Patent ID: 8287614

Claim:
An air cleaner, comprising: an air cleaner housing defining a chamber having dirty air side in communication with an air inlet port of said housing and a clean air side in communication with an air outlet port of said housing; an air filter element received in said chamber of said housing and dividing said chamber into said clean and dirty sides, said filter element having a filter media having a desired shape and configured to filter air flow passing from said inlet to said outlet, said filter media having an inlet face in communication with said inlet port and an outlet face in communication with said outlet port, wherein said air flow through said filter media develops a pressure drop across said filter media, said pressure drop inducing a deflection force urging said filter media to deform from said desired shape, a supplemental filter media support insert installed into an interior of said air cleaner housing and not secured to said filter element, said supplemental filter media support including: at least one elongated support rib in said clean air side, positioned proximate to and extending across said outlet face, said ribs configured to supportively resist deformation of said filter media by transferring at least a portion of said deflection force to said housing; wherein said housing comprises: a first housing portion including said inlet port and said dirty air side of said chamber; a second housing portion including said outlet port and said clean air side of said chamber; wherein said first and second housing portions are configured and adapted to closeably mate to form said air cleaner housing; wherein said filter media comprises pleated filter media; said filter element includes at least one reinforcement band extending over at least a portion of said pleats at said outlet face; and wherein at least a portion of said support ribs are positioned and aligned for supportive engagement with at least one of said reinforcing bands, said aligned ribs having a width across said outlet face no greater than a width of said aligned reinforcing band, said positioning, alignment and rib width selected to avoid further restriction of air flow through said filter element.