JPH061223Y2 - Air dryer equipment - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention a. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an air dryer device, and more particularly to an air dryer device for drying compressed air used in a vehicle air brake device.

b. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, air dryer devices have been used to dry the air in vehicle air brake devices. An example of this type of air dryer device is shown in FIG. The air dryer device 100 includes a housing 101 having an open end, a storage case 104 disposed in a purge chamber 102 in the housing 101 and storing a desiccant 103, and a housing.
An end cover 105 for closing the open end of 101 is provided. The air dryer device 100 supplies compressed air from the compressor to the air reservoir through the desiccant storage chamber 106 of the storage case 104, the check valve 107 and the purge chamber 102 in the compressed air supply process, and the end portion in the desiccant regeneration process. By opening the purge valve 108 provided on the cover 105, the compressed air in the purge chamber 102 is released to the atmosphere through the desiccant storage chamber 106.

c. Problems to be Solved by the Invention Since the conventional air dryer device is configured as described above, the following problems have been pointed out. That is, the desiccant 103 stored in the storage case 104 deteriorates and its moisture absorption capacity decreases due to repeated compressed air supply process and desiccant regenerating process. Therefore, as the air dryer device 100 is used, the desiccant 103 is used. Storage case 1 for storing
It is necessary to replace 04 regularly or as a rule of thumb. However, there is a case where the desiccant 103 is not deteriorated depending on the usage when the periodical replacement is performed. However, the air dryer device 100
Since it has a double structure as shown in FIG. 3, it is not possible to observe the deterioration state of the desiccant 103 in the storage case 104 from the outside. Therefore, conventional air dryer devices
In the case of 100, the storage case 104 may be replaced even though the desiccant 103 is not deteriorated, which is economically disadvantageous.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an air dryer device capable of solving the above-mentioned problems.

d. Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the problems of the above-mentioned prior art, in the present invention, a housing having an open end, a filter disposed inside the housing, and a desiccant are laminated inside. And an end cover that has a compressed air introduction port and closes the opening end of the housing. Compressed air supplied through the compressed air introduction port is stored in the storage case. In the air dryer device which is adapted to contact the desiccant through the filter to dry the compressed air, the compressed air supplied through the compressed air introduction port is the outer peripheral portion of the casing of the storage case. An observation opening for observing the clogging state on the downstream side of the filter is provided at a position facing the downstream outer peripheral surface of the filter flowing out through The sealing plug is removably inserted into the opening for mounting.

e. Embodiment Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on an illustrated embodiment.

1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention.
In the figure, an air dryer device 1 includes a compressor 2,
The pressure regulator 3, the air tank 4, the air reservoirs 5 and 6, the brake valve 7, and the brake actuators 8 and 9 are incorporated into a vehicle brake system. The air dryer device 1 includes a housing 10 having an open end, a storage case 12 disposed in a purge chamber 11 in the housing 10, and inside which a filter and a desiccant described later are laminated, and a housing 10. And an end cover 13 for closing the open end.

The purge chamber 11 is formed between the housing 10 and the storage case 12. An outlet 14 is provided on the upper side wall of the housing 10, and the outlet 14 is connected to the air tank 4 via a pipe line 15 and a check valve 16.

Further, the storage case 12 includes a cylindrical casing 18 having a closed end portion 17 and a cap 19 that closes an upper end opening portion of the casing 18, and the closed end portion 17 screws a bolt 20 into a mounting plate described later. It is thus fixed to the plate 21. The desiccant storage chamber 22 is formed by assembling the casing 18 and the cap 19. An oil filter 25 is arranged on a mounting plate 24 having a small hole 23 in the lower part of the desiccant storage chamber 22, and a pair of screens having desiccant 26 having air permeability above the oil filter 25. 2
It is filled between 7 and 28. As a result, the inside of the storage case 12 has a positional relationship in which the oil filter 25 and the desiccant 26 are laminated. The screen 28 is biased downward by a spring 29, and the desiccant is passed through the screen 28.
Pressure is applied to 26 to bring the particles of desiccant 26 into intimate contact with each other.

