US3460916A - Exhaust gas burners - Google Patents

Description

1969 A. ARONSOHN EXHAUST GAS BURNERS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 9, 1965 M o p WW I Z f m M mm 9 /Wmm f l'. mp w? g- A. ARONSOHN 3,460,916

EXHAUST GAS BURNERS Filed July 9, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet I In verfl'br ,4// grouse/1n flff'orne s Aug. 12, 1969 A. ARONSOHN EXHAUST GAS BURNERS 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July 9. 1965 Ma Hfibrne -s United States Patent U.S. Cl. 23288 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Exhaust gas burner having an elongated combustion chamber for connection to an exhaust gas conduit to permit exhaust gases to flow therethrough having an exhaust gas inlet, an exhaust gas outlet and an air inlet. A liner of catalyzing material on the walls of said chamber for continuous ignition of combustible components in the supplied exhaust gases which after initiated preheating is kept warm by the combustion in the combustion chamber. A turbulator disposed in the combustion chamber dividing it into two compartments communicating with each other through the turbulator. One of the compartments being defined between said turbulator and an end wall of the combustion chamber at which the exhaust gas inlet is arranged. The other of said compartments being defined between the turbulator and an end wall of the combustion chamber at which the exhaust gas outlet is arranged. The last named compartment is a second afterburning zone. The turbulator has a nose facing the exhaust gas inlet.

This invention relates to an exhaust gas burner for internal combustion engines, furnaces, evacuating plants and the like for the combustion of inter alia unburnt hydrocarbons and carbon oxide which occur in the exhaust gases by reason of incomplete combustion in the engine or furnace.

The primary object of the invention is to provide an exhaust gas burner which can function continuously without a particular heat source and without being clogged by solid particles accompanying the exhaust gases, and which can be manufactured at low costs to enable extensive use, for instance in motor vehicles.

The invention provides an exhaust gas burner comprising an elongated combustion chamber which is intended for connection in an exhaust gas conduit to permit exhaust gases to flow therethrough and which for this purpose has an exhaust gas inlet and an exhaust gas outlet and is equipped with an inlet for taking air into the combustion chamber, and an insert of catalyzing material in the combustion chamber for continuous ignition of combustible components occurring in the supplied exhaust gases, said insert being adapted to be kept Warm by the combustion in the combustion chamber.

For better elucidation the invention will be described in more detail in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an axial section of an embodiment of the exhaust gas burner according to the invention, intended for use with motor vehicles;

FIG. 2 is an axial section of another embodiment of the exhaust gas burner according to the invention, likewise intended for use with motor vehicles;

FIG. 3 is a section on line 3-3 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an axial section of a third embodiment of the exhaust gas burner according to the invention, also intended for use with motor vehicles.

The exhaust gas burner shown in FIG. 1 comprises by fireproof sheet iron or sheet steel. An exhaust gas inlet pipe 11 is disposed at one end of the combustion chamice ber, and for supplying preheated air through injector action produced by the exhaust gas flow of the engine there is arranged coaxially with the exhaust gas inlet pipe 11 a pipe 12 communicating with the atmosphere, and on said pipe 12 there is arranged a further coaxial pipe 13 for supplying air by means of a turbine-driven fan or the like. The supplied air may have been preheated in the water or air cooling system of the engine and is further preheated in that it sweeps along the exhaust inlet pipe 11 and pipe 12, respectively. Furthermore, the combustion chamber has an ignition element 14 which may be a spark plug or glow plug which may be placed inside a perforated pro-chamber and which may be cut in with the ignition key of the car or by means of a thermostat, and a perforated turbulator 15 (i.e., an element creating a turbulence or vortex action) having a nose 15' which is coaxial with the pipes 1113. The turbulator has for its purposes to provide an intimate mixture of exhaust gases and air in the combustion chamber and is adjustable longitudinally of the combustion chamber with the aid of screws 16. It delimits an equalization and after burning zone 10 in the combustion chamber at the very outlet end of said chamber. Disposed around the pipe 12 is an annulus 17 which has an internal conical surface 17' which widen towards the interior of the combustion chamber. This annulus is likewise adjustable longitudinally of the combustion chamber with the aid of screws 18. The annulus 17 serves to prevent pressure shocks in the combustion chamber from being transferred rearwardly, i.e. against the intended direction of flow of the exhaust gases, into the pipes 12 and 13. This action may be improved in that the annulus is formed with a neck portion 17" which surrounds the pipe 12 leaving an annular space to said pipe 12. By this arrangement the air entering the combustion chamber 10 through the pipe 12 exerts an injector action upon the air in the pipe 13, and said injector action may be so pronounced that a specific fan or the like for supplying air through the pipe 13 may possibly be disposed with. As the annulus 17, possibly together with the associated neck portion 17', and the turbulator 15 are adjustable longitudinally of the combustion chamber 10 one and the same combustion chamber is easily adaptable to different engine types. A socket 19 is provided at the other end of the combustion chamber for the connection of the exhaust gas burner to an outlet pipe.

