Catalytic converter with air tube

• US 4,256,700 A
• Filed: 04/16/1979
• Issued: 03/17/1981
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/1979
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: General Motors Corporation (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors Corporation (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Jalbing, John I., Roberts, David E., Smith, Jack E.
• Primary Examiner(s): GARRIS, BRADLEY R
• Application Number:
  US06/030,088
• Time in Patent Office: 701 Days
• Field of Search: 422/171, 422/172, 422/176, 422/177, 422/179, 422/180, 60/299, 60/307, 423/213.2, 423/213.7
• US Class Current: 422/177
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 13/0097 the purifying devices are arranged in a single housing
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 13/18 Construction facilitating manufacture, assembly, or disassembly
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 2270/04 for afterburning
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 2350/06 with means preventing gas flow by-pass or leakage
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 3/2857 the mats or gaskets being at least partially made of intumescent material, e.g. unexpanded vermiculite
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 3/34 using air conduits or jet air pumps, e.g. near the engine exhaust port
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/12 Improving ICE efficiencies

Abstract

In a catalytic converter, an air tube is permanently fixed and sealed at an open end thereof between two flanges on one side of a clamshell type housing enclosing reducing and oxidizing catalyst means. The tube extends between the catalyst means and has a closed end slidably mounted between flanges of the housing on the opposite side thereof internal of where these flanges are joined. The tube which has holes for delivering air into the passing exhaust gases prior to reaching the oxidizing catalyst is thus firmly supported by the housing while relative expansion with heat is permitted therebetween and without interrupting the sealed integrity of the housing flanges at the closed end of the tube.

Claims

1. In a catalytic converter for internal combustion engine exhaust gases and of the type having oxidizing catalyst means mounted in a housing wherein the housing is comprised of two sheet metal shell members having mating flanges which extend along opposite sides thereof and alongside the oxidizing catalyst means and are sealingly welded together and wherein air is injected into the housing for oxidation of the exhaust gases:

the improvement comprising in combination, an opening formed between the shell member flanges on one side of the housing, an air tube extending through said opening and across the interior of the housing, said air tube having a closed end within the housing, said air tube further having a plurality of holes for delivering air into the exhaust gases in the housing, an external weld between said air tube and the shell member flanges forming said opening whereby the air tube is permanently sealingly secured to the housing external thereof, and pocket means formed between the interior sides of the shell member flanges on the opposite side of the housing inward of where these shell member flanges are welded, said pocket means being sealed by the associated flange weld and open to the interior of the housing for slidably supporting said closed end of the air tube between the shell member flanges on said opposite side whereby the air tube and the housing are free to expand with heat relative to each other while the air tube remains firmly supported at the housing sides and whereby the sealed integrity of the housing is undisturbed by the closed end of the air tube.

2. In a catalytic converter for internal combustion engine exhaust gases and of the type having oxidizing catalyst means mounted in a housing wherein the housing is comprised of two sheet metal shell members having mating flanges which extend along opposite sides thereof and are sealingly welded together and wherein air is injected into the housing for oxidation of the exhaust gases:

the improvement comprising in combination, an opening formed between the shell member flanges on one side of the housing, an air tube extending through said opening and across the interior of the housing, said air tube having a closed end within the housing, said air tube further having a plurality of holes for delivering air into the exhaust gases in the housing, an external weld between said air tube and the shell member flanges forming said opening whereby the air tube is permanently sealingly secured to the housing external thereof, and a recess formed in only one of the interior sides of the shell member flanges on the opposite side of the housing inward of where these shell member flanges are welded, said recess being sealed by the associated flange weld and open to the interior of the housing for slidably receiving said closed end of the air tube between the shell member flanges on said opposite side whereby the air tube and the housing are free to expand with heat relative to each other while the air tube remains firmly supported at the housing sides and whereby the sealed integrity of the housing is undisturbed by the closed end of the air tube.

3. In a catalytic converter for internal combustion engine exhaust gases and of the type having oxidizing catalyst means mounted in a housing wherein the housing is comprised of two sheet metal shell members having mating flanges which extend along opposite sides thereof and are permanently sealingly welded together and wherein air is injected into the housing for oxidation of the exhaust gases:

the improvement comprising in combination, an opening formed between the shell member flanges on one side of the housing, an air tube extending through said opening and across the interior of the housing, said air tube having a closed flattened end within the housing, said air tube further having a plurality of holes for delivering air into the exhaust gases in the housing, an external weld between said air tube and the shell member flanges forming said opening whereby the air tube is permanently sealingly secured to the housing external thereof, and a flat bottom recess formed in only one of the interior sides of the shell member flanges on the opposite side of the housing inward of where these shell member flanges are welded, said recess being sealed by the associated flange weld and open to the interior of the housing for slidably receiving said closed flattened end of the air tube between the shell member flanges on said opposite side whereby the air tube and the housing are free to expand with heat relative to each other while the air tube remains firmly supported at the housing sides and whereby the sealed integrity of the housing is undisturbed by the closed flattened end of the air tube.

4. In a catalytic converter for internal combustion engine exhaust gases and of the type having oxidizing catalyst means mounted in a housing wherein the housing is comprised of two sheet metal shell members having mating flanges which are sealingly welded together and extend along opposite sides thereof but are offset to one side of the centerline of the housing and wherein air is injected into the housing for oxidation of the exhaust gases:

the improvement comprising in combination, an opening formed between the shell member flanges on one side of the housing and angled away from the flanges on the opposite side of the housing, an air tube having a first straight tube portion extending through said opening, said air tube having a second straight portion within the housing angled relative to said first straight portion so as to extend centrally across the interior of the housing, said air tube having a plurality of holes for delivering air into the exhaust gases in the housing, an external weld between said first straight portion and the shell member flanges forming said opening whereby the air tube is permanently sealingly secured to the housing external thereof, pocket means formed between the interior sides of the shell member flanges on said opposite side, said pocket means being located inward of where the shell member flanges on said opposite side are welded and thereby sealed and being open to the interior of the housing, and said second straight portion having a closed end offset from its centerline slidably received by said pocket means whereby the second straight portion is centrally supported in the housing while the air tube and the housing are free to expand with heat relative to each other and whereby the sealed integrity of the housing is undisturbed by the closed end of the air tube.