US3541768A

US3541768A - Apparatus for arresting exhaust gas sparks

Info

Publication number: US3541768A
Application number: US750339A
Authority: US
Inventors: Paul A Labadie
Original assignee: Farr Co
Current assignee: Farr Co
Priority date: 1968-08-05
Filing date: 1968-08-05
Publication date: 1970-11-24
Anticipated expiration: 1987-11-24

Description

Nov. 24, 1970 ,P. A. LABADIE 3,541,768

APPARATUS FOR ARRESTING EXHAUST GAS SPARKS Filed Aug. 5, 1968 M INVENTOR R406 A. AABAD/E ATTOE/VEKE United States Patent 01 Ffice 3,541,768 Patented Nov. 24, 1970 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A spark arrester removes carbon particles from the exhaust of a diesel locomotive engine prior to emission to the atmosphere. Exhaust including the particles in introduced into a chamber defined by a cylindrical body from the exhaust ports of the engine and then rotated in one direction about the chamber to segregate the particles by centrifugal force in the outer portion of the chamber where they are retained by a collection container. The particle free exhaust in the central portion of the chamber is then discharged through a centrally located duct into the atmosphere.

This invention relates to a spark arrester and is particularly directed to improvements in a spark arrester for a diesel locomotive engine utilizing fuel which tends to produce carbonaceous deposits that are included in the engine exhaust in a burning condition.

Diesel locomotives, in many areas, are required to travel in close proximity to grass, brush, timber and other combustible materials. Unfortunately, diesel locomotives emit exhaust gases into the atmosphere which contain the carbon particles or sparks. In the past, these sparks have been the cause of several fires. To avoid these exhaust spark fires, certain states have recently enacted legislation establishing certain minimum requirements which must be met before a locomotive will be allowed to operate in areas having a high fire danger. Spark arresters have been used previously on locomotive combustion engines, but these spark arresters do not meet the minimum requirements that have now been set forth.

In the past, various expedients, such as metal screens and concentric bafiles were used to reduce the fire hazard. However, an increase in the efficiency of a spark arrester meant a decrease in the overall efiiciency and performance of the engine, since it usually required a restriction of the exhaust gas flow. Furthermore, these baflles were expensive to maintain and install. Therefore, it was necessary to design a spark arresting apparatus which was easily adapted to the existing design of the locomotive engine, required little or no maintenance and would efiectively prevent spark emission without reducing the power output of the engine.

Various spark arresters embodying an apparatus which directed the gas flow circumferentially about a cylindrical chamber to separate the carbon particles by centrifugal force and to discharge only the gases from the center of the chamber have been used before with a moderate degree of success. However, in high fire danger areas they are unacceptable. It has been found that as the carbon particles flowed along the wall of the chamber they tended to bounce off each other and the chamber wall with the result that many particles rebounded radially inward into the primary gas stream being discharged.

Also, at low flow rates the particles were not effectively separated from the primary gas stream. Furthermore, some of the exahust gas introduced into the chamber near the chamber outlet would pass directly to the outlet without flowing circumferenially within the chamber.

To avoid these deficiencies my invention includes a collection container located in an area having a high concentration of separated particles, so as to separate and retain these particles before they have a chance to re-enter the primary gas stream; the exhaust ports from the engine have been restricted in such a manner as to increase the gas velocity and centrifugal forces acting on the carbon particles at all engine velocities; and a T-shaped outlet duct has been symmetrically positioned within the cylindrical chamber, all to insure the discharge of only particle free exhaust gas.

It is a primary object of this invention to provide a spark arrester which has a high arresting efiiciency, but will not materially reduce the overall operating efficiency of the locomotive diesel engine.

A further object of this invention is to provide a spark arrester which can be easily adapted to the present exhaust systems of diesel engines.

Another object of this invention is to provide a spark arrester which will maintain an acceptable arresting efficiency for a long period of time.

A further object of this invention is to provide a spark arrester which can be easily cleaned without removal of clamping or mounting devices from the stack, pipe or manifold assembly.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a novel method for effectively and efiiciently arresting and preventing the discharge of carbon particles entrained in the exhaust gases of a locomotive engine.

