Liquid purification or separation – With heater or heat exchanger – With mechanical agitator or movable separator
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-18
2001-09-11
Lithgow, Thomas M. (Department: 1724)
Liquid purification or separation
With heater or heat exchanger
With mechanical agitator or movable separator
C210S232000, C210S184000, C210S223000, C210S130000, C210S443000, C210S354000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06287464
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oil filter assembly of an automobile, and more particularly to an oil filter assembly, in which foreign material contained in oil circulating in an engine is filtered off by means of a filter member, and simultaneously is condensed and eliminated by means of magnets, so that the assembly has a superior lubrication capability, and in which only the filter paper has to be replaced and the other elements can be used semi-permanently.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1
is a sectional view of a conventional oil filter assembly, which is employed in an automobile, so as to filter off impurities from an engine oil circulating in an oil circulation system of the automobile.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, the conventional oil filter assembly
1
generally includes a housing
10
having an open lower end and a sealing cover
20
fixed to the lower end of the housing
10
by a seaming joint. The sealing cover
20
has a hole
22
formed at a center of the sealing cover
20
and a packing ring
21
fixed to a lower surface of the sealing cover
20
. A lower assembling member
30
is assembled on the hole
22
of the sealing cover
20
and has a boss
31
formed upward at a center thereof and a flange
32
formed at a lower end of the boss
31
. The boss
31
has a discharging-and-assembling hole
33
. A diaphragm valve
40
is disposed at an upper surface of introduction holes
34
formed at a flange
32
of the lower assembling member
30
. A filter member
50
includes upper and lower plates
51
and
52
, and a filtering net
53
, a filter paper
54
, and a punched plate
55
interposed between the upper and the lower plates
51
and
52
. The lower plate
52
is assembled with an upper portion of the boss
31
. An overflow valve
60
is disposed at a center portion of the upper plate
51
of the filter member
50
and protrudes downward, so as to control the quantity of the discharged oil. A spring
70
is disposed between the upper plate
51
of the filter member
50
and the top of the housing
10
, so as to elastically press the filter member
50
downward.
In the conventional oil filter assembly
1
, oil is supplied from an oil fan (not shown) by an oil pump
2
when an engine is operated. The supplied oil flows into the introduction holes
34
while pushing the diaphragm valve
40
, and then passes through the filtering net
53
, the filter paper
54
, and the punched plate
55
, so that the foreign material contained in the oil is filtered off. Thereafter, only the cleaned oil by filtering is supplied to lubrication parts of the engine through a lower portion of the central space of the filter member
50
and the discharging-and-assembling hole
33
. The supplied oil is retrieved again into the oil fan after lubrication.
In this case, when the quantity of the oil introduced through the introduction holes
34
in the oil filter assembly
1
is too much, so that the pressure of the oil exceeds a predetermined value, the oil is discharged through an upper space in the oil filter assembly
1
and the overflow valve
60
into the central space of the filter member
50
.
However, in the conventional oil filter assembly
1
as described above, since the cover
20
, with which the lower assembling member
30
is assembled, and the housing
10
are fixed to each other by a seaming joint, the elements contained in the housing
10
cannot be separated after they are assembled with each other. Accordingly, in order to replace the filter member due to the degradation of the engine oil, the entire oil filter assembly
1
has to be replaced. In this regard, the conventional oil filter assembly is uneconomical.
Moreover, since it is nearly impossible to regenerate and reuse the conventional oil filter assembly
1
, the conventional oil filter assembly
1
has to be deserted after its one-time life span. Especially when the deserted oil filter assembly
1
is not collected in a designated place and properly treated, the waste oil and impurities may be leaked from the oil filter assembly
1
, thereby polluting the environment. Owing to the failure in the disposal of the oil filter, the expense for treating and deserting the used oil filter is increased, thereby causing an economical disadvantage.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the problems occurring in the related art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an oil filter assembly, which has a superior capability of capturing foreign material entrained in the oil during the lubrication by the oil, so that the lubrication of the engine can be smoothly performed and the power of the engine is increased.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an oil filter assembly, by which the engine oil is immediately supplied to the lubricated elements of the engine, simultaneously when the engine is started, so as to prevent an initial wear of the elements due to a delay of oil supply, thereby prolonging the life span of the engine.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an oil filter assembly, by which the time for warming up the engine is not prolonged even when the oil is cooled and its viscosity is increased in the winter time, but is shortened.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an oil filter assembly, by which the time when the filter member has to be replaced is alarmed to the user, and the oil is always sufficiently supplied to the engine through bypass channels.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an oil filter assembly comprising: a cylindrical main housing having an open upper end; a cover assembled with an upper end of the main housing; an impeller housing disposed beneath a lower surface of the cover; a mixer disc fixedly inserted in the impeller housing; an impeller disposed on an upper surface of the mixer disc to mix foreign material contained in an oil; an adjust housing disposed under the impeller to supply the oil when an engine is operated; a filter member for filtering off the foreign material from the oil supplied from the impeller; an overflow valve for controlling a quantity of introduced oil and capturing metallic foreign material from the oil supplied from the impeller by means of a magnetic force; and a fixing-and-oil-discharging bolt for assembling elements disposed in the main housing by means of the cover and supplying the oil filtered and cleaned to parts of an engine.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2132770 (1938-10-01), Weidenbacker
patent: 3036711 (1962-05-01), Wilhelm
patent: 4622136 (1986-11-01), Karcey
patent: 5066391 (1991-11-01), Faria
patent: 5817232 (1998-10-01), Roll et al.
patent: 773054 (1997-05-01), None
Lithgow Thomas M.
Snell & Wilmer L.L.P.
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