SUPPORTING DEVICE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING

Abstract

A supporting device for a filter device including a flat-woven material manufactured of warp devices and weft devices, which form a woven surface, wherein the flat-woven material shows, in two opposite end portions, two free ends of warp devices or weft devices protruding from the woven surface. The flat-woven material is shaped to form a predetermined three-dimensional shape with a free cross-section, and the free ends overlap and are interconnected. The present method provides for shaping the flat-woven material around a molding part until the free ends of the two end portions overlap. The ends are interconnected. A filtering device accordingly includes a supporting device and a filter device.

Claims

1. A supporting device for at least one filter device, comprising: at least one flat-woven material, which comprises warp devices and weft devices, which form at least one woven surface; wherein the flat-woven material shows, in at least two opposite end portions; at least two free ends of warp devices or weft devices protruding from the woven surface; and the flat-woven material is shaped to form a predetermined, three-dimensional shape with at least one free cross-section, so that the free ends overlap at least in sections, and that the ends are interconnected.

2. The supporting device according to claim 1, wherein the free cross-section is matched to the cross-section of a filter device intended for use.

3. The supporting device according to claim 1, wherein the three-dimensional shape is substantially cylindrical.

4. The supporting device according to claim 1, wherein the free ends overlap in a plane.

5. The supporting device according to claim 1, wherein the flat-woven material is configured as a wire mesh.

6. The supporting device according to claim 1, wherein the flat-woven material is configured as an oblong woven mesh at least in sections.

7. The supporting device according to claim 6, wherein the oblong meshes extend in the peripheral direction.

8. The supporting device according to claim 1, wherein the free ends are welded, glue-bonded, sintered, joined with one another and/or interconnected by means of at least one connecting member.

9. The supporting device according to claim 1, wherein the flat-woven material is woven such that the inside surface of the flat-woven material is substantially planar.

10. The supporting device according to claim 1, wherein the overlapping of at least two warp devices or weft devices lie on top of one another in the axial extension.

11. The supporting device according to claim 1, wherein the overlapping of at least two warp devices or weft devices are staggered to one another in the axial extension.

12. The supporting device according to claim 1, wherein the base surface (20) of the flat-woven material is substantially rectangular, square, or parallelogram-like.

13. The supporting device according to claim 1, wherein the connection of the free ends is processed.

14. The supporting device according to claim 1, wherein at least two flat-woven materials are provided and the ends of the flat-woven materials are interconnected.

15. A method of manufacturing a supporting device according to claim 1, comprising the following steps in suitable sequence: creating and/or preparing at least one flat-woven material; reshaping the flat-woven material around at least one molding part (300) showing a predetermined three-dimensional shape, until the ends of at least two weft devices or warp devices extending around the molding part (300) in the peripheral direction (16) overlap at least in sections in the two end portions (6, 7) of the flat-woven material; and connecting the pertaining ends of the weft devices or warp devices.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized by the following step in a suitable position: cutting the flat-woven material to shape and size.

17. The method according to claim 15, characterized by the following step in a suitable position: tensioning the flat-woven material around the molding part.

18. The method according to claim 16, characterized by the following step in a suitable position: removing the molding part.

19. A filtering device, comprising at least one supporting device according to claim 1, and at least one filter device.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0045] Further advantages and features of the present invention can be taken from the exemplary embodiments which will be discussed below with reference to the enclosed figures.

[0046] The figures show in:

[0047] FIG. 1 a schematic illustration of an exemplary embodiment of a supporting device according to the invention in a perspective view;

[0048] FIG. 2 schematic illustrations of the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 1 in side views with and without filter device;

[0049] FIG. 3 a schematic illustration of the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 1;

[0050] FIG. 4 a schematic, enlarged illustration of an area of the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 3;

[0051] FIG. 5 a schematic illustration of manufacturing steps of an exemplary embodiment of a supporting device according to the invention;

[0052] FIG. 6 a schematic illustration of the base surface of a flat-woven material for a supporting device according to the invention;

[0053] FIG. 7 a schematic illustration of another base surface of a flat-woven material for a supporting device according to the invention;

[0054] FIG. 8 a schematic illustration of another exemplary embodiment of a supporting device according to the invention in a perspective view;

[0055] FIG. 9 a schematic illustration of the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 8 in a side view;

[0056] FIG. 10 a schematic illustration of the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 8 in a plan view; and

[0057] FIG. 11 a schematic, enlarged illustration of an area of the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 10.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0058] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a supporting device 1 according to the invention in a perspective view. In the exemplary embodiment shown, the supporting device 1 provides a supporting cage 400 of a wire mesh 13.

[0059] The supporting device 1 comprises a flat-woven material, presently configured as an oblong woven mesh 14. The warp devices 3 and weft devices 4 or in this case, the warp wires 21 and weft wires 22 form a woven surface.

[0060] The flat-woven material 2 respectively the woven surface 5 is bent over so as to form a three-dimensional shape 10 with a free cross-section 11. This free cross-section 11 accommodates a filter device 100. A round cross-section 10 is provided so that the supporting device 1 respectively the filter cage 400 is configured cylindrically.

[0061] For the flat-woven material 2 to maintain its cylindrical shape, the flat-woven material 2 comprises at the end portions 6, 7, free ends 8, 9, which during reshaping to the cylindrical shape make contact with one another and are connected with an overlap. In the shown supporting device 1 of a wire mesh 13, the ends 8, 9 are welded to one another. Thereafter, the welding seams were deoxidized and sealed.

