How to choose automobile air filter? Cross-evaluation of 4 mainstream air filter elements
[Aika car original]
The operation of automobile engine is inseparable from the air intake. As an important fuel injection index of EFI engine, the air intake is almost equal to the automobile power.Under the same circumstances, the more air inhaled in the combustion chamber, the more fuel is burned, and the more horsepower and work are generated.
Because the air contains a lot of dust and impurities, the engine needs to set a filter element at the entrance of the air intake, which is what we often call an air filter element (air filter for short). Friends who know a little about cars are no strangers to air filters, but do you know that the differences in air filters will also affect vehicles? The reason is very simple. For cars, air filter is equivalent to the mask we wear. The material is too thin and the dust is not filtered thoroughly enough. And the material is too thick, which will affect normal breathing.On the whole, a good air filter should not only ensure good filterability, but also take into account sufficient air intake.
Introduction to air filtration
However, I think that the relationship between filterability and air intake is a trade-off. After all, air filtration materials need to have a certain density to block dust, and in this process, air flow and velocity will be lost.
Second, the cross-evaluation test
In this session, we will test the air intake and filterability of several air filters respectively, during which we will use a special decoder to read the engine air intake data, and we will also use some simple tools to observe the air intake changes intuitively.
Of course, even without tools, the differences between some products can be roughly seen through static observation.
1. Static comparison
Air filter is mainly composed of filter material and sealing ring. Although the structure is simple, the difference in workmanship is not the same. There are several items that can show the details of product workmanship, such as the thickness of filter paper, the uniformity and thickness error of PU foam of sealing ring, and the hardness and softness of sealing ring material, which will directly affect the use effect and service life of air filtration in the later stage.
Although the difference between the thickness and hardness of sealing ring can not be directly used as a standard to evaluate the quality of air filtration, the comparison of errors between multiple measurement points and average values can also reflect the manufacturing level of a brand. The error value of original air filter is 0.18~0.27mm, Mann brand error is 0.56~0.85mm, Leopard King is 0.36~0.49mm, and K&N is 0.04 ~ 0.05 mm..
It is worth mentioning that the cotton filter material used by K&N is light and thin, and the large surface pores can effectively increase the air intake, while the filter oil just makes up for the defects of the large pores in filterability, achieving the dual effects of high flow and strong filtration, which is also the fundamental reason why the performance of wet filter element is better than that of dry filter element.
At this point, the appearance differences of several air filters are relatively clear. K&N air filtration is the best regardless of filter material thickness, glue injection process or various errors. Among the other three air filters, Man Pai ranks second with its high filter paper thickness and glue injection process, but there is still room for improvement in error. In contrast, the original air filter has a strong advantage in error control, but the thickness of the filter paper is thin, which may lead to poor filtration performance. Regrettably, the performance of Leopard King Air Filter in this link is not ideal, and all rankings are hovering in the penultimate position.
2. Comparison of air intake
Adequate air intake is an important factor for the engine to maintain normal operation. After entering the engine, air will form a certain concentration of mixed gas with fuel, and the ratio of air to fuel mass that constitutes the mixed gas becomes the air-fuel ratio (the ratio of air mass to fuel mass).
Although the EFI engine will adjust the fuel injection quantity through a series of closed-loop control (control mode with various sensors participating in information feedback),Keep the air-fuel ratio at the best state of 14.7:1 as far as possible, but only if the air intake performance of the air filter is strong enough.If the density of filter material is too large, although there will be a large air intake in the early stage of use, dust can easily enter the engine; In the later stage, the air filter is also easily blocked by dirt, resulting in low air intake, which in turn leads to a decrease in fuel injection of the engine and a lack of power.
After experiencing the above episode, we can draw a conclusion — —The sealing ring error of air filter will bring some obstacles to installation.Although the error is only within 1mm, the smoothness of installation is directly related to the good impression brought by the air filter brand.
Although the difference between the strongest and weakest air intake intensity is not more than 1bft, the difference is very obvious when it is transformed into the specific data of the engine. While measuring the airflow intensity, we also read the idle speed data of the engine when installing different air filters through the decoder.
The concept of "load" in the four comparative projects needs special explanation:The load value here does not refer to the resistance overcome by engine operation. In short, the load value is the amount of mixture entering the cylinder. You can think that the greater the load = the more intake air.
Generally speaking, the test results of self-made instruments are in high consistency with the engine computer data.In the end, the ranking of the air intake of the four air filters is K&N- Man Brand-Leopard King-Original Air Filter.
Although Man brand air filter closely follows K&N in data, due to the characteristics of dry filter element, the intake limit can only be equal to the lowest value of K&N; In this link, Leopard King and the original air filter have obviously opened the distance, especially after comparing the engine data, Leopard King’s advantage is still very gratifying.