Quick-heating of a urea supply conduit for an engine exhaust after-treatment system
AssigneeInternational Engine Intellectual Property Company, LLC
InventorsAndrei Makartchouk, Adam C. Lack
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A urea supply conduit (68) has a wall of good thermal conductivity. Urea solution in liquid phase is sucked out of a tank (24) through conduit (68) and delivered to a point of use (22) in an engine exhaust after-treatment system (18) through which products of combustion are conveyed from engine combustion chambers (16) to atmosphere. Liquid engine coolant is circulated through a coolant conduit (66) that has a wall of good thermal conductivity placed side-by-side and in physical association with the urea supply conduit wall to form a thermal conduction path for heat transfer between coolant in the coolant conduit and urea in the urea supply conduit, more quickly thawing any frozen urea.
Claims10
An internal combustion engine comprising:
- combustion chambers within which fuel is combusted to operate the engine;
- a cooling system, including a coolant pump, for circulating liquid engine coolant through the engine;
- an exhaust after-treatment system through which products of combustion are conveyed from the combustion chambers to atmosphere;
- and a dosing system for introducing dosing fluid into the exhaust after-treatment system for use in an exhaust gas after-treatment process carried out in the after-treatment system,
- wherein the dosing system comprises a dosing fluid conduit having a thermally conductive wall for conveying dosing fluid toward a point of introduction into the after-treatment system and a coolant circuit through which liquid engine coolant circulates in heat exchange relationship with at least a portion of the dosing system, a portion of the coolant circuit comprising a coolant conduit through which engine coolant is conveyed and which has a thermally conductive wall disposed side-by-side and physically associated with the thermally conductive wall of the dosing fluid conduit to form a thermal conduction path for heat transfer between coolant in the coolant conduit and dosing fluid in the dosing fluid conduit.
A method of heating urea solution in solid or liquid phase in a urea supply conduit which has a thermally conductive wall and through which urea solution in liquid phase is delivered from a tank to a point of use in an engine exhaust after-treatment system through which products of combustion are conveyed from engine combustion chambers to atmosphere, the method comprising:
- circulating liquid engine coolant through a coolant conduit that has a wall of thermally conductive wall placed side-by-side and in physical association with the thermally conductive wall of the urea supply conduit to form a thermal conduction path for heat transfer between coolant in the coolant conduit and urea in the urea supply conduit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.