Patent ID: 8142172

Claim:
A silencer, in combination with a compressor or a vacuum pump, both of which operate according to a displacement principle, and which compress a current of gas including an air current, comprising: an entrance for the gas current that leaves an outlet of the compressor or the vacuum pump, and an exit, such that within the silencer there is provided a branching region that comprises an inflow channel from which a first channel section and a second channel section branch away, such that the first channel section is constructed as a housing which forms a main conduit to conduct the gas current further towards the exit, and the second channel section forms a closed branch; wherein the second channel section has an axial preferential direction oriented parallel to a direction of flow of the gas current in the inflow channel, so that the gas current impinges at least substantially frontally against the second channel section, wherein the second channel section branch comprises a pot-shaped basic body which is open at a first end and closed by an end plate at an opposite end such that the gas current that impinges at least substantially frontally against the second channel section impinges on the open first end of the pot-shaped basic body and then impinges on the end plate, wherein an annular space is formed between an inside wall of the housing which forms the main conduit and an outer wall of the pot-shaped basic body, the annular space extending over substantially an entire length of the pot-shaped basic body such that the gas current in the first channel section flows through the annular space towards the exit, wherein a cover element provided with openings, is disposed at or in the second channel section so as to cover an internal cross section thereof, wherein the silencer comprises an auxiliary damper or an additional sound-absorption means, downstream of the second channel section; and wherein the auxiliary damper or additional sound-absorption means at least partially surrounds the second channel section.