Combustion Engine Exhaust Treatment Systems and Methods

Abstract

An exhaust treatment system comprises an excitation chamber that generates a plasma field to excite a stream of exhaust gas and a mixing chamber that allows a portion of the exhaust gas stream to be oxidized. The excitation chamber comprises an inner housing, an outer housing, and an exhaust inlet that directs a stream of exhaust gas to enter into the outer housing of the excitation chamber. The enclosure of the inner housing includes orifices that allow at least a portion of the exhaust gas to enter into the inner housing from the outer housing. The inner housing includes electrodes for generating the plasma field. The inner wall of the inner housing includes a surface topology that cooperates with the orifices of the enclosure to entrain the exhaust gas to travel in a coherent-structured turbulence flow form in the inner housing.

1 . An exhaust treatment system for an engine that combusts a fuel to produce power and an exhaust gas, the system comprising:
 an excitation chamber comprising an exhaust inlet, an outer housing and an inner housing disposed within the outer housing,   wherein the exhaust inlet is coupled with the outer housing and configured to direct the exhaust stream into the outer housing.   
     
     
         2 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 1 , further comprising a waveguide disposed within the inner housing. 
     
     
         3 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 2 , wherein the waveguide comprises an electrode configured to cooperate with an opposite electrode to produce a plasma field within a lumen of the inner housing. 
     
     
         4 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 2 , wherein the waveguide has coherent surface features that entrain at least a portion of the exhaust stream to travel in coherent vortices in the inner housing. 
     
     
         5 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 4 , wherein the surface features comprise a continuous groove around the circumference of the waveguide in a spiral pattern. 
     
     
         6 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 2 , wherein a portion of the waveguide has a cone shape in which a cross-section diameter of the portion of the waveguide progressively reduces in size in a downstream direction. 
     
     
         7 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 6 , wherein an enclosure of the outer housing has a shape that complements the contour of the portion of the waveguide. 
     
     
         8 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 7 , wherein the shape of the outer housing enclosure ensures that the distance between the outer housing enclosure and the waveguide remains substantially identical throughout the excitation chamber. 
     
     
         9 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 1 , wherein an enclosure that separates the inner housing from the outer housing has orifices that enable at least a portion of the exhaust stream to travel from the outer housing into the inner housing. 
     
     
         10 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 9 , wherein the orifices have a directional characteristic configured to entrain at least the portion of the exhaust stream to travel in coherent vortices in the inner housing. 
     
     
         11 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 10 , wherein an inner wall of the inner housing comprises coherent surface features that further entrain at least the portion of the exhaust stream to travel in coherent vortices in the inner housing. 
     
     
         12 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 11 , wherein the coherent surface features have sizes that are substantially large enough to be identified by naked eyes and comprise a pattern of features selected from the group consisting of bumps, dimples, cavities, ridges, grooves, and wedges. 
     
     
         13 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 1 , further comprising a fuel inlet coupled with the inner housing and configured to direct a stream of air and fuel mixture into the inner housing. 
     
     
         14 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 13 , further comprising a waveguide disposed within the inner housing, wherein the fuel inlet is configured to direct the stream of air and fuel mixture into the inner housing via an interior pathway within the waveguide. 
     
     
         15 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 14 , wherein the surface of the waveguide comprises orifices configured to direct the stream of air and fuel mixture out of the waveguide into a lumen of the inner housing. 
     
     
         16 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 15 , wherein the orifices have a directional characteristic configured to entrain the stream of air and fuel mixture to travel in coherent vortices in the inner housing. 
     
     
         17 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 1 , wherein the exhaust inlet has a spiral shape. 
     
     
         18 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 17 , wherein the exhaust inlet has a phi-based spiral shape. 
     
     
         19 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 1 , further comprising a mixing chamber disposed at a location downstream of the excitation chamber, wherein the mixing chamber provides an area that allows the exhaust stream to be oxidized. 
     
     
         20 . The exhaust treatment system of  claim 19 , further comprising a diesel particulate filter disposed at a location downstream of the mixing chamber.