The purification of internal combustion engine exhaust emissions.

0001The present invention related to the purification of the exhaust emissions from internal combustion engine exhausts.

0002Increasingly, international concerns about the environment are causing Governments to introduce legislation to control and, where possible, reduce the emission of pollutants arising from the combustion processes in internal combustion engines. Pollutants of concern include nitrogen oxides, unburnt hydrocarbons and carbon particles.

0003The use of catalysts to reduce significantly the emission of undesirable components of exhaust gases is well known and they are in widespread use.

0004However, in general, the catalysts used at present are effective only at temperatures greater than about 350°C. The combustion processes in an internal combustion engine also are least efficient before the engine has reached its normal operating temperature. Thus, at the time when the emission of pollutants is at its highest, the efficiency of the catalysts are at their lowest.

0005It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of and apparatus for improving the efficiency of catalytic systems for purifying internal combustion engine exhaust emissions in the early part of the operating cycle of such engines.

0006According to the invention there is provided a method of purifying the exhaust emissions from internal combustion engines, including the operation of passing the exhaust emissions through a convertor including a medium adapted to catalyse the conversion of pollutants included in the exhaust emissions into less noxious substances, wherein there is included the operation of subjecting the exhaust emissions to a low-temperature electrical discharge prior to passing the exhaust emissions through the convertor at least during an initial phase of the operation of an internal combustion engine with which the converter is associated.

0007Also according to the invention there is provided a catalyst activity enhancer for use with an exhaust system for an internal combustion engine incorporating a converter including a medium adapted to catalyse the conversion of pollutants included in the exhaust emissions from the internal combustion engine into less noxious substances, comprising means whereby an electrical discharge can be established in the said exhaust emissions prior to their entry into the converter.

0008The means whereby an electrical discharge can be established in the exhaust emissions may comprise a system of electrodes or, a microwave injector, or an antenna. A suitable form of electrical discharge is a low temperature plasma.

0009The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a schematic representation of an embodiment of the invention. <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none"><li>Figure 2 is a schematic representation of a second embodiment of the invention, and</li><li>Figure 3 is a schematic representation of another embodiment of the invention.</li></ul>

0010Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, there is shown a portion of an internal combustion engine exhaust system 1 including a section 2 which is a conventional catalytic converter including a catalytic material 3. Upstream of the catalytic converter 2 is a pair of electrodes 4 which are isolated from the exhaust system 1 by means of ceramic feed-throughs 5. The electrodes 4 are connected to a high voltage power supply 6 the output voltage from which is sufficient to create a plasma 7 in exhaust gases 8 flowing through the exhaust system 1.

0011As already mentioned, normally the catalyst 3 is at its least efficient at the very stage in the operating cycle of the internal combustion engine (not shown in the drawing) when the level of pollutants in the exhaust gases 8 is at its highest. The ionised species, electrons and free radicals in the exhaust gases 8 created by the plasma are very reactive and this compensates for the low level of activity of the catalyst 3.

0012Figure 2 shows a second embodiment in which the electrodes 4 are replaced by an antenna 21 to which power is supplied via a waveguide 22. The remainder of the system is unchanged and therefore the same reference numerals are used as for the embodiment of Figure 1.

0013In a more sophisticated system, which is illustrated in Figure 3, parameters of the exhaust gases 8, such as flow rate, temperature and pressure are monitored by sensors 31, 32 and 33, respectively and the operation of the power supply is varied ny means of a controller 34 to ensure that the plasma 7 is maintained until the catalyst 3 is at an efficient working temperature. Again, those components of the system which are the same as for the Figure 1 embodiment bear the same reference numerals.