Ventilation member

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9255719-B2
Application number	US-201214360539-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 21, 2012
Priority date	Nov 28, 2011
Publication date	Feb 9, 2016
Grant date	Feb 9, 2016

Abstract

A ventilation member ( 10 ) includes an air-permeable membrane ( 2 ), a support body ( 4 ), a cover body ( 6 ), and a column portion ( 8 ). The support body ( 4 ) has a through hole ( 14 ) serving as an air passage. The through hole ( 14 ) includes (a) a first portion ( 14 a ) having a relatively large inner diameter and (b) a second portion ( 14 b ) having a relatively small inner diameter. An annular ridge portion ( 12 ) is formed on an outer peripheral surface of the support body ( 4 ) along a circumferential direction of the support body ( 4 ). When the housing ( 20 ) has a nozzle opening portion ( 22 ), the ventilation member ( 10 ) is attached to the housing ( 20 ) by inserting the nozzle opening portion 22 into the support body 4 . When the housing ( 20 ) has a recess opening portion ( 24 ), the ventilation member ( 10 ) is attached to the housing ( 20 ) by fitting the support body ( 4 ) into the recess opening portion ( 24 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A ventilation member attachable to a housing having an opening portion for ventilation, the ventilation member comprising:
a cylindrical support body having a through hole serving as an air passage between an interior space and an exterior space of the housing;
an air-permeable membrane closing the through hole;
a cover body provided at a position facing the air-permeable membrane so as to protect the air-permeable membrane; and
a column portion provided between the cover body and the support body, the column portion being formed integrally with both the cover body and the support body so as to fix the cover body to the support body,
wherein
the through hole includes (a) a first portion having a relatively large inner diameter and (b) a second portion having a relatively small inner diameter,
an annular ridge portion is formed on an outer peripheral surface of the support body along a circumferential direction of the support body,
the column portion is located on an annular open end face of the second portion of the through hole,
in a plane view of an opening of the second portion, the column portion has a bridge shape extending from a first position on the open end face of the second portion to a second position on the open end face of the second portion so that the opening of the second portion is divided into two or more sections by the column portion, and
(i) when the housing has, as the opening portion, a nozzle opening portion projecting from a surface of the housing, the ventilation member can be attached to the housing by fitting the support body onto the nozzle opening portion so that an inner peripheral surface of the support body in the first portion is in close contact with an outer peripheral surface of the nozzle opening portion, and (ii) when the housing has, as the opening portion, a recess opening portion recessed from the surface of the housing, the ventilation member can be attached to the housing by fitting the support body into the recess opening portion so that the ridge portion is in close contact with an inner peripheral surface of the recess opening portion.

2. The ventilation member according to claim 1 , wherein in the plane view of the opening of the second portion, the bridge shape is composed of two or more bridge portions intersecting each other.

3. The ventilation member according to claim 1 , wherein
the support body further has an annular flat surface formed at a boundary between the first portion and the second portion, and
the air-permeable membrane is disposed on the annular flat surface so as to close the through hole at the boundary.

4. The ventilation member according to claim 1 , wherein in a height direction parallel to a central axis of the through hole, the ridge portion is located at least on a side of the first portion with respect to a boundary between the first portion and the second portion.

5. The ventilation member according to claim 1 , wherein the cover body includes an outer peripheral portion projecting outwardly beyond the outer peripheral surface of the support body in a horizontal direction perpendicular to a central axis of the through hole.

6. The ventilation member according to claim 1 , wherein in a height direction parallel to a central axis of the through hole, the first portion is longer than the second portion.

7. The ventilation member according to claim 1 , wherein the support body, the cover body, and the column portion are made of an elastomer.

8. The ventilation member according to claim 1 , wherein
a part of the support body is a support member that supports the air-permeable membrane and is made of a non-elastomeric resin or a metal,
the rest of the support body except for the support member, the cover body, and the column portion are made of an elastomer, and
the rest of the support body and the column portion are connected together.

9. The ventilation member according to claim 1 , wherein in a height direction parallel to a central axis of the through hole, an entire housing-side surface of the column portion having the bridge shape is covered by the support body.

10. The ventilation member according to claim 1 , wherein the column portion is present between the cover body and the air-permeable membrane.

Assignees

• Nitto Denko Corp

Inventors

• Yano Youzou

Classifications

• F21W2107/10

  for land vehicles · CPC title

• H05K5/0216

  Venting plugs comprising semi-permeable membranes · CPC title

• F21V31/03

  with provision for venting {(for vehicle head lights F21S45/33; for vehicle rear lights F21S41/192)} · CPC title

• F21S45/30 Primary

  Ventilation or drainage of lighting devices · CPC title

• F24F7/00 Primary

  Ventilation · CPC title