Exhaust system for an internal combustion engine

• US 8,001,770 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2007
• Issued: 08/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Eberspacher Exhaust Technology GmbH & Co. KG (Eberspächer Gruppe GmbH & Co. KG)
• Original Assignee: J. Eberspaecher Gmbh & Co. KG
• Inventors: Neumann, Felix, Wirth, Georg
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Tu M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRAN, DIEM T
• Application Number:
  US12/004,087
• Publication Number:
  US 20080148721A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,343 Days
• Field of Search: 602/86, 602/95, 603/01, 603/03, 222148-151
• US Class Current: 60/286
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 2610/02 the substance being ammonia or urea
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 3/005 for draining or otherwise eliminating condensates or moisture accumulating in the apparatus F01N3/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 3/2066 Selective catalytic reduction [SCR]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 50/20 Air quality improvement or preservation, e.g. vehicle emission control or emission reduction by using catalytic converters
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/12 Improving ICE efficiencies

Abstract

The invention relates to an exhaust system for an internal combustion engine, in particular in a motor vehicle, comprising an exhaust line that carries the exhaust gas, an SCR catalyst system arranged in the exhaust line and an injection device arranged on the exhaust line upstream from the SCR catalyst system for injecting an aqueous urea solution into the exhaust line.

Claims

1. An exhaust system for an internal combustion engine, in a motor vehicle, comprising:

an exhaust line that carries exhaust gas,

a housing;

a catalyst system contained in the housing;

an injection device, which is arranged upstream from the catalyst system on the exhaust line for spraying a liquid into the exhaust line, and

a sump defined in the housing between the injection device and the catalyst system in the exhaust line, the sump having a collecting volume to receive condensation fluid,

wherein, the collecting volume of the sump is the sole collecting volume in the housing, independent of the operating state of the internal combustion engine.

2. The exhaust system according to claim 1, wherein the sump is formed by a trough or a bulge defined in a wall of the housing in the exhaust system bordering the flow path.

3. The exhaust system according to claim 1, wherein the sump in the installed state of the exhaust system is adjacent to the flow path of the exhaust line at the bottom.

4. The exhaust system according to claim 1, wherein the sump is defined at the deepest point in the exhaust system in the installed state of the exhaust system.

5. The exhaust system according to claim 1, wherein the sump is defined at the lowest point in a section of the exhaust line situated between the injection device and the catalyst system in the installed state of the exhaust system.

6. The exhaust system according to claim 1, wherein the sump is arranged in the exhaust line so that its collecting volume is exposed to at least a portion of the exhaust flow.

7. The exhaust system according to claim 1, wherein the flow path is carried in the exhaust line in such a way that a flow deflection develops in the area of the sump for at least a portion of the exhaust flow.

8. The exhaust system according to claim 1, wherein the exhaust line has thermal insulation at least in the area of the sump.

9. The exhaust system according to claim 1, wherein the exhaust line has thicker thermal insulation in the area of the sump than in adjacent areas.

10. The exhaust system according to claim 1, wherein the sump is arranged in a location on the underbody of the vehicle that is protected from at least one of splashed water and wind in the installed state of the exhaust system.

11. The exhaust system according to claim 1, wherein the catalyst system is a SCR catalyst system arranged in the exhaust line.

12. The exhaust system according to claim 1, wherein the sump is defined in the housing that contains the catalyst system in an intake funnel of the housing.

13. The exhaust system according to claim 1, wherein the sump is equipped with a baffle which at least prevents the condensation fluid from flowing out of the collecting volume in the direction of the catalyst system when there is movement in the condensation fluid.

14. The exhaust system according to claim 13, wherein the baffle is formed by a sump edge.

15. The exhaust system according to claim 14, wherein the sump edge is aligned across the flow path at least in an area of the sump facing the catalyst system.

16. The exhaust system according to claim 14, wherein the sump edge is aligned vertically at least in an area of the sump facing the catalyst system.

17. The exhaust system according to claim 14, wherein the sump edge protrudes into the flow path at least in an area of the sump facing the catalyst system.

18. The exhaust system according to claim 14, wherein the sump edge covers the collecting volume at the edge in parallel with the flow path at least in an area of the sump facing the catalyst system.

19. An exhaust system for an internal combustion engine, in a motor vehicle, comprising:

an exhaust line that carries exhaust gas,

a housing;

a catalyst system contained in the housing;

a bearing mat positioned between an inner wall of the housing and the catalyst system for axially fixing the catalyst system within the housing;

an injection device arranged on the exhaust line and upstream from the catalyst system for spraying a liquid into the exhaust line; and

a sump defined in the housing between the injection device and the catalyst system in the exhaust line, the sump having a collecting volume to receive condensation fluid,

wherein, the surface of the housing in contact with the bearing mat is so adapted that condensation fluid formed on any location of the surface of the housing flows to said sump due to gravity.