These and other objects will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and following description.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a sectional side view showing the spark arrester in connection with a typical locomotive diesel exhaust system.

FIG. 2 is a sectional end view taken substantially on the line 22 shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the spark collecting device taken substantially on the line 3-3 shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the spark arrester system, generally designated 10, includes a main cylindrical body 11 which defines a chamber 11a and is supported by four pairs of diverging exhaust tubes. The inlet end of each tube is provided with a flange 13a for connecting the tube to its respective exhaust port on the top of the multicylin der diesel engine (not shown). The typical engine has four pairs of spaced and longitudinal aligned exhaust ports. As shown in FIG. 2 the left or first tubes, designated 12, are tangent to the inner surface of the main body 11. The right or second tubes are designated 13. All tubes designated 12 are identical and all tubes designated 13 are identical, and therefore, for simplicity the following description will be confined to one tube 12 and one tube 13. These

exhaust tubes

12 and 13 conduct the exhaust gas from the ports to the main cylindrical body 11. The main cylindrical body is provided with

inlet openings

14 and 15 to receive the exhaust gas from the

exhaust tubes

12 and 13, respectively.

In order to orient the flow of exhaust gas from the diverging

exhaust tubes

12 and 13 in one circular direction within chamber 11a, turning vanes 16 are positioned within the inlet opening 15 for tube 13 to direct the flow of exhaust gas from tube 13 tangent to the inner surface of the main body 11 similar to the flow of exhaust gas from tube 12. Thus, the exhaust gas flows in one direction around the inner wall 17 of the main cylindrical body 11. This inner wall 17 has been extended at 18 into the opening 14 to partially restrict the inlet opening 14 from tube 12 to increase the exhaust gas velocity. As the exhaust gas flows around the inside of the main cylindrical body, centrifugal forces act on the carbon particles to force the carbon particles to separate from the primary gas stream and to become concentrated and flow along the inner wall 17.

A deflector plate 23a located on the inner wall 17 before opening 15 directs the exhaust gas flowing around the inner Wall 17 away from the inlet opening 15 to minimize interference with the exhaust gas entering the chaniber 11a from tube 13.

The spark arrester system also includes a central outlet duct or member 19. The central outlet duct or member is symmetrically mounted within the main cylindrical body 11 and is also cylindrical in shape, having

open ends

20 and 21. The

open ends

20 and 21 face axially and are spaced axially apart from the

inlet openings

14 and 15. Therefore, in the situation Where the spark arrester system 10 is adapted to the typical multicylinder diesel engine and the main cylindrical body in cludes four pairs of spaced and longitudinal aligned inlet openings, the ends 20 and '21 of the duct 19 are axially between the middle two pair and the outer two pair. This arrangement produces smooth flow from all four pairs of inlet openings towards

open ends

20 and 21 Without passing over other inlet openings. The duct 19 also insures that the exhaust gases which enter the chamber 11a tangentially from the inlet openings 14 and will flow around the inner wall 17 before entering the open ends and 21. The central outlet member 19 also includes an exhaust stack 22 which passes through an exhaust opening 23 in the main cylindrical body 11.

The main cylindrical body 11 is also provided with longitudinally extending

slot openings

24 and 25. These openings 24 and are located adjacent to the

open ends

20 and 21, respectively, of the central outlet member 19. This location has been found to have the highest concentration of segregated particles. Each opening 24 and 25 communicates with externally located carbon collection containers 26 which are mounted on the outer wall 29 of the main cylindrical body 11. Each carbon collection container 26 is provided with an opening '27 at its lower end for periodic removal of particles from container 26. A removable plug 28 serves to close the opening 27 during normal operation of the diesel engine.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows:

Exhaust gas flows at high velocities from the cylinders of the diesel engine through the

gas exhaust tubes

12 and 13 through the

inlet openings

14 and 15 into the main cylindrical body 11. The exhaust gas velocity is increased by partially restricting the inlet opening 14 and the gas flow is oriented in one direction by the direction vanes 16 mounted within the opening 15. The flow of the exhaust gas around the inside of the cylindrical body 11 causes the carbon particles to be centrifuged to the inside surface 17 of the main body 11, and thus separated from the primary gas stream. It has been discovered that the particles once separated become concentrated in revolving bands near the

openings

20 and 21 of the central outlet member 19 and normally would rebound from the Wall and other particles into the

openings

20 and 21. However, with this device the particles flow along the inner wall 17 and pass through the

openings

24 and 25 into the respective carbon collection containers 26. The exhaust gas minus the segregated and trapped carbon particles then flows from the central portion of the chamber 11a into the

openings

20 and 21 of the central outlet member 19 and out the exhaust stack 22 into the atmosphere. The accumulated carbon particles are removed from the collection containers 26 by removing the plug 28 from the opening 27.

