In general, a vehicle generates power by mixing fuel and air and combusting the mixture of fuel and air. That is, fuel stored in a fuel tank of a vehicle passes through various types of fuel supply devices, is mixed with air introduced from the outside, and then is injected into a cylinder of an engine, and at the same time, the engine is operated by repeating intake, compression, combustion, and exhaust strokes, and thereby, the vehicle obtains power.
As described above, a predetermined amount of air is needed to drive the engine, and air is supplied from the outside of the vehicle. That is, air flows into an air cleaner housing from the outside of the vehicle, flows toward an intake manifold through an air intake hose that is connected to the air cleaner housing, and then is supplied into the engine.
That is, the intake manifold is formed so that air sucked from the outside passes through a filter and then flows toward the opposite side via the air cleaner, and purified air is supplied into the engine after filtering dust and impurities included in the air using the filter, thereby supplying air required for combustion.
FIG. 1 is a view schematically illustrating an air cleaner 1 in the related art. Referring to FIG. 1, the air cleaner 1 in the related art includes a body portion 10 which has an air inlet 12 formed at one side of the body portion 10, a cover portion 20 which is coupled to an upper portion of the body portion 10 and has an outlet 22 formed at one side of the cover portion 20, an element 30 which is interposed between the body portion 10 and the cover portion 20.
In the air cleaner 1 having the aforementioned configuration, air flows into the air cleaner 1 through the air inlet 12 formed in the body portion 10, the air flowing into the air cleaner 1 passes through the element 30 so as to filter impurities, and thereafter, the air is supplied into the engine through the outlet 22 formed in the cover portion 20.
There is a problem in that when the air cleaner 1 is used for a long period of time, a large amount of impurities is attached to the element 30, and thereby, the air cleaner 1 does not properly perform a filtering function. Therefore, in order to filter air, the element 30, which is installed in the body portion 10 and the cover portion 20, needs to be replaced by a new element after a predetermined time has passed.
However, because the body portion 10 and the cover portion 20 of the air cleaner 1 in the related art are coupled to each other by bolts, the bolts, which fix four corners of the body portion 10 and the cover portion 20, needs to be removed to replace the element 30, and therefore, there are problems in that it is inconvenient to replace the element 30, and it takes a long time to replace the element 30.
In addition, because in the air cleaner 1 in the related art, the element 30 is positioned such that the element 30 merely lies on an upper side of the body portion 10, there are problems in that when air flows in from a lower portion of the element 30, that is, through the air inlet 12 of the body portion 10, the element 30 is shaken by flow pressure of the air, and the body portion 10 and the cover portion 20 collide with each other, which causes vibrating noise.
Accordingly, in order to resolve the aforementioned problem in the related art, the present applicant filed Korean Patent Laid-Open Application No. 10-2013-0061599, entitled “Air Cleaner for Vehicle”. However, the aforementioned technology has a merit in that the air cleaner 1 is mounted in an air cleaner housing so as to be detachable like a drawer structure such that the air cleaner 1 may be easily and conveniently replaced, but has a problem in that because an element is not securely fixed when flow pressure occurs in the housing, which causes vibrating noise.
Therefore, the present applicant has studied an air cleaner for a vehicle, which may resolve the aforementioned problems in the related art.