Patent ID: 7691163
Filing Date: 2010-04-06
Classification: B01D,B60T,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A vehicle air dryer, comprising: (a) a dryer cylinder, having a cylindrical body portion with a closed top end portion and an opposite, open bottom end portion; (b) an exhaust assembly configured to define an air outlet; (c) a backflow assembly configured to define a backflow air passage; (d) an air pressure governor assembly configured to maintain air pressure inside the air dryer; (e) a one way check valve configured to provide one way air passage; and (f) a dryer valve body having an air inlet, an air inlet chamber, an air outlet, a slanting air passage in one way fluid communication with the air outlet through the one way check valve, a first opening portion formed to receive the exhaust assembly, an opposite, second opening portion formed to engage with the open bottom end portion of the dryer cylinder, a third opening portion, formed substantially perpendicular to the second opening portion, configured to engage with the backflow assembly, and a fourth opening portion, formed substantially parallel to the third opening portion, configured to receive the air pressure governor assembly, respectively, wherein the first opening portion, the second opening portion, the third opening portion and the fourth opening portion are configured to be capable of being in fluid communication with each other, wherein the dryer cylinder further comprises: (a1) a ring-shaped air filter adapted for filtering small particles from the air passing therethrough; (a2) a cup-shaped drying agent cartridge having an open top end portion for passing through air to be dried, an open bottom end portion for passing through dried air, and a space defined by the top end portion and bottom end portion filled with drying agent positioned in the center of the dryer cylinder for drying the air passing therethrough; (a3) a circular air passage defined between the outer perimeter of the drying agent cartridge and inner perimeter of the dryer cylinder, adapted for passing air from the open bottom end portion of the dryer cylinder to the closed top end portion of the dryer cylinder; and (a4) at a dryer chamber adapted for receiving dried air from the drying agent cartridge, wherein in operation, air to be dried passes through the air inlet, the air inlet chamber, the air filter, the circular air passage to the closed to end portion of the dryer cylinder, through the drying agent cartridge to become dried air, and the dried air exits the dryer cylinder wherein the backflow assembly comprises: (c1) a throttle in connection to the dryer chamber through the slanting air passage; (c2) a backflow cavity adapted for storing the backflow air from the dryer chamber; (c3) a backflow membrane having a top side and a bottom side, adapted for opening/closing the throttle as the air pressure acting on both sides; (c4) a cavity formed above the backflow membrane; (c5) a backflow passage connecting the cavity formed above the backflow membrane to the backflow cavity, and the cavity formed above the backflow membrane to the air outlet; (c6) a backflow valve; and (c7) a backflow air filter,