SOUND-DAMPING AIR CONDUCTION PART

Abstract

An air conduction part for conducting a compressible medium, which part has a cross section through which the medium passes in a flow direction of the medium when the air conduction part is used, which flow direction approximately corresponds to a longitudinal axis of the air conduction part, the air conduction part including at least one wall arrangement that laterally defines the cross section of the air conduction part and conducts the medium. The wall arrangement are provided with at least one shell and with at least one damping device that removes sound energy from the medium, and the shell and the damping device are integrally interconnected so that, with a justifiable amount of outlay, the resulting air conduction parts effectively damp sound and the transport direction of the medium and/or the cross section of the air conduction part may change.

Claims

1. An air conduction part for conducting a compressible medium, the air conduction part having a cross section through which the compressible medium passes in a flow direction of the compressible medium when the air conduction part is used, the flow direction approximately corresponding to a longitudinal axis of the air conduction part, the air conduction part comprising: at least one wall arrangement that laterally defines the cross section of the air conduction part for conducting the medium, the wall arrangement being provided with at least one shell and with at least one damping device that removes sound energy from the medium, the shell and the at least one damping device being integrally interconnected.

2. The air conduction part of claim 1, wherein the at least one shell and the at least one damping device of the at least one wall arrangement are formed in one piece.

3. The air conduction part of claim 1, wherein the at least one wall arrangement extends around the longitudinal axis of the air conduction part and forms a closed face.

4. The air conduction part of claim 1, wherein the at least one damping device includes at least one sound absorption element.

5. The air conduction part of claim 4, wherein the at least one sound absorption element is formed having at least one sound-dissipating medium.

6. The air conduction part of claim 1, wherein the at least one wall arrangement comprises a plurality of shells, and the at least one damping device is arranged between at least two shells of the plurality of shells.

7. The air conduction part of claim 1, wherein at least one shell of the plurality of shells of the at least one wall arrangement has a perforated structure.

8. The air conduction part of claim 1, further comprising: a further wall arrangement on the air conduction part including a plurality of shells, between which at least one sound absorption element is arranged, the plurality of shells and the at least one sound absorption element together forming a Helmholtz resonator.

9. The air conduction part of claim 1, wherein the cross section of the air conduction part comprising the at least one wall arrangement has a uniform curvature.

10. The air conduction part of claim 1, wherein the air conduction part comprising the at least one wall arrangement forms a pipe portion having a round cross section.

11. The air conduction part of claim 1, wherein the air conduction part has either of a substantially identical cross section at least for a portion of the longitudinal extension thereof or a uniformly changing cross section at least for a portion of the longitudinal extension thereof.

12. The air conduction part of claim 1, wherein the cross section of the air conduction part has a geometric shape.

13. A method for producing an air conduction part for conducting a compressible medium, the air conduction part having a cross section through which the compressible medium passes in a flow direction when the air conduction part is used, the flow direction approximately corresponding to a longitudinal axis of the air conduction part, the air conduction part comprising at least one wall arrangement that laterally defines the cross section of the air conduction part and conducts the medium, wherein the wall arrangement of the air conduction part is formed having at least one shell and at least one damping device that removes sound energy from the medium, and wherein the at least one shell and the at least one damping device are integrally interconnected.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one shell and the at least one damping device of the wall arrangement are produced in a generative manufacturing process.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the wall arrangement is manufactured by a stereolithography process.

16. The air conduction part of claim 5, wherein the at least one sound-dissipating medium includes a porous absorption material.

17. The air conduction part of claim 10, wherein the air conduction part comprising the at least one wall arrangement forms a channel having a circular or elliptical cross section.

18. The air conduction part of claim 11, wherein the geometric shape of the cross section of the air conduction part is point-symmetric with respect to the longitudinal axis thereof or mirror-symmetric with respect to a plane containing the longitudinal axis.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] The disclosure herein is explained in greater detail in the following, on the basis of embodiments shown in the drawings. In this case, in schematic drawings:

[0025] FIG. 1 is a sectional side view of a first embodiment of an air conduction part comprising one outer and one inner shell and damping device or dampener arranged therebetween;

[0026] FIG. 2 is a sectional side view of a second embodiment of an air conduction part comprising one outer and one inner shell and damping device or dampener arranged therebetween, the air conduction part forming a bend;

[0027] FIG. 3 is a sectional side view of a further embodiment of an air conduction part comprising one outer and a plurality of inner shells and damping device or dampener arranged between each of the shells; and

[0028] FIG. 4 is a sectional side view of a further embodiment of an air conduction part comprising a curved outer shell.

