US 4,391,235 AGranted

Vehicle exhaust gas warm-up heater system

OwnerDavid S. Majkrzakinventor

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Abstract

Liquid coolant of a liquid cooling system of an engine in a motor vehicle is heated by using hot exhaust gas emitted by the engine. A heat exchanger transfers heat from the hot exhaust gas to the coolant. A portion of the coolant is transferred from the engine cooling system to the heat exchanger and then back to the engine. A diverter valve actuated by a temperature sensing device diverts the exhaust gas from an exhaust system to the heat exchanger. The temperature sensing device actuates the diverter valve at a predetermined coolant temperature diverting the exhaust gas to the heat exchanger when the coolant is cold and shuts off the flow of the exhaust gas to the heat exchanger when the coolant is sufficiently warm.

Claims11

Dependent claims

A motor vehicle exhaust gas warm-up system in combination with a motor vehicle, the motor vehicle having an engine with a single cooling system having a liquid coolant for cooling the engine and a conventional exhaust system with a plurality of exhaust pipes and a muffler for conveying hot exhaust gases from the engine, the system comprising:

heat exchanger means for transferring heat from the hot exhaust gases to the coolant;
means for conveying only a portion of the coolant from the engine to the heat exchanger means and back to the engine, the portion being of an amount that substantial interruption of normal coolant flow in the cooling system is avoided;
means for conveying the exhaust gases from the exhaust system to the heat exchanger means;
a diverter valve for diverting the exhaust gases from the exhaust system to the heat exchanger means;
and
means for sensing the temperature of the coolant and for actuating the diverter valve at a predetermined coolant temperature to control the flow of exhaust gases to the heat exchanger means.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.