Experimental Analysis on the Catalytic Converter Internal Flow

Increasing the active catalyst surface area is important in improving a converter's efficiency. In addition, uniform flow is advantageous in that it produces more efficient catalytic conversion. This results in the ability to use a smaller catalytic converter with uniform flow as opposed to a larger converter requirement for non-uniform flow. Therefore, it is important to characterize the internal flow of the catalytic converter. To characterize the system's flow patterns, velocity measurements were taken at the mid and exit planes of a ceramic honeycomb catalytic converter at flow rates of 37.8 l/s and 94.4 l/s. Measurements were conducted using LDV. The profiles were measured along both the major and minor axis of the planes. Primary flow direction velocities measured along the minor axis, at both flow rates, varied greatly at the mid plane and somewhat at the exit plane. The areas of greatest air flow were seen near the edges of the walls and on the side of the converter opposite the flow's entrance region. It also appears that the high velocities opposite the intake are due to the design of the entrance region. The entrance region is possibly too small to properly redirect the vertically entering fluid into an evenly distributed flow in the primary flow direction.

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