METHOD FOR JOINING A FILTER AND A COMPONENT, AND FILTER-COMPONENT SYSTEM

Abstract

A method for connecting a filter material to a fluidic component, the method including: connecting the filter material to the fluidic component by a material bonding process. A system, including: a fluidic component; and a filter material that can be connected to the fluidic component; in which the filter material is configured to be connected to the fluidic component by a material bond.

Claims

1-15. (canceled)

16. A method for connecting a filter material to a fluidic component, the method comprising: connecting the filter material to the fluidic component by a material bonding process.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the material bonding process includes an ultrasonic welding process.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising: automatically supplying the filter material in a suitable shape and size.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the suitable shape and size of the filter material are created by stamping, and wherein the stamping is carried out by a welding tool for the ultrasonic welding process.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the stamping and a welding operation of the ultrasonic welding process are carried out in a single working stroke of the welding tool.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the connecting of the filter material to a housing part of the fluidic component includes assembling the fluidic component in a superordinate assembly.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the filter material is connected to a functional element of the fluidic component, and wherein the connecting includes an assembly operation, during a final assembly, in which the functional element is assembled in the fluidic component.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein depending on the intended use, the fluidic component is equipped with the filter material or is not equipped with the filter material, and wherein the functional element is assembled in the fluidic component with the filter material connected to the functional element depending on the use of the fluidic component.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the fluidic component includes a valve, wherein a use of the valve includes the use as an inlet valve or an outlet valve, and wherein the functional element is assembled with the filter material connected thereto when the valve is used as an inlet valve.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the functional element includes a nozzle.

26. A system, comprising: a fluidic component; and a filter material that can be connected to the fluidic component; wherein the filter material is configured to be connected to the fluidic component by a material bond.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the fluidic component includes a valve.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the filter material is configured to be connected to a functional element of the fluidic component, which is configured to be assembled depending on the use of the fluidic component.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the functional element includes a nozzle.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the nozzle includes an incoming-air nozzle introduced in an inlet opening in the fluidic component.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0037] FIG. 1 shows a partially sectional, basic illustration of a system according to the invention that has a fluidic component and a filter material.

[0038] FIG. 2 shows a partially sectional, basic illustration of the fluidic component.

[0039] FIG. 3 shows a basic illustration of steps of a material bonding process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0040] FIG. 1 shows a partially sectional, basic illustration of a system 1 according to the invention that is composed of a valve 2 as a fluidic component and a filter material 3, which is connected to the fluidic component.

[0041] The system 1 also has a nozzle 4 as a functional element of the system 1. The functional element is used for a special function in the fluidic component. The valve 2 also has a housing body 5 as one of a number of housing parts which receive functional elements of the valve 2.

[0042] The filter material 3 has a mesh width suitable for filtering out particles which disrupt a function of the fluidic component. The filter material 3 is connected to the nozzle 4 by a material bond. This connection of two components thus differs from an integral production of the nozzle 4 with the filter material 3. In this embodiment, the material bond is a connection by an ultrasonic welding process. The nozzle 4 is an incoming-air nozzle of the valve 2 that is provided with the filter material 3 in order to filter supplied compressed air which flows into the valve 2 through an opening 6 in the nozzle 4. In this embodiment, the valve 2 is used as an inlet valve.

[0043] In an alternative embodiment, the material bond is effected by another connection principle, for example adhesive bonding or soldering. In further alternative embodiments, the filter material 3 is not connected to the nozzle 4 but to the fluidic component itself, for example to one of the housing parts of the valve 2, or to another functional element. In addition, as an alternative the fluid is not compressed air but rather another gas or a liquid, for example.

[0044] FIG. 2 shows a partially sectional, basic illustration of the valve 2 as the fluidic component.

[0045] In the fluidic component shown in FIG. 2, a nozzle 4′ is not provided with a filter material, but rather merely has the opening 6 through which compressed air can flow. The nozzle 4′ is assembled at the same inlet to the valve 2 as the nozzle 4. The valve 2 shown in FIG. 2 is used as an outlet valve, the filter material not being used in order not to impede the fluid from flowing away and in order to allow foreign bodies possibly still present in the fluid in the valve 2 to flow out unhindered. The valve 2 shown in FIG. 2 is thus not an embodiment of the invention, but serves merely to explain the options of the claimed method and the claimed system.