For maintaining the combustion in the combustion chamber after the latter has reached a certain temperature, a minimum of 550 0., without the intermediary of the ignition element 14 the combustion chamber 11 is internally coated with a possibly corrugated liner 20 of catalyzing porous solid ceramic material, for instance Alumo 60 manufactured by Hoganas-Billesholms AB, Hoganas, Sweden, in which ceramic material there may be incorporated a catalyst, for instance a metal powder such as vanadium powder. The nose 15 is of the same type of material and so is the annulus 17. The liner 20 may also be formed by granules enclosed in a cage of heat-resistant metal-wire netting.

It is important that the exhaust gas burner is placed as close as possible to the internal combustion engine or furnace in order that a high temperature may be maintained in the exhaust gas burner, and for facilitating the mounting of the exhaust gas burner shown in FIG. 1, which is intended for use with motor vehicles, a clamping nut 21 is arranged on the outer side of the combustion chamber 10 so that said chamber can be mounted directly on the cast exhaust gas pipe of the engine.

The embodiment according to FIGS. 2 and 3 includes a sheet steel can 24 forming the combustion chamber and having a catalyzing ceramic liner 25 possibly with a catalyst incorporated therein. A nose 26 is encased in a sheet metal can 28 which is axially adjustable and arrestable in adjusted position, for instance by means of a screw 27, said can 28 having an annular and cup-shaped Wall 29 with apertures 30 and forming an afterburning zone 31 to which an outlet conduit 32 is connected. The liner 25 is accessible to gas in the afterburning zone 31 through holes 28 in the shell of the can 28. Secured to the other end wall 33 of the can 25 is a cylinder 34 having a flange 35 for the connection of the cylinder to the manifold 36 of the internal combustion engine. A partition 37 between an exhaust gas inlet pipe 38 and the cylinder 34 divides said cylinder into two chambers 39 and 40, the chamber 39 being connected to a suction air conduit 41, possibly provided with an air cleaner, and the chamber 40 via a pressure air conduit 42 to an air pump 43 which may be driven by means of a belt from the shaft of the internal combustion engine. Two pipes 44 and 45 enter the end wall 33 and form together with the pipe 38 two channels each having a semiannular opening 46 and 47, respectively, leading to the chamber 39 and 40, respectively. The pipe 44 supports a ring 48 preventing back-firing and consisting of a thin wall of heat-resistant metal-wire netting with catalyst material applied thereto, or of a thicker body 49 of the same material as the parts 25 and 26, or of soap-stone coated or covered with catalyst material on the inwardly facing surface. The pipes 38, 44 and 45 can be supported inter se by means of some axially extending webs or Wings 50. A glow plug or spark plug 51 is disposed in the wall of the combustion chamber.

In FIG. 4, 52 designates a sheet metal can comprising a catalyzing ceramic liner 52, a fixation flange 54 for the engine manifold 55, an exhaust gas inlet pipe 56, an air intake 57 possibly connected to an air pump and leading into a pipe 58, a gas outlet 59 connected to an annular channel 60 between the liner 53 and the pipe 58, and a glow plug 61 disposed in a central nose 62 of the linear or laterally mounted as in FIG. 2.

