Patent ID: 8197571

Claim:
An air filter comprising: a filter media having a plurality of pleats, said plurality of pleats having a plurality of truncated pleat tips each defined by a pair of sloping side surfaces along a front face and a rear face of said filter media, each of said plurality of truncated pleat tips oriented perpendicular to a direction of pleating and configured with a planar tip portion defined by a first and a second score line defining the edges of said truncated pleat tip and extending substantially perpendicular to said direction of pleating; one or more filter media support structures on said rear face of said filter media and oriented in said direction of pleating, each of said one or more filter media support structures generally contouring to said plurality of truncated pleat tips and each said pair of sloping side surfaces of said filter media on said rear face, each of said one or more filter media support structures thereby having a plurality of truncated pleat tips along said rear face corresponding with said filter media truncated pleat tips; and one or more first reinforcing strips oriented in said direction of pleating and bonded to said planar tip portions of said plurality of truncated pleat tips of said filter media along said front face, and one or more second reinforcing strips oriented in said direction of pleating and bonded to said plurality of truncated pleat tips of each one of said one or more filter media support structures along said rear face.