Importance

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Abstract

A filter includes a cylindrical pleated filter element having a longitudinal axis, an inner and outer periphery, first and second end surfaces, and a plurality of longitudinal pleats. First and second end elements are sealingly arranged with the first and second end surfaces, wherein at least one of the end elements is an open end element. The filter element is a pleated composite that includes a filter medium, an upstream drainage medium and a downstream drainage medium. Each pleat includes a crown, a root, and a pair of legs. The legs of each pleat are joined to one another at the crown of the pleat and are joined to the legs of adjacent pleats at the root of the pleat. Each pleat leg abuts an adjacent pleat leg along the inner periphery of the filter element and the pleats extend from the inner periphery in a curved, an arcuate, an angled, or a straight nonradial direction to the outer periphery. The height of each pleat, measured in a direction along the legs and extending from the inner periphery at the root of the filter element to the outer periphery at the crown of the filter element is greater than (D-d)/2 and less than (D.sup.2 -d.sup.2)/[4(d+2t)], where D and d are the outer diameter and the inner diameter of the filter element and t is the thickness of each leg.

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First Claim