Background
Exhaust gas treatment devices and strategies widely used in vehicles ensure that the exhaust gas is treated and that harmful emissions leaving the vehicle are kept as low as possible. The most popular exhaust treatment device and strategy is to dose an aqueous solution to treat the oxides of nitrogen. One of the many components of the exhaust gas is the different oxides of nitrogen, which contribute to the greenhouse effect and other types of pollution. Thus, emission standards worldwide require that nitrogen oxides be treated to convert them to elemental nitrogen before being released into the atmosphere. One of the most popular methods of treating exhaust gases to convert nitrogen oxides to elemental nitrogen is through the use of aqueous solutions.
An aqueous solution dosing device is used downstream of the exhaust pipe. The dosing mechanism doses a metered amount of the aqueous solution into the exhaust path. A metered amount of the aqueous solution reacts with and converts the oxides of nitrogen to elemental nitrogen. The dosing device comprises an injector, which is a device responsible for dosing a metered amount of aqueous solution in the exhaust path. The injector sprays a metered amount of an aqueous solution. Packaging constraints in vehicles have led to the widespread use of compact mixing sections for mixing aqueous solutions with exhaust gases. These compact mixing sections result in multiple recycles of aqueous vapor near the injector tip at the time of dose delivery. Recirculation near or towards the injector tip causes crystallization and deposition of the aqueous solution on the tip. This will lead to malfunction of the dose delivery system due to clogging of the injector.
Patent application WO13035112a1 "a device for dosing an aqueous solution in an exhaust gas path" discloses a device for dosing an aqueous solution in an exhaust gas path. The device comprises a dosing module with a dosing valve. The device features a flange located in the exhaust path. The flange interface includes a protection feature and a mounting feature at an end of the flange distal from the vent path, and a heat sink on the flange interface adapted to receive the dose delivery valve. However, this design does not address the problem of injector tip crystallization as discussed above.
Detailed Description
Fig. 1 depicts an apparatus (100) for dosing an aqueous solution in an exhaust pipe (106) of a vehicle. The device comprises a housing, a flange (105) welded to the housing (102) and at least an injector (101). An injector (101) is located inside the housing. The device is characterized by a sleeve (107) mounted on the periphery of the tip of the injector (101) and inside the flange (105). The sleeve (107) has an inlet port (103) with a direction flap and an outlet port (104). The sleeve (107) has the shape of a truncated cone.
In an embodiment, the device (100) for dosing an aqueous solution in an exhaust pipe (106) is mounted vertically at right angles on top of the exhaust pipe (106). In another embodiment of the invention, the device (100) for dosing an aqueous solution in an exhaust pipe (106) is mounted at various angles inclined with respect to the circular cross section of the exhaust pipe (106). In the embodiments of the invention described above, where the device (100) is mounted vertically and at right angles on top of the exhaust pipe (106), the need for a flange may be eliminated. In this embodiment, the housing (102) is welded to the exhaust pipe (106), and the sleeve (107) is placed inside the exhaust pipe (106). The inlet port (103) and the outlet port (104) of the sleeve (107) play an important role here by allowing exhaust gas to enter the sleeve (107) and avoiding the build up of back pressure in the exhaust pipe (106).
An injector (101) located inside the housing (102) injects a diesel exhaust treatment fluid into the exhaust pipe. The diesel exhaust fluid includes an aqueous urea-based solution. The urea-based solution is used to carry out a selective catalytic reaction in an exhaust pipe (106). When such a urea-based aqueous solution is injected into the exhaust pipe, the urea-based aqueous solution (aqueous urea) evaporates and decomposes to form ammonia and carbon dioxide. Further, ammonia reacts with nitrogen oxides (NOx) and reduces them to water and elemental nitrogen, both of which are harmless. These are then released through the exhaust pipe.
Exhaust gas arriving through the pipe enters the device through the flange (105). In conventional systems, the swirling motion of the gas inside the flange (105) causes crystallization of the urea injected by the injector (101). An important aspect of the invention is therefore the sleeve (107) of the injector (101). The sleeve (107) of the injector (101) prevents an undesirable amount of exhaust gas from entering the area near the injector (101). The sleeve (107) of the ejector (101) is further provided with an inlet port (103) and an outlet port (104). These inlet (103) and outlet (104) ports allow an optimal amount of exhaust gas to enter the flange (105) to avoid building up back pressure.
Further, the inlet (103) and outlet ports (104) of the sleeve (107) are provided with directional flaps. These directional flaps ensure that exhaust gas and water vapor are directed towards the exhaust pipe (106) and are not allowed to recirculate near the tip of the injector (101). Further, the cone angle of the sleeve (107) will be larger than the spray cone angle to avoid spray impingement on the wall of the sleeve (107). The sleeve (107) will force the flow downward, away from the tip of the urea injector (101), thereby reducing the likelihood of urea vapor moving toward the tip of the injector (101).
The concept of developing a device for dosing an aqueous solution in an exhaust pipe (106) of a vehicle improves the efficiency of the injector (101) and the selective catalytic system as a whole. In conventional systems, this affects the efficiency of NOx conversion as crystals begin to grow around the tip of the injector. To remove these crystals, a maintenance regeneration needs to be triggered in the system. In this case, the operating temperature of the injector tip was brought to > 450 degrees celsius to remove crystals. However, this process causes additional fuel to be burned and reduces fuel efficiency.
It must be understood that the embodiments explained in the above detailed description are illustrative only and do not limit the scope of the present invention. Any modification of the device for dosing an aqueous solution in an exhaust pipe (106) of a vehicle is envisaged and forms part of the present invention. Accordingly, many modifications and embodiments are contemplated as being within the scope of the invention. The scope of the invention is limited only by the claims.