is possible to make it difficult for the cap 20 to come off from the first projecting portion 142 due to friction.

With such a configuration, it is possible to prevent the cap 20 from coming off even if a force directed from the inside to the outside is applied to the cap 20 as well as a force directed from the outside to the inside of the air cleaner 10 . In addition, when the cap 20 is attached to the first projecting portion 142, it can be attached simply by fitting it, so attachment is easy. With such a configuration, the cap 20 can easily close the discharge hole that is not used for draining water. In addition, although the case where the cap 20 is attached to the first projecting portion 142 has been described above, the case of attaching the cap 20 to the second projecting portion 152 is the same.

<Action/effect>
As described above, the air cleaner 10 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes the case 11, the first discharge hole 14 provided in the case 11 and for discharging water when installed in a horizontal position, and a second drain for draining water when installed in an upright position.

The first discharge hole 14 is located at the bottom of the case 11 when installed horizontally, and the second discharge hole 15 is located at the bottom of the case 11 when installed vertically. Located in

With such a configuration, even if the air cleaner 10 is installed in any of a plurality of presumed installation states, the corresponding discharge hole is provided at the bottom of the case 11, which is preferable. water can be discharged to Therefore, when it is assumed in advance that the air cleaner 10 will be installed in a plurality of installation states due to, for example, differences in vehicle models, the air cleaners arranged in different installation states can be shared, reducing the manufacturing cost of the air cleaner 10. Design costs can be reduced.

<Modification>
Although the embodiments according to the present disclosure have been described above with reference to the drawings, the present disclosure is not limited to such examples. It is obvious that a person skilled in the art can conceive of various modifications or modifications within the scope described in the claims, and these also belong to the technical scope of the present disclosure. Understood. Also, the constituent elements in the above embodiments may be combined arbitrarily without departing from the gist of the disclosure.

In the embodiment described above, the air cleaner 10 is assumed to be mounted on a vehicle having an internal combustion engine such as a truck, but the present disclosure is not limited to this. For example, it can be applied to agricultural machinery, construction machinery, pumps, generators, etc. that are equipped with internal combustion engines.

In the above-described embodiment, the air cleaner 10 has the cylindrical case 11 provided with the inlet pipe 12 and the outlet pipe 13, but the present disclosure is not limited to this. In the air cleaner of the present disclosure, the shape of the case including the inlet pipe and the outlet pipe is not particularly limited, and may be of any shape. Examples of specific shapes of the case include rectangular parallelepipeds, cubes, cylinders, cones, truncated cones, triangular pyramids, or any combination thereof. In addition, in this specification, each shape is not a strict thing, but refers to a rough shape. That is, the columnar shape of the case 11 in the above-described embodiment may include, for example, a shape in which a part of the column is removed, a shape in which a column with another shape is added, and the like. The same applies to other shapes.

In the above-described embodiment, as an example of the air cleaner, the air cleaner 10 that purifies the air using the chrysanthemum-shaped filter element 111 is shown, but the present disclosure is not limited to this. The present disclosure contemplates, for example, air cleaners using other shapes and types of filter elements. Also, other types of air cleaners, such as cyclone type air cleaners, may be used.

In the above embodiment, FIGS. 3A, 3B, 4, etc. show examples in which the inlet pipe 12, the outlet pipe 13, the first discharge hole 14, and the second discharge hole 15 are arranged in the same plane. However, the present disclosure is not so limited. These structures do not necessarily need to be arranged in the same plane, and may be arranged in different planes as appropriate.

In the embodiment described above, the horizontal placement state and the vertical placement state have been described as examples of the arrangement state of the air cleaner 10, but the present disclosure is not limited to this. In the present disclosure, it may be assumed that the air cleaner is arranged in three or more types of arrangement states depending on the installation environment. Here, the installation environment specifically means an installation space for the air cleaner, a space for arranging piping, a positional relationship with the internal combustion engine, a positional relationship with the air intake, and the like. When the air cleaner of the present disclosure is assumed to be arranged in a plurality of orientations, one discharge hole for draining water is formed in the vicinity of the lowermost portion of the air cleaner in each orientation. It is good if it is.

For example, if it is assumed that the air cleaner of the present invention is placed in an obliquely slanted state in addition to the horizontal and vertical states, the air cleaner is provided with three drain holes. Just do it. Specifically, one discharge hole (the first discharge hole 14 in the above embodiment) is near the bottom when placed horizontally, and one discharge hole (the second discharge hole 14 in the above embodiment) is near the bottom when placed vertically. 15), and one discharge hole may be formed in the vicinity of the lowest part in the obliquely placed state.

With such a configuration, the air cleaner of the present disclosure can be used in common for air cleaners arranged in different orientations when it is assumed in advance that the air cleaner of the present disclosure will be installed in a plurality of orientations due to, for example, differences in vehicle types. . Therefore, the manufacturing cost and design cost of the air cleaner can be reduced.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present disclosure is useful for air cleaners that purify air supplied to internal combustion engines.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 air cleaner 11 case 111 filter element 112 first space 113 second space 12 inlet pipe 13 outlet pipe 14 first discharge hole 141 first drain valve 142 first protrusion 15 second discharge hole 151 second drain valve 152 second protrusion Part 20 Cap 21 Lid Part 22 Inner Wall 23 Outer Wall

Claims (4)

a case;
a first discharge part provided in the case for discharging the liquid when installed in the first installation state;
a second discharge part provided in the case for discharging the liquid when installed in the second installation state;
has
When installed in the first installation state, the second discharge part is closed by a closing member,
When installed in the second installation state, the first discharge section is closed by the closing member.
air cleaner. The first discharge part is positioned at the bottom of the case when installed in the first installation state,
The second ejection part is positioned at the bottom of the case when installed in the second installation state.
An air cleaner according to claim 1. When installed in the first installation state, a valve is provided in the first discharge part,
When installed in the second installation state, the second discharge part is provided with a valve,
An air cleaner according to claim 1 or 2 . The case has a cylindrical shape,
the first installation state is a horizontal placement state in which both bottom surfaces of the case are oriented horizontally;
The second installation state is a vertical installation state in which both bottom surfaces of the case are oriented vertically,
The first discharge part is provided on a part of a side surface of the cylindrical case of the case,
The second discharge part is provided on a part of the bottom surface of the cylindrical shape of the case,
An air cleaner according to any one of claims 1 to 3 .

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