GB2035829A - Washing motor vehicle exhaust gases - Google Patents

Abstract

A device for reducing smog exhausted from the engine of a motor vehicle comprises a housing divided into four chambers (10, 20, 30, 40); an intake pipe (50) to convey exhaust gas to the second chamber, the pipe having an intermediate aperture (503) for blowing water from the first chamber (10) via a connecting pipe (71) to a nozzle (711) in the outlet of pipe (50) adjacent a constriction (504) so as to form mist-like droplets in the gas, a first eddy current being produced in the chamber (20); a pipe (51) to convey the mist to the third chamber (30) wherein water droplets and the gas are separated by a propeller (31); a pipe (52) whereby the gas and remaining fine water droplets are introduced into the fourth chamber (40) to form a second eddy current therein; and a pipe (53) for removal of the purified gas from the fourth chamber. In each of the second, third and fourth chambers, liquid and impurities separating from the gas flow are removed by pipes (81, 83, 85). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A smog-reduction device for motor vehicles The present invention relates to a smog-reduction device for motor vehicles which is capable of filtering smog exhausted from engine of the motor vehicle.

Today, smog from motor vehicles is a most serious air pollution problem. Some motor vehicles have already been installed with filters or mufflers but the filtering effect is sooner or later reduced since such devices are blocked by the impurities of the exhaust gas.

Also the filtering effect in the conventional devices cannot be fully attained whilst increasing the load of the engine in the motor vehicle when starting and accelerating. Blocked filtering devices lose not only their function in purifying the exhaust gas, they also add more load to the engine and may cause damage to the engine.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a smog-reduction device for motor vehicles which will be capable of functioning in a manner to minimize the amount of carbides and impurities in the exhaust gas.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a smog-reduction device for motor vehicles which can serve as a silencer that reduces the noise caused by the discharge of the exhaust gas.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a smog-reduction device for motor vehicles for highly effectively purifying exhaust gas by forming two eddy currents in two chambers respectively.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a smog-reduction device for motor vehicles comprising: in sequence chambers divided from one another by dividing walls, the chambers consisting of a first chamber adapted to contain a predetermined amount of water, a second chamber, a third chamber and a fourth chamber; an intake pipe connected at one end to the second chamber and whose other end is adapted to be connected to the engine of the motor vehicle, the intake pipe being provided with an opening, adapted to be above the level of the level of the predetermined amount of water to be contained in the first chamber, and a contracted neck portion which is disposed in the second chamber; a first connecting pipe connecting the first chamber to the exit end of the intake pipe, the end of the first connecting pipe at the exit end of the intake pipe comprising a nozzle, whereby when in use gas exhausted from the engine of the motor vehicle will be introduced into the smog-reduction device by the intake pipe, and an amount of exhaust gas having a relatively high pressure will be discharged from the said opening of the intake pipe, and an amount of exhaust gas having a relatively high pressure will be discharged from the said opening of the intake pipe to subject water contained in the first chamber to pressure to cause the water to pass into one end of the first connecting pipe and be cnveyed thereby to the exit end of the first connecting pipe, the remainder of the exhaust gas passing through the contracted neck portion of the intake pipe and the flow of the exhaust gas therethrough being accelerated thereby, and water sprayed from the nozzle of the first connecting pipe will be dispersed by the exhaust gas flowing through the contracted neck portion of the pipe to form a plurality of mist-like water droplets and so cause a formation of a first eddy current of moisture droplets in the second chamber since the movements of the water droplets will be obstructed by the wall of the second chamber, carbides and impurities thereby will become dissolved or dispersed in the water droplets; a second connecting pipe connecting the second chamber to the third chamber for conveying fire water droplets containing impurities from the second chamber to the third chamber a third connecting pipe connecting the third chamber with the fourth chamber; a propeller provided in the third chamber and disposed between the outlet of the second connecting pipe and the inlet of the third connecting pipe whereby fire water droplets conveyed by the second connecting pipe and discharged therefrom will be caused to have a sufficient pressure and velocity to propel the propeller and will thereby be splashed about and separated from exhaust gas, the smog-reduction device being adapted to operate so that the pressure in the third chamber is lower than that existing in the second chamber, and gas having relatively low humidity will be discharged from the third connecting pipe into the fourth chamber and will be obstructed by the walls of the fourth chamber thereby forming a second eddy current in the fourth chamber and causing the exhaust gas to be further purified therein, and a fourth connecting pipe connecting the fourth chamber to atmosphere to enable the purified gas therein to be discharged from the fourth chamber.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a motor vehicle fitted with the smog-reduction device of the invention.

Preferably the smog-reduction device includes a reservoir and a conduit connecting the reservoir to the first chamber to enable water adapted to be contained in the reservoir to be fed to the first chamber.

By way of example, a preferred form of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a smogreduction device for motor vehicles embodying the present invention, Figure 2 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view to an enlarged scale of part of the smogreduction device of Fig. 1, and Figure 3 is a diagrammatic sectional view to an enlarged scale of the reservoir of Fig. 1.