Further, an observation opening 30 for observing the clogging state on the downstream side of the oil filter 25 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the casing 18 of the storage case 12. That is, the observation opening 30 is arranged at a position facing the downstream outer peripheral surface of the oil filter 25 through which the compressed air supplied through the compressed air introduction port described later flows out.
A rubber sealing plug 31 is removably inserted in an airtight state and attached to 30. On the other hand, a pair of vent holes 32 and 33 are provided at the top of the cap 19, and a check valve 34 having elasticity is attached to a portion corresponding to the vent holes 32 and 33. The check valve 34 allows the flow of compressed air from the storage chamber 22 to the purge chamber 11, but blocks the flow in the opposite direction. Further, the cap 19 is provided with an orifice 35, and the orifice 35 allows the purge chamber 11 and the storage chamber 22 to communicate with each other.

The plate 21 on which the storage case 12 is installed is sandwiched between the housing 10 and the end cover 13 by a plurality of bolts 37 and nuts 36 that are circumferentially spaced. A vertical hole 38 is provided at the closed end 17 of the plate 21 and the storage case 12,
The vertical holes 38 allow compressed air to flow in and out of the storage chamber 22. Further, the plate 21 is provided with a through hole 39.

On the other hand, in the end cover 13, a control port 55 communicating with a chamber 40 formed in a substantially central portion, an inlet 42 connected to the compressor 2 via a pipe, and a spiral passage 43 at the inlet 42. ，
44 and are provided respectively. Release valve device in chamber 40
The discharge valve device 45 includes a piston 46 slidably accommodated therein and a bolt 47 at one end of the piston 46.
And a purge valve 48 fixed by.
The piston 46 is constantly urged upward by the spring 49, and the purge valve 48 is sealingly engaged with the valve seat 50 to close the discharge port 51.

Further, the chamber 40 communicates with a control port 55 connected to the pressure regulator 3 via a pipe line 52, and the piston 46 is pressed downward by the compressed air supplied to the control port to cause the purge valve. It is designed to open valve 48. The discharge valve device 45 controls communication between the void 53 and the outside of the air dryer device 1. The void 53 is communicated with the spiral passages 43, 44 via the passage 54.

The operation of the air dryer device 1 having the above configuration is as follows.

In the compressed air supply process, the compressed air sent from the compressor 2 passes through the pipe line and the inlet 42 of the air dryer device 1.
Leading to. The compressed air supplied to this inlet 42 has a spiral passage.
43, 44, and then from the lower surface to the oil filter 25 through the vertical hole 38 and the small hole 23, and the oil filter 25
While passing through the inside of 25, it flows out from the outer peripheral surface on the downstream side, passes through the screen 27, and reaches the desiccant storage chamber 22. Thus, when the compressed air passes through the oil filter 25, dust, oil drops, etc. are removed by the filter 25.

The compressed air that has entered the desiccant storage chamber 22 is stored in the desiccant 26
Dehumidified by air, and then vent holes 32 and 33 and check valve
It flows out of the storage case 12 via 34 and flows into the purge chamber 11. The compressed air supplied to the purge chamber 11 is
From the outlet 14 of 10 to the air tank 4 through the pipe 15 and the check valve 16. The compressed air sent from the compressor 2 in this way is dried by the air dryer device 1 and supplied to the air tank 4.

When the pressure in the air tank 4 becomes equal to or higher than the upper limit set pressure of the pressure regulator 3, the pressure regulator 3 detects the pressure and operates, stopping the compressed air supply from the compressor 2 to the air tank 4 and Compressed air is supplied to a control port 55 communicating with the chamber 40 via 52. This compressed air acts on the piston 46 and pushes it downward against the spring 49. The purge valve 48 is separated from the valve seat 50 by the downward movement of the piston 46, and the discharge port 51 is opened to open the space 53 and the passage.
54 and the spiral passages 43, 44 communicate with the outside. In this way, the desiccant regeneration process is started.

