Cyclonic air filter assembly for an engine
AssigneeBriggs & Stratton Corporation
InventorsSteven G. Gleixner, Robert Johnson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An internal combustion engine includes an engine block including a cylinder, a horizontally oriented crankshaft, an air-fuel mixing device configured to provide an air-fuel mixture to the cylinder, and an air filter assembly configured to provide filtered air to the air-fuel mixing device. The air filter assembly includes a housing comprising a first housing end portion and a second housing end portion and defining an interior volume, a filter element positioned within the interior volume dividing the interior volume into a filtered volume and an unfiltered volume, a gap between the filter element and the housing configured to allow air to flow between the filter element and the housing, an air intake, and a filtered air outlet.
Claims20
An internal combustion engine, comprising:
- an engine block including a cylinder;
- a crankshaft, wherein the crankshaft is horizontally oriented;
- an air-fuel mixing device configured to provide an air-fuel mixture to the cylinder;
- an air filter assembly configured to provide filtered air to the air-fuel mixing device, comprising:
- a housing comprising a base and a cover, the base comprising a first housing end portion and a second housing end portion, wherein the cover is configured to removably fasten to the base, and wherein the base and the cover define an interior volume;
- a filter element positioned within the interior volume, the filter element comprising a first filter end portion, a second filter end portion, and filter media extending between the first filter end portion and the second filter end portion, wherein the filter element divides the interior volume into a filtered volume and an unfiltered volume;
- a gap between the filter element and the housing configured to allow air to flow between the filter element and the housing;
- an air intake formed in the base at the first housing end portion and configured to allow air to flow into the housing;
- a filtered air outlet formed in the base at the first housing end portion and in fluid communication with the filtered volume of the filter element;
- an outlet passage formed in the base fluidly coupling the filtered air outlet to a final air outlet configured to be fluidly coupled to the air-fuel mixing device to allow filtered air to exit the housing and enter the air-fuel mixing device;
- and
- a debris outlet formed in the base at the second housing end portion and configured to allow debris and air to exit the housing;
- wherein the gap is configured to direct air in a first airflow pass in a direction from the first housing end portion toward the second housing end portion;
- wherein the filter element is configured to direct filtered air in a second airflow pass after flowing through the filter media, the second airflow pass in a substantially opposite direction from the first airflow pass;
- and
- wherein the outlet passage is configured to direct filtered air into a third airflow pass after flowing through the filtered air outlet, the third airflow pass in a substantially same direction as the first airflow pass.
An air filter assembly configured to provide filtered air to an engine, comprising:
- a housing comprising a cover and a base, wherein the cover is configured to releasably fasten to the base and the cover and the base define an interior volume of the housing;
- a filter element positioned within the interior volume comprising a first end portion, a second end portion, and filter media extending between the first end portion and the second end portion, wherein the filter element divides the interior volume into a filtered volume and an unfiltered volume;
- a gap between the filter element and the housing configured to allow air to flow between the filter element and the housing;
- an air intake formed in the base and configured to allow air to flow into the housing;
- a debris outlet formed in the base and configured to allow debris and air to exit the housing;
- a filtered air outlet formed in the base and in fluid communication with the filtered volume of the filter element, wherein the filtered air outlet is fluidly coupled to an air-fuel mixing device to allow filtered air to exit the housing and enter the air-fuel mixing device;
- and
- a plurality of ribs formed in the cover and the base to direct an air flow from the air intake toward the debris outlet;
- wherein the plurality of ribs are configured to direct the air flow to complete at least two cyclonic filtering passes within the gap before being filtered by the filter element.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.