[0062] The use of wire mesh, presently with warp wires 21 and weft wires with a diameter of 4 mm, provides a very stable supporting cage 400. Since the flat-woven material 2 is first shaped around a molding part 300 and only thereafter connected, very narrow tolerances can be achieved.

[0063] FIG. 2 schematically shows on the left, a view of the free cross-section 11 of the cylindrical supporting cage 400.

[0064] On the right, the same view is shown of a filtering device 200 according to the invention with an inserted filter device 100. It can be seen that the free cross-section 11 of the supporting device 1 is matched to the cross-section 101 of the filter device 100.

[0065] FIGS. 3 and 4 show a schematic plan view of the exemplary embodiment described above, FIG. 4 illustrating an enlarged region.

[0066] The flat-woven material 2 can be seen, configured as a wire mesh 13 with warp wires 21 and weft wires 22, which form oblong meshes 15. These oblong meshes 15 are disposed in the peripheral direction 15.

[0067] The oblong meshes 15, respectively the use of an oblong woven mesh 14 results in a supporting device 1 having very good stability while involving very small quantities of material and a large, free flow cross-section of the woven mesh.

[0068] In particular, in FIG. 4 one can see the overlapping 18 of the free ends 8, 9 of the end portions 6, 7 of the woven surface 5 respectively of the flat-woven material 2 respectively of the wire mesh 13.

[0069] In the exemplary embodiment illustrated, a rectangular basic shape 20 of the woven surface 5 respectively of the flat-woven material has been used. Therefore, the overlappings 18 are disposed on top of one another in the axial extension, respectively in one line.

[0070] The ends 8, 9 are disposed on a plane, presently adjacent to one another, so that the inside surface 17 of the supporting device 1 is smooth and as planar as possible.

[0071] In order to obtain sufficient stability of the filter cage 400, the ends 8, 9 are welded to one another. In other configurations, other suitable types of connection are possible, such as gluing, plugging, sintering, joining, connecting with connecting members or the like.

[0072] FIG. 5 schematically illustrates the reshaping and connecting of the flat-woven material 2 to obtain a supporting device 1.

[0073] The flat-woven material 2 is shaped around a molding part 300, so that the free ends 8, 9 of the end portions 6, 7 make contact with one another. The molding part corresponds to the shape of the filter device 100 intended for later insertion.

[0074] To subsequently guarantee a highly precise contact of the supporting cage 400 with the filter device 100, the flat-woven material 2 is tensioned around the molding part prior to connecting the free ends 8, 9. This is done by way of a tensioning device 12 comprising a number of tensioning straps 23 in the exemplary embodiment shown. Thus, an optimal contact of the flat-woven material with the molding part and thus subsequently, a minimal tolerance as regards the filter device 100 can be achieved.

[0075] Following the final connection of the ends 8, 9, the tensioning straps 23 respectively the tensioning device 12 can be detached and the molding part 400, removed.

[0076] FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a flat-woven material 20 showing a rectangular base surface 20. A rectangular basic shape 200 of about the same type has been used in the exemplary embodiment shown above.

[0077] One can recognize the end portions 6, 7 with the free ends of the warp devices 3, which are cylindrically shaped approaching one another for forming the supporting device 1.

[0078] The sectional view on top depicts that the wire mesh 13 is woven such that the inside surface 17 of the flat-woven material 17 respectively the supporting device 1 is planar, so that even the crossing points of the warp devices 3 and weft devices 4 do not form any protrusions which would impede a planar respectively linear, close fit of the filter device 100 in the supporting cage 400.

[0079] FIG. 7 schematically illustrates a flat-woven material in a parallelogram-like basic shape. Approximately such a basic shape 20 was used for the exemplary embodiment described below.

[0080] The FIGS. 8 to 11 schematically show another exemplary embodiment of a supporting device 1 according to the invention in various views.

[0081] The structure is basically the same as provided in the exemplary embodiment shown above. However, unlike the embodiment described above, a parallelogram-type, basic shape 20 of the flat-woven material 2 is provided.

[0082] The result thereof is that after reshaping, the free ends 8, 9 are not disposed in one line in the axial extension but staggered. The overlapping 18 extends diagonally from the top left to the bottom right. Depending on the configuration, this configuration of overlapping may show different properties as to stability.

[0083] While a particular embodiment of the present supporting device and method of manufacturing have been described herein, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the invention in its broader aspects and as set forth in the following claims.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0084] 1 wire mesh layer [0085] 2 flat-woven material [0086] 3 warp devices [0087] 4 weft devices [0088] 5 woven surface [0089] 6 end portion [0090] 7 end portion [0091] 8 free end [0092] 9 free end [0093] 10 shape [0094] 11 cross-section [0095] 12 tensioning device [0096] 13 wire mesh [0097] 14 oblong woven mesh [0098] 15 oblong meshes [0099] 16 peripheral direction [0100] 17 inside surface [0101] 18 overlapping [0102] 19 axial extension [0103] 20 base surface [0104] 21 warp wire [0105] 22 weft wire [0106] 23 tensioning strap [0107] 100 filter device [0108] 101 cross-section [0109] 200 filtering device [0110] 300 molding part [0111] 400 supporting cage