When the purge valve 48 opens during the desiccant regeneration process,
The compressed air in the desiccant storage chamber 22 is explosively discharged from the discharge port 51 to the atmosphere. At that time, the compressed air deprives the desiccant 26 and the oil filter 25 of oil drops and the like, and discharges them all at once. Subsequently, the compressed air in the purging chamber 11 flows into the desiccant storage chamber 22 through the orifice 35, deprives the desiccant 26 of moisture while expanding, and is discharged to the atmosphere from the discharge port 51.

As described above, when the air dryer device 1 repeats the compressed air supply process and the desiccant regeneration process, the oil filter 25 in the storage case 12 is clogged with oil droplets, water droplets, dust, etc., and the desiccant 26 also depends. It deteriorates and decreases its moisture absorption capacity. Since the deterioration state of the desiccant 26 can be inferred by the clogging state of the oil filter 25, for example, oil bleeding or the like, in order to judge the deterioration state of the desiccant 26
First, the casing 10 is removed from the end cover 13. Next, pull out the sealing plug 31 from the observation opening 30 and store it in the storage case.
Look inside 12 to observe the clogging of oil filter 25.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications and changes can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.

For example, in the above-described embodiments, the air dryer device 1 has been described as being used in a vehicle air brake device, but it can be applied to various types of devices other than this. Further, although the rubber sealing plug 31 is used to seal the observation opening 30, a sealing member made of another material and shape may be used as long as it can maintain the airtight state of the opening 30.

f. Effect of the Invention As described above, the air dryer device according to the present invention is the compressed air supplied through the compressed air introduction port, which is the outer peripheral portion of the casing of the storage case in which the filter and the desiccant are laminated. While providing an observation opening for observing the downstream clogging state of the filter at a position facing the downstream outer peripheral surface of the filter flowing out through the inside,
Since the sealing plug was removably inserted and attached to the observation opening, the sealing plug was removed without disassembling the storage case, and the deterioration state of the desiccant could be determined simply by observing the filter in the storage case through the observation opening. Can make quick and accurate decisions.
That is, the compressed air supplied to the air dryer device through the compressed air introduction port is guided to the desiccant after flowing out from the outer peripheral surface on the downstream side through the inside of the filter provided in the storage case, so that the filter becomes dirty. Occurs before deterioration of the desiccant, and is in the same environment as in the storage case of the desiccant.By observing the clogging state on the downstream side of the filter, it is necessary to replace the storage case before the deterioration of the desiccant. Can be accurately determined. Therefore, when the air dryer device of the present invention is used for air drying of a vehicle air brake device, it is possible to replace the storage case at a stage before the brake performance is adversely affected, as compared with the case where the desiccant is directly observed. Therefore, good braking performance can be maintained. On the other hand, at the time of regular replacement, the deterioration state of the desiccant can be confirmed easily and accurately as compared with the case of observing the upstream side clogged state of the filter, which is easily contaminated by compressed air and therefore needlessly described above. There is no need to replace the storage case, there is no delay in replacing the desiccant, and the moisture absorption capacity of the desiccant can be fully utilized, which is extremely economically advantageous compared to the conventional case.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing a brake system incorporating an air dryer device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view showing an embodiment of an air dryer device according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a conventional air dryer device. FIG. 1 ... Air dryer device, 10 ... Housing, 12 ... Storage case, 13 ... End cover, 18 ... Casing, 23 ... Small hole, 25 ... Oil filter, 26 ... Desiccant, 30 ... Observation opening, 31 ... Sealing plug, 38 ... Vertical hole, 42 ... Entrance, 43, 44 ... Spiral passage.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A housing having an open end, a housing case disposed in the housing and having a filter and a desiccant laminated therein, and a compressed air introduction port, the open end of the housing. And an end cover that closes each part, and the compressed air supplied through the compressed air inlet is brought into contact with a desiccant through a filter in the storage case to dry the compressed air. In the device, in the outer peripheral portion of the casing of the storage case, the compressed air supplied through the compressed air introduction port flows into the downstream side of the filter facing the downstream outer peripheral surface of the filter. Side opening is provided with an observation opening for observing the state of clogging, and a sealing plug is detachably inserted into the observation opening for attachment. .