Temperature maintenance and regulation of vehicle exhaust catalyst systems with phase change materials

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10265657-B2
Application number	US-201715432884-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 14, 2017
Priority date	Apr 7, 2014
Publication date	Apr 23, 2019
Grant date	Apr 23, 2019

Abstract

A vehicle exhaust system is provided and comprises a catalyst positioned in an exhaust passage of a vehicle. The catalyst is in the form of a washcoat supported on a substrate. The system includes a phase change material located adjacent to the catalyst to maintain the temperature of the catalyst between engine shut-down and subsequent start-up as well as to regulate the temperature during engine operation. In some embodiments, the phase change material comprises particles of a metal or metal alloy encapsulated in a ceramic material. The metal or metal alloy is adapted to have a phase change that occurs within a temperature range wherein the catalyst is active.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for regulating a temperature of a catalyst, comprising:
absorbing heat via a phase change material (PCM) that is encapsulated in ceramic and positioned adjacent to the catalyst;
storing the heat absorbed by the PCM encapsulated in the ceramic; and
releasing the heat stored by the PCM encapsulated in the ceramic,
wherein the PCM is an alloy of beryllium and copper.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the PCM encapsulated in the ceramic has a melting point within a same temperature range that the catalyst has activity.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the PCM encapsulated in the ceramic has a solid-phase transition within a same temperature range that the catalyst has activity.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alloy of beryllium and copper has a melting point between 865° C. and 955° C.

5. A method for regulating a temperature of a catalyst comprising:
absorbing heat via a phase change material (PCM) comprising an alloy of manganese and bronze, the PCM encapsulated in ceramic, and where the PCM encapsulated in the ceramic is positioned adjacent to the catalyst; and
storing the absorbed heat in the PCM encapsulated by the ceramic.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the alloy of manganese and bronze has a melting point between 865° C. and 890° C.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising releasing the stored heat from the PCM encapsulated by the ceramic.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising heating the catalyst.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein absorbing the heat via the PCM includes absorbing excess heat from the catalyst.

10. The method of claim 5 , wherein the PCM encapsulated in the ceramic has a melting point within a same temperature range that the catalyst has activity.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Rhodes Kevin James
• Jagner Mark John
• Drews Andrew Robert

Classifications

• F01N3/2882

  Catalytic reactors combined or associated with other devices, e.g. exhaust silencers or other exhaust purification devices (combined with absorbents or adsorbents only F01N3/0814; combined with particulate filters F01N3/035) · CPC title

• Y02A50/2325

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• F01N2610/02

  the substance being ammonia or urea · CPC title

• B01D2255/90

  Physical characteristics of catalysts · CPC title

• F01N2330/60

  Discontinuous, uneven properties of filter material, e.g. different material thickness along the longitudinal direction; Higher filter capacity upstream than downstream in same housing · CPC title