[0046] The nozzle 4 shown in FIG. 1 and the nozzle 4′ shown in FIG. 2 are thus assembled depending on the use of the fluidic component.

[0047] FIG. 3 shows a basic illustration of steps of a cycle of a material bonding process by which the filter material 3 is connected to the fluidic component. FIG. 3 includes four illustrations 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D, which illustrate individual steps of the process.

[0048] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the connecting method is the ultrasonic welding process, to connect the filter material 3 shown in FIG. 1 to the nozzle 4, but may as explained above alternatively also be another material bonding process.

[0049] As illustrated in FIG. 3A, the filter material 3 is provided as a strip 3′, which is automatically supplied. For this purpose, the strip 3′ is wound up on a coil and, as required, a necessary length corresponding to a necessary length is supplied. As an alternative, the filter material 3 is not provided as a strip 3′ but rather in the form of a plate, for example, which in that case is supplied by hand, or the strip 3′ is provided in a different form than that on the coil.

[0050] FIG. 3B shows a state in a step immediately after the filter material 3 has been stamped out of the strip 3′ by a sonotrode as the welding tool 10. During the stamping out operation, a suitable shape and size of the filter material 3 is created. For this purpose, an ultrasonic welding device has a die 11 in a suitable shape and the welding tool 10 as a stamping punch in a complementary shape.

[0051] In an alternative embodiment, the filter material 3 is provided in the suitable shape and size not by stamping, but rather is supplied already prepared in the suitable shape and size.

[0052] FIG. 3C shows a step of an actual connecting operation. In the ultrasonic welding process, the sonotrode is used as the welding tool 10, into which a high-frequency vibration, namely an ultrasonic vibration, is introduced that in turn is transferred to the filter material 3 and the nozzle 4. For this purpose, in addition to the ultrasonic vibration, a compressive force is applied to the sonotrode. The transferred ultrasonic vibration plasticizes and then welds together, and thus connects, the filter material 3 and a material of the nozzle 4.

[0053] FIG. 3D shows the state after connecting the filter material 3 to the nozzle 4.

[0054] During use, the filter material 3 is automatically supplied by the strip 3′, with the result that the filter material 3 can be stamped out in the required shape and size. After this, the welding tool 10 moves, downward in the illustrated embodiment, in order to stamp the filter material 3 out of the strip 3′. The stamping tool 10 moves further in the direction of the nozzle 4 and, when the stamping tool 10 impacts the stamped-out filter material 3, the ultrasonic vibration is transferred from the stamping tool 10 via the filter material 3 to the nozzle 4, as a result of which the filter material 3 and a material of the nozzle 4 are plasticized. As shown in particular in illustrations 3B and 3C, the stamping and the welding are carried out in a single working stroke. As an alternative, these two operations can also be carried out in a plurality of working strokes. After the materials have cooled, a material bond is produced.

[0055] The filter material 3 is connected to the nozzle 4 as a step of an assembly operation, in which the functional element is assembled in the fluidic component, that is to say the nozzle 4 is assembled in the valve 2.

[0056] In the further course of the assembly operation, the nozzle 4 with the filter material 3 connected thereto is assembled in the valve 2. This is effected when the valve 2 is used as the inlet valve.

[0057] In the case in which the valve 2 is used as the outlet valve, the nozzle 4′ is assembled without the filter material 3. The nozzle 4, 4′ is thus assembled in the fluidic component depending on the use of the fluidic component.

[0058] In an alternative configuration, in which it is not the nozzle 4 but rather a housing part of the valve 2, for example the housing body 5, that is connected to the filter material 3, the connection is effected as a step in an assembly operation in which the fluidic component is assembled in a superordinate assembly.

[0059] All the features presented in the description, the subsequent claims and the drawing may be essential to the invention both individually and in any desired combination.

THE LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS IS AS FOLLOWS

[0060] 1 System [0061] 2 Valve [0062] 3 Filter material [0063] 4, 4′ Nozzle [0064] 5 Housing body [0065] 6 Opening [0066] 10 Welding tool [0067] 11 Die