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New developments on the Northeastern University's Rotating Self-Cleaning particulate trap are reported herein. A new and improved system has been constructed with emphasis placed on minimizing leaks around rotating parts. Five different, wall flow, ceramic monolith filter elements were tested, a Corning, two NGK, a Panasonic and a Corning/Ceramem trap. The filters were rotated to enable simultaneous capture of the particulate emissions and regeneration by removing the particulates using compressed air. Improvements on the casing, the ducts, and the sealing around the monolith provided for an air-tight casing, and for almost complete isolation between the exhaust and the cleaning air streams. Moreover, experiments were conducted to minimize the flowrate of the required cleaning air.

The development of new designs of a diesel particulate control system is discussed herein. The system employs a single high collection efficiency ceramic monolith to filter the particulate emissions of the engine. Regeneration is achieved by intermittent pulses of pressurized reverse-flow air. After every regeneration the soot is collected at the bottom of the device where it is burned in an incinerator chamber. Different configurations of the system were tested satisfactorily for performance and durability for 100 hrs, coupled to a small experimental engine which was sooting at high rates. Subsequently, a system incorporating a long ventless chamber fitted with an electric burner was mounted on a diesel passenger car and tested for on-road performance evaluation and further development.

The development of a soot incinerator with dual ceramic filters and an electric strip heater is discussed herein. The incinerator is designed to operate in series with a diesel particulate trap developed previously (1).1 The particulate trap consists of a primary ceramic monolith which serves as the filtering device. Once the primary monolith has collected enough soot from the exhaust flow to induce a substantial amount of back pressure to the engine, it is cleaned aerodynamically using short pulses of compressed air. The soot is then forced through a reed valve and into the incinerator chamber, where some of the particulates come in contact with an electric strip heater and burn. The regeneration air exits the incinerator through two secondary ceramic wall-flow rectangular filters, where any unburned particulates are retained. Filtered regeneration air is, thus, released to the atmosphere.