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| Filter medium |
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To meet the increased chemical and thermal requirements on the oil filter in modern high-performance gasoline engines, MAHLE has developed new fully synthetic filter elements.
In addition to ever more intense competition and increased environmental awareness calling for new concepts aimed at reducing costs and saving resources, new lubricants and fuels have been developed in response to new combustion processes and the need to reduce fuel consumption. The use of new fully synthetic high-performance oils enables service intervals of up to 50,000 km to be achieved. Owing to the new underlying conditions, conventional filter base materials are becoming less and less suitable, as the excessively high nitration of the oils leads to an embrittlement of the filtration medium. A new fully synthetic fleece made from polyester has therefore been developed. The twin-layer medium consists of a support and filtration layer so as to achieve the highest filtration performance, prevent fold block formation, and attain optimum stability. The new oil filter medium is seven times more resistant to ageing than pure cellulose fibers and, at the same time, provides increased dirt absorption capacity with the same or even lower pressure losses.
To manufacture these high-performance filter elements, MAHLE has developed a new production and machining process. During the extensive testing and verification processes, it became clear that an external support for the paper block was necessary on account of the diagonal flow of untreated oil and so as to prevent fold block formation. An innovative solution was realized here as well. The new filter medium was tested in several new gasoline engines and has been successfully advanced to series production in the meantime.
Enhanced oil filter media made of cellulose
The majority of series production applications use cellulose oil filter media. To continue meeting the rising oil filtration requirements, MAHLE has developed new cellulose-based filter media, which feature improved properties and an excellent price/performance ratio. These so-called mixed-fiber filter media consist of cellulose fibers to which up to 30 percent plastic fibers are admixed. Besides the clear increase in dirt absorption capacity, this also results in a significant improvement in the resistance against ageing products in the oil. This easily enables service intervals of up to 30,000 km to be achieved in passenger car applications, and even up to 150,000 km for commercial vehicles.
Oil and fuel spin-on filters
Despite a clear trend towards filter elements made from fully incinerable, easy-to-dispose materials, spin-on cartridges are still enjoying considerable popularity thanks to their compact design, their service-friendly handling, and their attractive price/performance ratio. MAHLE provides spin-on filters in all current sizes for lubricant, fuel, and hydraulic oil for a variety of modern applications.