Filter assembly and control system
OwnerChristopher L. Goodwininventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Filter assemblies, components and systems are provided with a bypass mechanism that allows fuel or other fluids to bypass a filter media of a filter upon a fault condition thereby allowing, for example, a combustion engine receiving fuel to continue to operate without interruption or loss of power in the event of fuel contamination and/or obstruction of the filter media. This advantageously allows an operator to bring a vehicle, vessel or equipment utilizing the engine to a safe condition prior to servicing the filter and inspecting other components of the filter system.
Claims20
A filter assembly, comprising:
- a filter housing;
- a filter media received in the filter housing;
- and
- a bypass valve coupled to the housing, the bypass valve movable between at least a first position and a second position, the bypass valve allowing fluid to flow through the filter media when in the first position and preventing fluid from flowing through the filter media when in the second position.
A fuel filtration system for an internal combustion engine having a primary fuel filter, the fuel filtration system comprising:
- a pre-filtering fuel filter in fluid communication with the primary fuel filter and positioned upstream of the primary fuel filter;
- and
- a bypass valve coupled to the pre-filtering fuel filter to automatically route fuel so that it bypasses a filter media of the pre-filtering fuel filter in response to one or more fault signals.
A bypass manifold for a fuel filter, comprising:
- a fuel inlet to receive fuel from a fuel feed line;
- a fuel outlet to let out fuel from the manifold;
- a valve cavity positioned between the fuel inlet and fuel outlet and sized to receive a bypass valve, the valve cavity including a bypass portion to pass unfiltered fuel to the fuel outlet when the bypass portion of the valve cavity is at least partially unobstructed;
- a filter media inlet downstream of the fuel inlet to pass fuel received via the fuel inlet to a filter media when a passage through the valve cavity toward the filter media inlet is at least partially unobstructed;
- and
- a filter media outlet to pass filtered fuel moving through the filter media to the fuel outlet when the passage through the valve cavity toward the filter media inlet is at least partially unobstructed.
A method of selectively pre-filtering fuel supplied to an internal combustion engine, the method comprising:
- sensing a fault condition;
- and
- bypassing a filter media of a fuel filter assembly in response thereto.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.