[0029] In all the drawings, like or functionally like elements and devices have been provided with the same reference numerals unless otherwise specified.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] FIGS. 1 to 4 each show an air conduction part that is denoted as a whole by 10 in each case and forms a part of a pipe portion 20 (not shown in its entirety) such that the longitudinal extension of the air conduction part 10 defines the flow direction of the medium in the pipe portion 20 in question, which pipe portion itself results from a rotation of the air conduction part 10 about a longitudinal axis (not shown) that extends in parallel with the flow direction. In this case, it can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 that the air conduction part 10 is formed having a sheet-like outer shell 1 that, in FIG. 1, and extends in the vertical direction from the perspective of the viewer. The outer shell 1 is formed integrally with a damping device or dampener 3 and a sound absorption element 5 made of porous material in that these parts are produced together in a generative manufacturing process. On the inner face thereof facing the inner face of the pipe portion 10, the damping device or dampener 3 comprises a perforated inner shell 2 that increases the sound-damping effect. The outer shell 1, the perforated inner shell 2 and the damping device or dampener 3 comprising the sound absorption element 5 form a wall arrangement 30 of the air conduction part 10, into which wall arrangement the sound 4 (indicated by an arrow) that is transported by the medium (not shown) flowing in the pipe portion 20 penetrates and is damped by the damping device or dampener.

[0031] FIG. 2 shows the substantive manner of FIG. 1 in a similar manner but having an air conduction part 10 that forms a bend and that, despite its curvature, is provided, on account of the generative manufacturing process used, with the same wall arrangement 30 having an integrated arrangement of curved shells 1, 2 as well as damping device or dampener 3. As in FIG. 1, support members 6 can be seen here too, which support members are arranged with regular spacing, protrude radially inwards from the outer shell 1 and promote the layered manufacture in the generative, i.e. additive, process because they stabilize the structure.

[0032] FIG. 3 shows an air conduction part 10 of a pipe portion 20 that is structurally similar to that of FIG. 1 but has improved sound-damping properties. This is due to the fact that, firstly, the sound absorption element 5 of the damping device or dampener 3 has a larger radial extent and, secondly, a further perforated inner shell 12 is arranged between the outer shell 1 and the perforated inner shell 2 so as to extend in parallel therewith, which further shell significantly increases the sound-damping effect.

[0033] FIG. 4 again shows an air conduction part 10 that is similar to that shown in FIG. 1. In this case, the air conduction part 10 is formed by a sheet-like outer shell 1 that, from the perspective of the viewer, extends in the vertical direction. The outer shell 1 is formed integrally with a damping device or dampener 3 and a sound absorption element 5 made of porous material in that these parts are produced together in a generative manufacturing process. In contrast with the air conduction part 10 of FIG. 1, in which the cross section of the air conduction part 10 is constant over the longitudinal extension thereof, the cross section of the air conduction part 10 in FIG. 4 changes in order to bypass a disruptive extraneous shape. For this purpose, the cross section of the air conduction part 10 has a constriction 8 that is achieved by an outer shell 1 that is curved multiple times. Since the sound absorption element 5 of the damping device or dampener 3 also adopts this curvature, the constriction 8 constitutes a material weakening at the relevant point of the height of the air conduction part 10 when the pipe portion 20 has a constant clear cross section. The generative manufacturing process means that even a complex geometry of this kind does not present any challenges when producing the air conduction part 10.

[0034] The disclosure herein described above accordingly relates to an air conduction part 10 for conducting a compressible medium, which part has a clear cross section through which the medium passes in a flow direction of the medium when the air conduction part 10 is used, which flow direction approximately corresponds to a longitudinal axis of the air conduction part 10, the air conduction part comprising at least one wall arrangement 30 that laterally defines the cross section of the air conduction part 10 and conducts the medium. In order to make available, with a justifiable amount of outlay, air conduction parts 10 having effective sound-damping and in which the transport direction of the medium and/or the cross section of the air conduction part 10 can change, the wall arrangement 30 is provided with at least one shell 1, 2 and with at least one damping device or dampener 3 that removes sound energy from the medium, and the shell 1, 2 and the damping device or dampener 3 are integrally interconnected.

[0035] Although the present disclosure has been disclosed in the above by way of preferred embodiments, it is not limited thereto, but can be modified in various ways. In particular, the disclosure herein can be varied or modified in a diverse manner without departing from the basic concept of the disclosure herein.

[0036] While at least one exemplary embodiment of the present invention(s) is disclosed herein, it should be understood that modifications, substitutions and alternatives may be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art and can be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. This disclosure is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the exemplary embodiment(s). In addition, in this disclosure, the terms “comprise” or “comprising” do not exclude other elements or steps, the terms “a” or “one” do not exclude a plural number, and the term “or” means either or both. Furthermore, characteristics or steps which have been described may also be used in combination with other characteristics or steps and in any order unless the disclosure or context suggests otherwise. This disclosure hereby incorporates by reference the complete disclosure of any patent or application from which it claims benefit or priority.