With reference to the drawings, there is shown a smog-reduction device 1 comprising a reservoir 90 and four chambers as well as some relevant elements, these chambers being arranged in sequence and indicated respectively by a first chamber 10, a second chamber 20, a third chamber 30 and a fourth chamber 40. There is provided an intake pipe 50 having two ends 501, 502, each of the ends being connected when in use respectively to a motor vehicle engine and the second chamber 20. The motor vehicle engine is not shown. Entering into the intake pipe 50, a gas G exhausted from the engine is divided into two flows.First, an amount of exhaust gas G, with rather high pressure is discharged through an opening 503 of the intake pipe 50 in the first chamber 10 to subject water 60 contained in the first chamber 10 to pressure, the water which is subjected to the gas pressure being filtered by a filter means 61 and introduced by a first connecting pipe 71 into the end 502 which is the exit end of the intake pipe 50. The exit end 502 extends into the second chamber 20. Second, the remainder of the gas, denoted by G2, of the exhaust gas G is passed through a contracted neck portion 504 of the intake pipe 50 for accelerating the blowing of water droplets dispersed from a nozzle 711 of the first connecting pipe 71 to form a plurality of mist-like water droplets.As a consequence of the presence of inner walls 201, 201 of the second chamber 20, the water droplets will be obstructed and formed into a first eddy current in this chamber 20. The opening 503 of the intake pipe 50 has two functions. First, to accelerate the gas G2 to the exit end 502 of the intake pipe 50 so that the water droplets dispersed from the nozzle 711 will be blown uniformly. Second, to increase the pressure of the amount of exhaust gas G1 passing through the opening 503 to force the water 60 into the first connecting pipe 71.

The gas G2 discharged from the exit end 502 of the intake pipe 50 and the water droplets dispersed from the nozzle 711 will be mixed together. Owing to this first eddy current action occurring in the second chamber 20, a large amount of carbonic components and other impurities in the exhaust gas are dissolved or dispersed in the water. Some water droplets having impurities will adhere temporarily to the inner walls 201, 201 of the second chamber 20 and then fall down to the bottom of the chamber by gravity, and may be drained out therefrom via a first drain pipe 81.

A second connecting pipe 51 conveys fine water droplets in the first eddy current from an inlet 511 in the second chamber 20 to an outlet 51 2 in the third chamber 30. The flow of fine droplets discharged from the outlet 51 2 have a sufficient pressure and velocity to propel a propeller 31 provided between the outlet 512 of the second connecting pipe 51 and an inlet 521 of a third connecting pipe 52. The operation of the propeller 31 and the provision of a lower pressure in the third chamber 30 as compared with that in the second chamber 20, will enable the fine water droplets having impurities which are heavier than gas, to be splashed about and separated from the exhaust gas, the splashed about water droplets will attach themselves to a screen 32 provided at the bottom of the third chamber 30.The so attached water droplets will drop through a plurality of perforations 321 of the screen 32 by gravity and be drained out of the third chamber 30 via a second drain pipe 83. The first and second drain pipes 81, 83 are jointed together into a common drain pipe 80 which is connected to the reservoir 90 as shown in Fig. 3. Two check valves 82, 84 are connected in series to to the respective drain pipes 81, 83 for per- mitting the flow of water in the drain pipes 81, 83 in one direction only.

The gas which will now have relatively low humidity is discharged from the third chamber 30 by a third connecting pipe 52. The gas passes through an inlet 521 of the pipe 52 and is discharged from an outlet 522 into the fourth chamber 40. In the same way as described hereinbefore with reference to the second chamber 20, a second eddy current will be formed in the fourth chamber 40. Very fine droplets with relatively low humidity will temporarily adhere to inner walls 401, 401 of the fourth chamber 40 and then fall down to the bottom of the fourth chamber 40, and will be drained out therefrom by a third drain pipe 85. From the foregoing description, it has been found that the gas admitted into the fourth chamber 40 is purified to a sufficient degree.Therefore only such purified gas is released via a fourth connecting pipe 53 from the fourth chamber 40 by passing through an inlet 531 and discharging from an outlet 532 of the pipe 53 into the atmosphere.

In the first chamber 10, there is a means for controlling automatically the level of the water 60, the control means including a float element 11, a valve 12 and a lever 13. The lever 1 3 has its two ends connected to the element 11 and valve 1 2 respectively. When the water level in the first chamber 10 falls below a predetermined level, the lever 1 3 will open automatically the valve 1 2 by the dis placement of the float element 11 to permit the water in the reservoir 90 to flow through a pipe 91 into the first chamber 10. The valve 1 2 will be closed as soon as the water in the first chamber 10 has reached an upper pre determined level.Through the pipe 80, the contaminated water together with some impu rities drained by the second and third cham bers 20 and 30 respectively are led into the reservoir 90. Two filtering elements 901 and 902 are mounted in the reservoir 90 for filtering liquid introduced by the pipe 80 or replenished fresh water supplied through a funnel 903 (as described hereinafter).

