Gas separation – With means securing or retaining separating media – Unit or cohesive sheet-like media in flow line or frame
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-11
2004-02-24
Smith, Duane (Department: 1724)
Gas separation
With means securing or retaining separating media
Unit or cohesive sheet-like media in flow line or frame
C055S482000, C055S484000, C055S490000, C055S498000, C055S502000, C055S504000, C055S505000, C055S508000, C210S252000, C210S253000, C210S255000, C210S435000, C210S440000, C210S443000, C210S444000, C210SDIG009
Reexamination Certificate
active
06695891
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This application claims priority of prior, provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/224,632, filed Aug. 11, 2001, and also claims priority of prior, provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/272,221, filed Feb. 27, 2001, which are herein incorporated by this reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to fluid filters and filter cartridges and connections for the filters/cartridges to piping, valving, brackets, and other holders that cooperate with the filters/cartridges to make them operative in a flowing fluid system. More specifically, this invention relates to a system for “keying” a particular filter cartridge or filter to a particular cooperating filter head member or filter valve head.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is an apparatus and method wherein a portion of a fluid cartridge-holder connection is structurally adapted so that only matched filter cartridges and holders can cooperate to allow installation of the filter cartridge in the holder and/or to form a fluid seal. In other words, each filter cartridge and holder combination or “set” is “keyed” so that only that particular filter cartridge design mates with that holder. According to the invention, there are created various cartridge-holder sets that each have the adaptation, but the adaptation is slightly offset for each set compared to the other sets. This way, a filter cartridge from one set may not be mixed with a cartridge from another set, and, therefore, a filter cartridge may not be installed on any but its own matching holder.
The adaptation preferably involves a varying location of a “key” protrusion and a “lock” recess combination, such as a tab-slot combination, typically with mating protrusion(s) and recess(es) being at a certain angle on a circumference for one cartridge-holder set and a mating protrusion(s) and recess(s) of a similar or identical shape being at a different angle on the circumference for another cartridge-holder set, and so on, for each similarly-shaped-but-differently-located-adaptation cartridge and holder set. In other words, the key protrusion and the lock recess are selectably locateable around cooperating perimeters of a filter cartridge and its holder. The key and lock structures (hereafter typically called “key protrusion” or “protrusion” and “lock recess” or “recess”, respectively) are preferably rigidly molded or otherwise permanently placed on/in the filter cartridge and holder, and so they are not considered moveable. They are, however, easily changed in the molding or other manufacturing process, that is, they are easily selectable by locating them at different angles/locations around a circumferential surface.
This system may include a plurality of sets of filters and holders, each set having a differently-located key and lock, wherein the key and lock of each set cooperate with each other to allow that filter to be installed in that holder, but that filter may not be installed in any other holder because the key or lock of that filter does not cooperate with the key or lock of the other holder. The term “key or lock” is used because the key protrusions may be placed on either the filter or the holder, and the lock recess may therefore be placed on the other item.
Thus, for example, a water or beverage filtration facility, experimental pilot plant, or other filter user may control filter cartridge placement accurately. A facility with multiple, different filtering applications may have filter cartridges on hand for each of the applications, but the cartridges will not be confused. For example, in a facility in which there are two different applications, many of the two different types of filter cartridges may be kept in stock and even may be mixed during storage or handling, but the filter cartridges will not be mixed when installed into the filter holders. This is because the filter holder and the filter cartridges for the first application are “keyed” differently than the filter holder and the filter cartridges for the second application. The terms “keying” or “keyed” refer generally to how and where the entire key system is located or accomplished, that is, to the positioning or style of either one or both of the cooperating key and lock structures, rather than specifically to only the location of the “key protrusion.” All the filter cartridges for the first application are keyed the same, that is, to match the first application holder, and all the filter cartridges for the second application are keyed the same, to match the second application holder. The keying for the first application and the keying for the second application does not need to be very different, but may be merely, for example, a slightly different angular position for the two protrusions and recesses.
Also, a filter manufacturer may control his product lines more carefully by using the invented key system. A manufacturer may key his holders and filter cartridges differently for different countries, different clients, different distributors, or for different time periods. This technique may be used to prevent unauthorized or low-quality copies of the manufacturer's filter cartridges from easily being made. With so many differently-keyed cartridges in the marketplace provided by the original manufacturer, the incentive to provide cheap, low quality copies will be minimized, due to the expense of retooling for each “key and lock” set.
The key system may include many different protrusion and recess structures, for example, tabs and slots (typically thin or elongated bar and channel structures or elongated dove-tail structures), bumps and holes (typically rounded or mounded structures with cooperating valleys or holes), wedges and wedge-shaped wells (typically circular section structures); and many other shapes. If a cartridge must be rotated on its longitudinal axis to be installed in a holder, leeway in the recess structure is supplied so that the protrusion may enter it while the cartridge still has a radial distance to turn. For example, in the case of an elongated filter that is pushed up into a filter head and then rotated on its axis to install its top end into a filter head, the recess comprises an axial portion for allowing axial insertion and a radial portion for radial rotation of the filter cartridge relative to the filter head.
The key system structures are located on surfaces of surfaces of filter cartridges (or “filters”) and holders that contact each other during connection of the cartridge to the holder. This may be either surfaces that are involved in mainly providing a physical connection between the cartridge and holder or that also are involved in providing a fluid connection between the cartridge and the holder.
An example of key system structure on surfaces that are involved in providing physical connection, rather than fluid connection, is the key system structure on a shoulder of a filter cartridge that fits up into a valve-head holder. These areas are surfaces that do not normally liquid-seal to each other, but must clear each other if the end of the filter cartridge is to fit up inside the interior cavity of the valve-head. The top circumferencial shoulder of the filter cartridge and the inner surface of a valve-head, typically have areas that come in very close contact, but that are not directly involved in forming a liquid seal between the cartridge and the valve-head. These non-liquid-sealing areas may be keyed so that only a cartridge with a certain keyed surface shape may extend far enough up into the valve-head to be installed and locked into place. For example, tabs or other protrusions may be provided on the top surface of a filter spaced outward from an inlet-outlet neck, but external to the liquid-receiving passages. These filter cartridge protrusions may mate or “nest” in identically-located recesses on the inside surface of the valve-head that receives the cartridge, wherein the valve-head recesses are also external to the cartridge/valve-head liquid-receiving passages.
The keyed structure on the
Greene Jason M.
Pedersen Barbara S.
Pedersen Ken J.
Pedersen & Co. PLLC
Smith Duane
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