Pressure sensitive valve assembly incorporating enhanced retention legs and fluid filter comprising the same

A fluid filter comprising a filter canister, a fluid inlet, a fluid outlet, filter media, a non-filtering zone, a pressure relief flow path, and a pressure sensitive valve assembly, wherein:

• the filter media is disposed in a fluid path within the filter canister between the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet of the fluid filter;
• the filter canister comprises a bypass end and an outlet end;
• the pressure relief flow path extends from the fluid inlet through the non-filtering zone, and out through the fluid outlet;
• the pressure sensitive valve assembly is disposed within the pressure relief flow path and comprises an orifice surround, a pressure relief spring, and a valve plug comprising a valve head and first and second retention legs;
• the valve head of the valve plug comprises a continuous partition defining a fluid barrier;
• the pressure sensitive valve assembly is configured to transition between a closed state where the orifice surround engages a sealing side of the valve head and an open state characterized by increased compression in the pressure relief spring and where the sealing side of the valve head is spaced from the orifice surround;
• the first and second retention legs of the valve plug are spaced apart from one another, extend from a leg base positioned at the sealing side of the valve head to a distal end of the retention leg, and comprise respective seating regions, tapered transition regions, and clearance regions;
• the respective clearance regions of the first and second retention legs extend from the valve head to the tapered transition regions of the first and second retention legs;
• the tapered transition regions of the first and second retention legs extend outwardly from the clearance regions to the seating regions of the first and second retention legs such that the first and second retention legs collectively define a seating region diameter that is greater than a clearance region diameter of the valve plug;
• each of the respective seating regions comprises a spring engaging hook structurally configured to receive a seating portion of the pressure relief spring;
• each spring engaging hook comprises an inner guiding face oriented substantially parallel to a direction of compression of the pressure relief spring;
• the pressure relief spring is compressed between the orifice surround and the spring engaging hooks to bias the pressure sensitive valve assembly towards the closed state;
• the inner guiding face of each spring engaging hook extends to the tapered transition region of the retention leg.