In the three embodiments of the invention herein described the exhaust gases from the internal combustion engine are mixed in the combustion chamber with the air supplied thereto and the resulting combustible mixture is ignited initially, that is when the internal combustion engine and as a consequence the combustion chamber is cold, by means of the ignition element (the spark plug or glow plug). After combustion has been initiated and the ceramic catalyst has been heated to the temperature required to make the combustion proceed by itself under the action of the catalyst, which may be in a glowing state, the ignition element may be disconnected. As already stated, the ignition element can be cut in by means of the ignition key in order to be cut out by a time relay or like device a certain time after it has been cut in. However, the ignition element may also be cut in and cut out by a thermostat which senses the temperature in the combustion chamber.

The combustion in the combustion chamber is realized by a torus flame around the nose of the turbulator on the side thereof which faces the exhaust gas stream. The flow of the gases in the combustion chamber is indicated by arrows in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4. A certain afterburning takes place in the embodiment according to FIG. 1 and that according to FIGS. 2 and 3, after the burning gases have passed through the openings of the turbulator, in the afterburning zone situated between the turbulator and the outlet, and in the embodiment according to FIG. 4 in the annular channel 60.

The exhaust gas burner described is also useful in connection with coal or oil-fired furnaces, such as boilers. In that connection the ignition element may be dispensed with.

Not only the exhaust gases from the cylinders of the internal combustion engine but also carbon oxide or hydrocarbon-laden gases from the crankcase of the internal combustion engine may be supplied to the exhaust gas combustion chamber.

T 0 provide the necessary turbulence in the combustion chamber the exhaust gas inlet may be arranged tangentially in a cylindrical combustion chamber having an axial outlet, in order that air and gas shall pass through the combustion chamber under rotary motion in the same way as in a cyclone apparatus, thereby sweeping over the catalyst disposed as a liner in the chamber. In other modified embodiments of the invention the combustion chamber may have a cross section other than circular, for instance rectangular.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Exhaust gas burner comprising an elongated combustion chamber for connection to an exhaust gas conduit to permit exhaust gases to flow therethrough having an exhaust gas inlet, an exhaust gas outlet and an air inlet, a liner of catalyzing material on the walls of said chamber for continuous ignition of combustible components in the supplied exhaust gases, said liner after initiated preheating being kept warm by the combustion in said combustion chamber, a turbulator disposed in said combustion chamber dividing said combustion chamber into two compartments communicating with each other through said turbulator, one of said compartments being defined between said turbulator and an end wall of said combustion chamber at which said exhaust gas inlet is arranged, and the other of said compartments being defined between said turbulator and an end wall of said combustion chamber at which said exhaust gas outlet is arranged, said last named compartment being a second afterburning zone and said turbulator having a nose facing said exhaust gas inlet.

2. An exhaust gas burner according to claim 1 wherein the surface of said nose is of a catalyzing solid material.

3. An exhaust gas burner according to claim 1, wherein an annulus is provided in said combustion chamber between said exhaust gas inlet and said turbulator, said annulus being adjustable longitudinally of said combustion chamber and having an internal conical surface which widens towards the interior of said combustion chamber.

4. An exhaust gas burner according to claim 3, wherein the annulus is formed with a neck surrounding the air inlet and leaving a space to said inlet, said space communieating with a second air inlet.

5. An exhaust gas burner according to claim 3, wherein the surface of said annulus comprises a catalyzing solid material.

'6. An exhaust gas burner according to claim 3, wherein said turbulator is adjustable longitudinally of the combustion chamber.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 25,858 9/1965 Matvay 23288 1,934,596 11/19'33 Fogas 23-277 2,728,408 12/1955 Deliman 23277 3,059,420 10/ 1962 Schnabel 23288 3,072,458 1/1963 Page 23288 3,211,534 10/ 1965 Ridgway 23--288 3,220,179 11/ 1965 Bloomfield 23-288 3,248,872 5/1966 Morrell 23-288 JOSEPH SCOVRONEK, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

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