Desiccant cartridges containing desiccant particles are common in automotive air conditioning systems for dehydrating refrigerants. These desiccant cartridges are adapted to fit within canisters of integrated receiver/dryer (R/D) and accumulator assemblies.
Although various forms of integrated R/D and accumulator assemblies have been suggested in the prior art, the types used in automotive air conditioning systems generally include an elongated canister having inlet and outlet ports communicating with the interior thereof. A desiccant cartridge including a desiccant cup for holding desiccant particles is positioned within the interior of the canister. A desiccant cap is secured to the cup to retain the particles therein.
Typically, the inlet port is centrally located on a lid of the canister thereby allowing a center tube of the inserted desiccant cartridge to easily align and cooperate with the inlet port or a tube extending therefrom. This cooperation allows gas and/or fluid to flow into the canister and through the cartridge enabling the desiccant particles to remove moisture therefrom. More particularly, the gas or fluid enters the canister via the inlet port, travels through the tube extending therefrom, passes through the center tube, empties into the interior of the canister, flows through the desiccant cartridge, and finally exits the canister via the outlet port.
In contrast, some canisters are provided with an inlet port that is offset from the center such that a center tube desiccant cartridge must be accommodated in order to cooperate with the offset port or a side tube extending therefrom. One way to accommodate the combination including an offset inlet port and a desiccant cartridge having a center tube is to bend the side tube such that it connects the center tube of the cartridge with the offset port. However, this option is expensive and somewhat difficult to do.
Alternatively, the desiccant cartridge with center tube can be replaced with a cartridge having a desiccant cup provided with an offset tube for aligning and cooperating with the offset inlet port, or side tube. However, one of the primary difficulties associated with assembling desiccant cartridges adapted to receive a side tube lies in orienting a hole, or aperture, in the desiccant cap to properly receive the offset tube of the desiccant cup. As such, assembly of current side tube receiving desiccant cartridges is inefficiently done by hand or with expensive automated assembly systems. Accordingly, desiccant cartridges provided with an offset tube typically are more expensive than the standard center tube cartridges.
Notably, the desiccant cartridge of the present invention includes a desiccant cup having a center tube and a desiccant cap adapted to easily cooperate with both the center tube and an offset inlet port, or side tube, of a canister of an integrated receiver/dryer (R/D) or accumulator assembly thereby eliminating any need to properly orientate the cap on the cup and allowing for the use of simple, inexpensive parts and automated equipment for assembly thereof.