OIL FILTER

Abstract

An oil filter includes a filter body including first and second plates stacked to each other, the first plate including a plurality of filtration holes, the second plate including a plurality of passage holes, an inner diameter of the passage holes being greater than an inner diameter of the filtration holes, the filtration holes facing the respective passage holes. Further, the first plate and the second plate are bonded to each other in a manner that a whole area of openings of the filtration holes is arranged within a range of openings of the passage holes.

Claims

1-6 (canceled)

7. An oil filter comprising: a filter body including first and second plates stacked to each other, the first plate including a plurality of filtration holes, the second plate including a plurality of passage holes, an inner diameter of the passage holes being greater than an inner diameter of the filtration holes, the filtration holes facing the respective passage holes, wherein the first plate and the second plate are bonded to each other in a manner that a whole area of openings of the filtration holes is arranged within a range of openings of the passage holes.

8. The oil filter according to claim 7, wherein the first plate is a reference plate and the second plate is a cover plate.

9. The oil filter according to claim 8, wherein a plate thickness of the cover plate is greater than a plate thickness of the reference plate.

10. The oil filter according to claim 7, wherein the filter body includes two second plates, wherein the first plate is sandwiched by the two second plates in a manner that the passage holes are arranged at respective openings on both ends of the filtration holes.

11. The oil filter according to claim 7, wherein the filtration holes are arranged to correspond to the passage holes.

12. The oil filter according to claim 7, wherein centers of the passage holes coincide with respective centers of the filtration holes.

13. The oil filter according to claim 10, wherein two or more second plates are stacked to one or both sides of the first plate.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0017] FIG. 1 is a diagram of an oil filter according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0018] FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of the oil filter illustrated in FIG. 1.

[0019] FIG. 3 is a disassembled perspective view of the oil filter illustrated in FIG. 1.

[0020] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the oil filter illustrated in FIG. 1.

[0021] FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of a modified example of the oil filter illustrated in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0022] A preferred embodiment of an oil filter according to the present invention is described in detail below with reference to the accompanied drawings.

[0023] FIG. 1 is a diagram of an oil filter according to an embodiment of the present invention. The oil filter exemplified here filters oil in an oil passage through which a relatively large amount of oil passes. For example, the amount of oil is approximately 20 liters per minute. The oil filter includes a filter body 10.

[0024] The filter body 10 is formed by laminating and bonding three thin metal plates 11 and 12 to each other as illustrated in FIGS. 2 to 4. In the present embodiment, the filter body 10 includes a single reference plate 11 and two cover plates 12. Each of the reference plate 11 and the cover plates 12 is formed in a disk-like shape and has the same outer diameter. The plate thickness of each of the two cover plates 12 is approximately two-times greater than that of the reference plate 11.

[0025] The reference plate 11 includes a plurality of filtration holes 11a in a center part of its circular plate. Each filtration holes 11a are through-holes having an inner diameter required for performing a desired filtration performance, and the filtration holes 11a are arranged in a circular region provided in the center part of the reference plate 11 in a uniformly distributed manner.

[0026] Each of the cover plates 12 includes a plurality of passage holes 12a in the center part of its circular plate. Each passage hole 12a is a through-hole having an inner diameter slightly greater than that of the filtration hole 11a of the reference plate 11, and the passage holes 12a are formed at parts facing the respective filtration holes 11a. The filtration holes 11a of the reference plate 11 and the passage holes 12a of the cover plate 12 are formed by etching.

[0027] The cover plate 12 is stacked on each of the both sides of the reference plate 11 in a manner that the center of the passage holes 12a coincide with the center of the respective filtration holes 11a on a one-to-one basis and the passage holes 12a are arranged at the openings on the respective ends of the filtration hole 11a. The reference plate 11 and the cover plates 12 are positioned in a manner that the whole area of the opening of the filtration holes 11a is arranged within a range of the openings of the passage holes 12a. After that, by bonding the reference plate 11 and the cover plates 12, the filter body 10 of the oil filter can be formed. As a method of bonding the reference plate 11 and the cover plates 12, an adhesive can be used. However, it is preferable to employ diffusion bonding.

[0028] When the oil filter formed as described above is disposed in an oil passage, the oil passing through the oil filter is filtered by the filtration holes 11a having the inner diameters smaller than those of the passage holes 12a. Here, in the oil filter described above, the filter body 10 is formed by stacking the cover plates 12 on the respective surfaces of the reference plate 11. Therefore, even when the oil filter is disposed in the oil passage through which a large amount of oil passes, there is no risk of easily being damaged. In addition, the thickness of the reference plate 11, in which the filtration holes 11a are formed, is approximately one half of that of the cover plate 12, and such reference plate 11 is used. Therefore, a processing time to form the filtration holes 11a by etching can be shortened, and high dimensional accuracy of the inner diameter can be secured. Therefore, the filtration performance as the oil filter can be easily managed.

[0029] In the above embodiment, a case is described where the filter body 10 is formed by using one reference plate 11 and two cover plates 12. However, the number of the plates to be stacked is not limited to this. For example, as illustrated in a modified example in FIG. 5, when a filter body 20 is formed by stacking two cover plates 22 and 23 on each surface of a reference plate 21 in which the filtration holes 21a are formed, the strength can be further enhanced. In this case, in the cover plate 23 arranged at the outermost side, it is preferable to form the passage holes 23a having inner diameters greater than those of the passage holes 22a formed in the inner cover plate 22 to reduce a pressure loss.

[0030] Further, in the above embodiment, since the same cover plates 12 are stacked on the respective surfaces of the reference plate 11, the same filtration performance can be obtained regardless of the oil passing direction. There is no need to consider the disposing direction of the oil filter in the oil passage. However, in the present invention, it may be enough to stack the cover plate on a single surface of the reference plate. In this case, the plate thickness of the cover plate does not affect the filtration performance as the oil filter. Therefore, for example, when a cover plate which is four times thicker than that of the reference plate is applied, the strength similar to that in the embodiment can be secured.

[0031] In addition, in the above embodiment, the filtration holes 11a are formed in one plate 11 to be stacked, and only the passage holes 12a are formed in the other plates 12. However, when the plates can be stacked so that the filtration holes and the respective passage holes are arranged to face each other, the filtration holes and the passage holes may be provided in the plates in a mixed manner.

[0032] In addition, in the above embodiment and the modified example, the cover plates 12, 22, and 23 having the plate thickness thicker than those of the reference plates 11 and 21 are applied. However, the plate thickness of the reference plate may be the same as that of the cover plate, and a cover plate having the plate thickness less than that of the reference plate may be applied.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

[0033] 10, 20 FILTER BODY

[0034] 11, 21 REFERENCE PLATE

[0035] 11a, 21a FILTRATION HOLE

[0036] 12, 22, 23 COVER PLATE

[0037] 12a, 22a, 23a PASSAGE HOLE