This device eliminates sparks from exhaust gases at a high efiiciency without reducing the overall efiiciency and performance of the diesel engine. The device is easily adapted to existing structures of a standard diesel engine exhaust system and requires little or no maintenance.

The carbon collection containers have a relatively high 4 capacity and, therefore, the arresting etficiency remains high for a long period of operation. Furthermore, the collected particles can be easily and quickly removed.

Having fully described my invention, it is to be understood that I am not to be limited to the details herein set forth, but that my invention is of the full scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A spark arrester for a diesel engine having a plurality of pairs of spaced exhaust ports, comprising: a main cylindrical body closed at the ends defining a chamber; said main body having a clean exhaust gas outlet opening and a plurality of pairs of inlet openings longitudinally spaced along said main body; said outlet opening located in the cylindrical wall of said main body; pairs of first and second tubes connected to said inlet openings and adapted to be connected to each pair of exhaust ports to communicate exhaust gas containing carbon particles from the engine to said chamber through said inlet openings; said first and second tubes extending in converging relationship to each other outwardly from the inlets and thereby adapted to extend in diverging relationship from each pair of exhaust ports before connecting to said main body of said inlet openings; each said first tube being tangent to the inner surface of said main body; turning vanes located in each said second tube to cause the exhaust gas entering said chamber from said second tubes to flow in the same circular direction as the fio w from the first tubes and around the inner surface of said main cylindrical body to segregate by centrifugal force the carbon particles in the outer portion of said chamber and away from the primary stream of exhaust gas; a cylindrical duct having open ends and positioned axially and symmetrically in said cylindrical main body and spaced from said closed ends; said open ends axially and longitudinally spaced from each pair of inlet openings to prevent the direct flow of gas from said inlet openings to said open ends; longitudinally extending slots in said main cylindrical body located radially outward from and in general alignment with said duct open ends for skimming off carbon particles; a collection container communicating with each said slot and mounted on the exterior of said body and surrounding each said slot; and said cylindrical duct having an exhaust stack extending out said outlet opening in said main body whereby the particle free exhaust gas in the central portion of said chamber enters the open ends of said duct and is discharged out said exhaust stack into the atmosphere.

2. The combination as set forth in claim 1, wherein said slots are located near the top of said main cylindrical body and said collection containers extend downwardly from said slots.

3. The combination as set forth in claim 1, wherein deflector plates are connected to the inner cylindrical surface of said main body, each said deflector plate inclined at an angle to the tangent of the inner surface of said main cylindrical body and extending over a portion of said inlet openings connected to said second tubes to partially restrict said inlet openings and to direct exhaust gas flowing in said chamber away from said inlet openings connected to said second tubes.

4. The combination as set forth in claim 1, wherein said inlet openings connected to said first tubes are restricted to increase the velocity of exhaust gas flow.

5. The combination as set forth in claim 1, wherein said slots extend only a short longitudinal distance in each direction from the longitudinal position of said open ends of said cylindrical duct.

6. The combination as set forth in claim 1, wherein said main body has four pairs of inlet openings equally spaced;

one pair of said inlet openings located axially beyond each open end of said duct; and

the other pairs of said inlet openings located axially between each open end of said duct.

7. The spark arrester of claim 1 wherein each said slot is of a short longitudinal length and is longitudinally spaced from all of said inlet openings.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6 3,426,513 2/1969 Bauer -459 3,436,900 4/ 1969 Evens et al. 55-459 FOREIGN PATENTS 171,792 6/ 1960 Sweden.

FRANK W. LUTTER, Primary Examiner B. NOZICK, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R.