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Periodic regeneration of the diesel particulate trap is essential to maintain the collection efficiency and exhaust gas hack pressure at acceptable levels. The objectives of this study are to describe the phenomenology of ceramic foam filter regeneration process and to present its mathematical model. Further simulation study is carried out to estimate the effects of various factors including fuel additive on the ignition and the filter bed temperature and to investigate conditions of excessive temperature which could result in filter destruction. The model is based on the assumption that the regeneration process is composed of two steps. The first step is the additional heat supply from the external energy source, and the second step is the spontaneous combustion propagation. The results from the analytical model agreed very well with the experimental results.

A regeneration of a wall-flow monolith filter with a heater unit was examined. In the preliminary test the regeneration showed unsatisfactory results, back pressure level increased and filter melting occured. Reversing the gas flow through the filter during the regeneration process and initiating particulate combustion from the outlet side of the filter was found to be a solution for the filter melting problem in particular. This “reverse regeneration” system, which we call RRG, compared with a conventional regeneration (CRG) was examined with a model reactor and applied on an actual vehicle on a chassis dynamometer. Tests confirmed that filter melting was prevented, however cracking of the filter could not be prevented with an RRG.

Regeneration capability of a wall-flow monolith type diesel paticulates filter with an electric heater was studied. To prevent filter crack generation and unburned particulates accumulation, a precision controller was added to the test equipment to reduce thermal load. In order to control the supply of oxygen to potentially prevent cracking, a second air feeder was also added. Furthermore, to ignite the accumulated particulates uniformly and propagate extensively to burn accumulated particulates completely a newly improved heater unit was employed. Repeated regeneration tests were conducted with cars on a chassis dynamometer. Though crack generation and unburned particulates accumulation were reduced considerably, satisfactory prevention could not be achieved. Therefore a parameter study using regenerative burning and thermal stress analysis model was carried out.

To reduce diesel odor its first essential that a simple but accurate method of measuring odor level be available. Various approaches were considered but found to give poor correlation to the odor intensity as assessed by professional perfumers. However a method utilizing a cold trap and measurement of the odor components' pH correlated very closely to the human olfactory sense. This method proved capable of accurately measuring even small changes in odor level and was applied to a study of the effects on odor Levels of changes in engine specifications and operating conditions. The results indicated that squish area geometry greatly affects diesel odor.