Gas present in the reservoir 90 will escape through a plurality of openings (not shown) provided in a cover 905 (as shown in Fig. 1) of the funnel 903. A cover 904 at the top of the reservoir 90 may be opened for the pur pose of cleaning or replacing the contami nated filtering elements 901 and 902.

With the aforesaid smog-reduction device described and illustrated, a silencing effect is involved which reduces the noise of the discharge of the exhaust gas.

The significance of the two eddy currents of water droplets occurring respectively in the second and fourth chambers can be appreci ated, whereby the exhaust gas can be greatly purified by the actions of these eddy currents and the volume of the exhaust will not be increased during starting and acceleration of the engine of the motor vehicle.

Claims (8)

1. A smog-reduction device for motor vehicles comprising: in sequence chambers divided from one another by dividing walls, the chambers consisting of a first chamber adapted to contain a predetermined amount of water, a second chamber, a third chamber and a fourth chamber; an intake pipe connected at one end to the second chamber and whose other end is adapted to be connected to the engine of the motor vehicle, the intake pipe being provided with an opening, adapted to be above the level of the level of the predetermined amount of water to be contained in the first chamber, and a contracted neck portion which is disposed in the second chamber; a first connecting pipe connecting the first chamber to the exit end of the intake pipe, the end of the first connecting pipe at the exit end of the intake pipe comprising a nozzle, whereby when in use gas exhausted from the engine of the motor vehicle will be introduced into the smog-reduction device by the intake pipe, and an amount of exhaust gas having a relatively high pressure will be discharged from the said opening of the intake pipe to subject water contained in the first chamber to pressure to cause the water to pass into one end of the first connecting pipe and be conveyed thereby to the exit end of the first connecting pipe, the remainder of the exhaust gas passing through the contracted neck portion of the intake pipe and the flow of the exhaust gas therethrough being accelerated thereby, and water sprayed from the nozzle of the first connecting pipe will be dispersed by the exhaust gas flowing through the contracted neck portion of the pipe to form a plurality of mist-like water droplets and so cause the formation of a first eddy current of moisture droplets in the second chamber since the movements of the water droplets will be obstructed by the wall of the second chamber, carbides and impurities thereby will become dissolved or dispersed in the water droplets; a second connecting pipe connecting the second chamber to the third chamber for conveying fire water droplets containing impu rities from the second chamber to the third chamber; a third connecting pipe connecting the third chamber with the fourth chamber; a propeller provided in the third chamber and disposed between the outlet of the second connecting pipe and the inlet of the third connecting pipe whereby fire water droplets conveyed by the second connecting pipe and discharged therefrom will be caused to have a sufficient pressure and velocity to propel the propeller and will thereby be splashed about and separated from exhaust gas, the smogreduction device being adapted to operate so that the pressure in the third chamber is lower than that existing in the second chamber, and gas having relatively low humidity will be discharged from the third connecting pipe into the fourth chamber and will be obstructed by the walls of the fourth chamber thereby forming a second eddy current in the fourth chamber and causing the exhaust gas to be further purified therein, and a fourth connecting pipe connecting the fourth chamber to atmosphere to enable the purified gas therein to be discharged from the fourth chamber.

2. A smog-reduction device according to Claim 1, which includes a reservoir and a conduit connecting the reservoir to the first chamber to enable water adapted to be contained in the reservoir to be fed to the first chamber.

3. A smog-reduction device according to Claim 2, wherein a control means is provided in the first chamber to control autmatically the level of water contained in the first chamber, the control means being actuable to open the said conduit from the reservoir when the water level falls below a predetermined level and actuable to close the said conduit when the water level reaches another predetermined level above the first said predetermined level.

4. A smog-reduction device according to any preceding claim, wherein a screen having a plurality of openings is provided at the bottom of the third chamber whereby when in use water droplets splashed about in the third chamber may attach themselves to the screen and thereupon descend through the openings in the screen onto the bottom of the third chamber.

CLAIMS (25 June 1980)

5. A smog-reduction device according to any preceding claim, wherein first and second drain pipes are provided in the device, each of the drain pipes having two ends, one end of the first drain pipe being connected to the bottom of the second chamber, one end of the second drain pipe being connected to the third chamber, and the other ends of the first and second drain pipes being joined together and extended into the reservoir, a check valve being provided in each of the two drain pipes to permit the water drained from the said drain pipes to drain and pass to the reservoir in one direction.

6. A smog-reduction device according to Claim 2 or any claim appendant thereto, wherein the reservoir has a funnel for replenishing the reservoir with fresh water, and two filtering elements placed in the reservoir for filtering water admitted to the reservoir through the funnel, and a removable cover provided on the reservoir for cleaning or replacing filtering elements which have become contaminated.

7. A smog-reduction device for motor vehicles substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings.

8. A motor vehicle fitted with the smogreduction device claimed in any preceding claim.