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A unique validation method is proposed for mount designs of Lean NOx Traps (LNT's), in which characteristic curves of failure points as functions of thermal cycles and vibration amplitudes are generated. LNT's are one of the several new types of emissions control devices applied to Diesel Exhaust Systems, and they reduce the amount of NOx through chemical adsorption. Desulfation must occur nearly every hour, which involves raising the inlet gas temperature of the LNT to around 700°C to “burn off” sulfur from the catalyst, which otherwise would decrease its catalytic activity. This temperature is held for several minutes, and its cyclic occurrence has a negative effect on the long-term performance of the support mat, a major component of its mount design. As substrate temperatures increase, shell temperatures do as well, and thermal growth differences between the ceramic substrate and metallic shell cause the gap between them, which is filled by the support mat, to increase.

The introduction of stringent EPA 2015 regulations for locomotive / marine engines and IMO 2016 Tier III marine engines initiates the need to develop large diesel engine aftertreatment systems to drastically reduce emissions such as SOx, PM, NOx, unburned HC and CO. In essence, the aftertreatment systems must satisfy a comprehensive set of performance criteria with respect to back pressure, emission reduction efficiency, mixing, urea deposits, packaging, durability, cost and others. For on-road and off-road vehicles, urea-based SCR has been the mainstream technology to reduce NOx emissions. For category II marine engines with single cylinder displacement volumes between 7 liters and 30 liters, IMO III (Tier IV) emission regulations dictate approximately 80% reduction of NOx emissions vs. Tier II emission regulations [1]. Urea / ammonia SCR is being considered as an enabling technology to achieve IMO III regulations without significant impacts on engine performance and fuel economy.

As Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) NOx abatement systems gain commercial acceptance and popularity, the need for efficiency predictive capabilities increases. To this end, a flow bench was developed capable of varying steady state inputs (temperature, flow rate and NOx concentration). The efficiencies of various SCR systems was measured and compared. This concept of a steady state flow bench approach allows for an efficient and cost effective means to evaluate comparable system designs.

Diesel Particulate Filter Systems offer excellent opportunities to reduce the emitted soot through their filtration potential, but periodic burning of the collected soot is necessary. This is referred to as Regeneration, which occurs every few hundred miles and requires gas temperatures to increase to nearly 600°C. As the soot burns, it creates an exothermic response, increasing DPF exit temperatures potentially to 800°C or higher. Such extremes create thermal management concerns as the hot gases exit the tailpipe, particularly during low speeds or idling conditions. Methods to manage such thermal concerns are presented in this study, evaluating passive and active options.

Non-round substrates are often applied in exhaust applications with limited packaging space, including commercial vehicles, and the shape of their metallic shells are often designed to be similar, but enlarged to accommodate the layer of support mat. This gap is often planned to be constant around its perimeter, but measured data indicates this rarely occurs. This study evaluates a particular oval converter mount design and applies a unique method to couple finite-element modeling with support mat response characteristics to predict non-round shell shapes, planning for uneven gap distributions. This method allows for increased awareness of acceptable mount designs, as well as improved manufacturing and durability performance, which becomes even more important within commercial vehicle design applications, subject to larger substrate sizes, increased backpressures, and extended mileage requirements.

In order to scientifically approach the design of mounting systems for substrates in emissions control systems, it is essential to characterize the behavior of the involved materials, particularly the support mat. Manufacturing processes and various in-field conditions impact the long term performance of the support mat, and life-long emissions performance is critically dependent on its ability to retain the substrate throughout the intended life. Therefore, to ensure product robustness, the behavior during operation of all available support mats must be appropriately characterized to determine the technical layout in specific applications. This paper addresses three common characterization tests, developed internally and externally. Additionally, equipment improvements to minimize artifacts in test results as well as the development of a new mat test for manufacturing methods are addressed.

In order to satisfy China IV emissions regulations, a unique design concept was proposed with injector closely coupled with Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system outer body. The benefit of this design is significant in cost reduction and installation convenience. One paper was published to describe the vertical inlet layout [1]; this work is the second part describing applications of this concept to horizontal inlet configurations. For horizontal inlet pipe, two mixing pipe designs were proposed to avoid urea deposit and meet EU IV emission regulations. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique was used to evaluate two design concepts; experiments were performed to validate both designs. CFD computations and experiments give the same direction on ranking of the two decomposition tubes. With the straight decomposition pipe design and unique perforated baffle design, no urea deposits were found; in addition, the emission level satisfied EU IV regulations.

Stringent global emissions legislations demand effective NOx reduction strategies for both the engine as well as the aftertreatment. Diesel applications have previously applied Lean NOx Catalysts (LNCs) [1, 2], but their reduction efficiency and longevity have been far less than that of the competing ammonia-based SCR systems, such as urea [3]. A catalyst has been developed to significantly reduce NOx emissions, approaching 60% with ULSD and exceeding 95% with E85. Both thermal and sulfur aging are applied, as well as on-engine aging, illustrating resilient performance to accommodate necessary life requirements. A robust system is developed to introduce both ULSD from the vehicle's tank as well as E85 (up to 85% ethanol with the balance being gasoline) from a moderately sized supplemental tank, enabling extended mileage service intervals to replenish the reductant, as compared with urea, particularly when coupled with an engine-out based NOx reduction technology, such as EGR.