Inlet Cone Effect on Diesel Particulate Filter Regeneration upon a Rapid Shift to Idle

Abstract

The particulate matter (PM) emitted by a diesel engine is collected and then burned in a diesel particulate filter (DPF). A major technological challenge in the operation of the ceramic, often cordierite, filter is that a rapid shift to idle may create a local hot region with a temperature much higher than under stationary feed conditions. This excessive transient temperature rise may cause local melting or cracking of the ceramic filter. Almost all previous studies of temperature excursions during the DPF regeneration (combustion of the deposited PM) were of cases in which equal exhaust flow rate was fed to all the parallel inlet channels. The diesel engine exhaust pipe is sometimes connected to the DPF by a wide-angled cone (diffuser). This leads to a mal-distribution of the flow rate to the inlet channels and of the deposited PM. Simulations revealed that following a rapid shift to idle the highest regeneration temperature in a DPF fed by a cone exceeded that in one not fed by a cone and it may exceed the cordierite DPF melting temperature (1200 °C). Moreover, it may generate transient radial and axial temperature gradients several times higher than under stationary regeneration that may crack the cordierite DPF. The increase in the temperature gradient is especially large in the axial direction. One of the surprising findings is that the highest temperature attained following a step change to idle is not a monotonic function of the initial PM loading.