JPH0376165B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an air cleaner element used in an internal combustion engine.

The overfill material constituting the element is formed into a sheet by intertwining fibers, and the intertwined gaps serve as the pore diameter. When air passes through this hole, the fibers trap dust in the air. This pore diameter is roughly the same when it is a flat overwood, but when it is folded to make a chrysanthemum-shaped annular element,
The fiber entanglement is weakened by the blade of the folding machine, and the fibers are bent 360 degrees to form chrysanthemum-like pleats and valleys, which loosen the fiber entanglements and make the pore diameter larger than that of the flat part. In other words, there is less ventilation resistance and air flows more easily, allowing even relatively large diameter dust to pass through the folds and troughs without being captured, which may deteriorate the cleaning efficiency and wear out the internal combustion engine's cylinder. There is. For this reason, after passing through a pleat folding machine, a method is adopted in which resin is coated on the pleat peaks and valleys to reduce the pore diameter and form an element. The state of large pore size continues. Since the velocity of flow passing through the overfill material is the fastest, the dust trapped on the surface side is also forcibly pushed into the interior and easily carried away, resulting in the above-mentioned drawbacks not being resolved.

The present invention provides an air cleaner element that eliminates these drawbacks.The present invention is to provide an air cleaner element that eliminates such drawbacks, and includes a chrysanthemum-shaped annular body made by folding excess material into a chrysanthemum-like shape and securing both ends with end plates, and loading it into a resin supply device. A manufacturing method in which thermoplastic resin powder is supplied from the outer periphery while being sucked until a predetermined pressure loss increases from the outer periphery, and then heated to harden the resin, and the obtained element The cleaning efficiency is good because the pore diameter of the overfill material in the flat part in the middle is uniform. This will be explained below using examples.

The element 1 shown in FIG. 1 consists of a chrysanthemum-shaped overfill material 2 having peaks 3, valleys 4, and a flat section 5 in between, a porous inner cylinder 6, and an end plate 7, and is manufactured through the following three steps. In the first step, the overfill material 2 is pleated with a pleat folding machine to form a rectangular shape, arranged in a chrysanthemum shape around the porous inner cylinder 6, the ends are sheeted, and end plates 7 are placed on both ends of the sheet, and adhesive is applied. It sticks together to form a chrysanthemum-like ring.
In the second step, resin powder is adsorbed onto the chrysanthemum-shaped annular body formed in the first step using a device 21 as shown in FIG. That is, the resin supply device 22 is housed in a cylindrical shape having a plurality of nozzles 24 on the peripheral wall and a connecting pipe 23 connected to a suction device 25 in the center of the bottom wall, and is sealed with a lid 26 to make it airtight. A fine thermoplastic resin powder is sprayed from a container 27 connected to the container 27. The thermoplastic resin powder is, for example, polyethylene powder with a particle size of about 3 to 5 μm. When sprayed, the resin powder untangles the fibers, increases the pore diameter, and flows first to the pleat ridges 3 and troughs 4 where there is little ventilation resistance, and as shown in Fig. 3, the resin powder disentangles the fibers and increases the pore diameter. 31..., resin powder 32... adheres to the entire surface and between the fibers. A flat part 5 between the fold crest part 3 and the valley part 4
In the filter material 2, the airflow resistance is high and a large amount does not flow, but when the pores in the flat portion 5 have a large diameter, the resin powder adheres to the inside as described above, but when the pores have a small diameter, the resin powder does not adhere. Then, when the ventilation resistance increases to a predetermined value, suction is stopped.

In the third step, the annular body to which the resin powder was attached in the second step is placed in a heating device such as a hot air stove.
The thermoplastic resin powder adhering to the overmaterial 2 is melted by heating at a temperature of 120° C. to 150° C. for 2 to 3 minutes. At this time, the resin powder with large pores in the pleats 3, troughs 4, and flat portions 5 melts due to heat, sticks to each other as shown in Figure 4, and covers the entire surface of each fiber 31. A gap is created only in the central part 42 of the overfill material 2.
The overall pore diameter is approximately uniform.

In the element manufactured through the first to third steps in this manner, air containing dust is captured by the overfill 2 and purified. Since the pore diameters of the pleated portions 3 and trough portions 4 of the element are the same as those of the flat portions 5, the ventilation resistance and flow velocity are equal in all parts, and dust is captured equally.

As described above, in the present invention, the overfill material is made into a chrysanthemum-shaped annular body, the resin powder is attached to the inside of the large pore diameter of the overfill material, and the pore size is reduced by heating and melting the resin. This is a manufacturing method that can reliably reduce the diameter of pores that have become large due to the disentanglement of fibers.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a partial cross-sectional perspective view of an air cleaner element, Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the resin supply device, Figure 3 is a diagram of resin powder adhesion between fibers, and Figure 4 is a diagram of resin adhesion after heating. be. 1... Element, 2... Excess material, 3... Fold mountain part, 4... Fold valley part, 5... Flat part, 21...
Resin supply device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A chrysanthemum-shaped annular forming process in which the overfill material is folded to form a chrysanthemum shape and both ends are fixed with end plates, and the formed annular body is loaded into a resin supply device and thermoplastic resin powder is applied from the outer periphery until a predetermined pressure loss is increased. A method for manufacturing an air cleaner element, which comprises a step of adsorption and then a step of heating the excess material with a heating device.