A New Approach to Control the Regeneration Process In Wire Mesh Traps 902236

The proposed wire mesh particulate trap employs a radical design for controlling the regeneration process. A prototype for a 6.2 L diesel engine was designed, built and tested to demonstrate performance characteristics and to correlate with an analytical evaluation. Presented in this paper is the first round of test data achieved thus far. Regeneration is initiated by an electric heating element embedded in the wire mesh, and a single butterfly valve controls the division of flow between the wire mesh and bypass channels. The trap design relies on oxygen in the exhaust gases for regeneration and employs a closed-loop control logic to limit the maximum temperature during regeneration. Test results indicate an ability to achieve high collection efficiencies at low pressure drops and a controlled regeneration process. Work continues to explore the regeneration characteristics under variable engine operating conditions.