Catalytic converter and method of controlling exhaust emission

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10213778-B2
Application number	US-201615370132-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 6, 2016
Priority date	Oct 26, 2016
Publication date	Feb 26, 2019
Grant date	Feb 26, 2019

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an improved catalytic converter capable of significantly reducing emissions by reducing the activation time of a catalytic device thereby improving emissions reduction performance, and an exhaust emission emissions reduction control method using the improved catalytic converter. The improved catalytic converter includes: a housing and two or more catalyst substrates disposed inside the housing, wherein the two or more catalyst substrates are separated inside the housing along a longitudinal direction, and the two or more catalyst substrates have a different diameter and a different volume.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An improved catalytic converter comprising:
a housing; and
two catalyst substrates disposed inside the housing;
wherein the catalyst substrates are separated inside the housing,
wherein the catalyst substrates have a different radius and a different volume,
wherein the two catalyst substrates comprise a first catalyst substrate adjacent to an inlet side of the housing and a second catalyst substrate adjacent to an outlet side of the housing,
wherein one of the two catalyst substrates has two zones having different amounts of catalyst,
wherein the first catalyst substrate comprises a first zone located on a first side of the first catalyst substrate and a second zone located on a second side of the first catalyst substrate,
wherein the first zone and the second zones are comprised of catalysts having different noble metal contents, and
wherein the first zone has a higher noble metal content than the second zone, and the second zone has a higher noble metal content than the second catalyst substrate.

2. The improved catalytic converter of claim 1 , wherein the radius of the first catalyst substrate is smaller than the radius of the second catalyst substrate.

3. The improved catalytic converter of claim 1 , wherein the volume of the first catalyst substrate is smaller than the volume of the second catalyst substrate.

4. The improved catalytic converter of claim 1 , further comprising a mixing region formed between the first catalyst substrate and the second catalyst substrate.

5. The improved catalytic converter of claim 4 , further comprising an oxygen sensor is installed in the mixing region.

6. An exhaust gas emissions reduction control method using the improved catalytic converter according to claim 1 , the method comprising the steps of:
determining whether an air-fuel ratio is lean by measuring oxygen concentration of engine exhaust gas passing through the catalytic converter during combustion of the engine;
if the air-fuel ratio is lean, performing lambda control of the air-fuel mixture; and
following lambda control, determining whether the air-fuel ratio is rich by measuring the oxygen concentration of the engine exhaust gas.

7. An exhaust gas emissions reduction control method using the improved catalytic converter according to claim 1 , the method comprising:
determining whether an air-fuel ratio is lean by measuring oxygen concentration of engine exhaust gas passing through the catalytic converter after a fuel cut;
if the air-fuel ratio is lean, supplying fuel to the engine and purging oxygen; and
after purging oxygen, determining whether the air-fuel ratio is rich by measuring the oxygen concentration of the engine exhaust gas.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jang Chun Soon

Classifications

• B01D2255/1023

  Palladium · CPC title

• B01D53/9431

  Processes characterised by a specific device · CPC title

• F01N3/2006

  Periodically heating or cooling catalytic reactors, e.g. at cold starting or overheating (by electrically controlling the supply of combustible mixture or its constituents only F02D41/0235) · CPC title

• F02D41/1454

  the characteristics being an oxygen content or concentration or the air-fuel ratio · CPC title

• F01N2560/025

  for measuring or detecting O2, e.g. lambda sensors · CPC title