Muffler with cyclonic plates

Abstract

A muffler comprising a multiplicity of plates, each plate having openings for directing gas flow is provided. The present invention's objective is to reduce engine noise while minimizing back pressure on the engine. It uses a series of plates with deflecting elements fixedly attached to the plates. These deflectors are intended to move the exhaust gases from a longitudinal motion to a cyclonic or swirling motion, so as to translate the gases longitudinal motion into a circular motion. This energy translation will reduce the gas' pressure as it exits the muffler and reduces the engine's noise, without the necessary use of sound absorbing materials or a resonating chamber. This energy translation does not affect the rate

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to the field of mufflers for internal combustion engines.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a muffler design, and an alternative method to damp the acoustic vibrations of an internal combustion engine's exhaust gases. Traditional methods include resonating chambers and sound absorbing materials.

Soares U.S. Pat. No. 3,963,092 shows a muffler design for competitive car engines. This muffler appears to include a combination of a tube, surrounded by a plurality of spiral baffles with axially separated radial edges, to create a swirl in some of the exhaust gas' motion. This induced swirl is constant in angle and direction while some of the gases flow through a tube.

Lyman U.S. Pat. No. 4,109,753 shows a louver tube assembly with a gas diffuser. This diffuser appears to direct the exhaust gases towards sound absorbing materials.

Kim U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,100 shows a muffler system including a sub muffler, that uses an eddy generating helical core member in a serpentine configuration, to reduce the pressure on the exhaust system.

Weinhold U.S. Pat. No. 7,073,626 shows an engine exhaust muffler with guide vanes imparting a successfully alternating spiral gas flow. This reference shows a series of discs with free leading and trailing edge directors, surrounding a central tube, within the muffler core. These discs claim to direct the air, so as to cancel out the sound waves.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention's objective is to reduce engine noise while minimizing back pressure on the engine. It uses a series of plates with deflecting elements fixedly attached to the plates. These deflectors are intended to move the exhaust gases from a longitudinal motion to a cyclonic or swirling motion, so as to translate the gases longitudinal motion into a circular motion. This energy translation will reduce the gas' pressure as it exits the muffler and reduces the engine's noise, without the necessary use of sound absorbing materials or a resonating chamber. This energy translation does not affect the rate of gas flow, so it should minimize the negative effects of engine back pressure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1a shows an embodiment of a muffler with cyclonic plates.

FIG. 1b shows an alternative embodiment of a muffler with cyclonic plates.

FIG. 2a shows an embodiment of a cyclonic plate.

FIG. 2b shows an alternative embodiment of a cyclonic plate.

FIG. 3 shows an isometric view of a plate embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1a shows a muffler chamber 1, whose borders are defined by the muffler housing 10. The muffler housing 10 may be of any cross sectional shape. The muffler chamber 1 has at least one inlet section 2, where the exhaust gases enter the chamber 1. The muffler chamber 1 has at least one outlet section 9, where the exhaust gases exit the chamber 1, significantly acoustically damped. Both the inlet section 2 and outlet section 9 may consist of at least one corresponding inlet tube 11 and at least one corresponding outlet tube 15 that may partially enter the chamber 1. The inlet tube 11 may have perforations 13 in it, as is often used in existing muffler technology. The outlet tube 15 may have perforations 17 in it, as is often used in existing muffler technology. The muffler housing 10 may consist of material that absorbs sound.

Inside the muffler chamber 1 is at least one cyclonic plate 3. If there is more than one plate 3, then they are spaced apart at a gap 4 according the engine requirements, torque and speed. This gap 4 may vary between each plate. The plates 3 are fixedly attached to the muffler housing 10 using some mechanical means such as welding, bolts or a press fit. The plates 3 are approximately parallel to each other. The circumference and cross sectional area of plate 3 is designed to match the interior of muffler housing 10. The thickness of plate 3 may be approximately one eighth of an inch thick.

The muffler cross sectional area may be constant or varying. FIG. 1b shows a possible alternative embodiment for a muffler housing 10 cross sectional area. This design may help reduce back pressure as the exhaust gases slow down in the direction along the longitudinal axis.

FIG. 2a shows a plate 3 embodiment. Located on each cyclonic plate 3 are a series of vanes 14 and slots 16. There is at least one vane 14 and one slot 16 on each plate 3. Not all slots 16 may necessarily have a corresponding vane 14. The slots 16 allow the exhaust gases to pass along the muffler's longitudinal axis 12, while the vanes 14 direct the gases in a cyclonic or swirling motion. The direction of the flow of gases may be alternated by each subsequent plate. For example, the flow of gases from one plate may be in a clockwise direction and the flow of gases from the next plate may be in a counter-clockwise direction

FIG. 3 shows the vane pitch angle 20 to the plate 3. The direction of the flow of the gas is controlled by the vane pitch angle 20. These angles 20 may alternate in direction with each plate, alternating the gas circling direction of the gas. Alternatively, these vane angles 20 may also further increase the swirling in the same direction if necessary. This may be done by increasing the angle 20 with each successive plate 3. For example on the first plate 3, the angle 20 may be forty five degrees and then thirty degrees on the second plate 3 and twenty degrees on the third plate 3.

Although this invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments, it is not intended to be limited thereto and various modifications which will become apparent to the person of ordinary skill in the art are intended to fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as described herein taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.

Claims

1. An engine muffler comprising,

at least one elongated chamber bordered by a housing, with an inlet end and an outlet end and a longitudinal axis, at least one planar plate located inside the chamber and fixedly attached to the housing, said plate positioned perpendicular to the longitudinal axis;

at least one slot in each plate; and

at least one exhaust gas deflector on each plate, having a fixed leading edge and a free trailing edge positioned in proximity to a slot, so as to deflect the gas passing though the slot in a cyclonic direction.

2. An engine muffler as in claim 1 with at least two plates, where the angle of the gas deflector on each successive plate is at least five degrees different to the angle of the deflector of the previous plate, so as to create a modified cyclonic direction with each plate.

3. An engine muffler as in claim 2, where the direction of the gas deflectors on each successive plate is approximately opposite to the direction of the deflectors of the previous plate, so as to create alternating cyclonic motion with each plate.

4. An engine muffler as in claim 2, where the angle of the gas deflectors on each successive plate is decreased with each successive plate, so as to create an increased cyclonic motion with each plate.

5. An engine muffler as in claim 1 where the muffler has a varying cross section along the longitudinal axis.

6. An engine muffler as in claim 1 where the muffler has an increasing cross sectional area along the longitudinal axis.

7. An engine muffler as in claim 1 where the muffler contains six plates.

8. An engine muffler as in claim 1 where the plates have at least four slots and four deflectors.

9. An engine muffler as in claim 1 where the plates are approximately one eighth of an inch thick.

10. An engine muffler as in claim 1 where the slots are approximately one inch square.

11. An engine muffler as in claim 1 where the muffler has an inlet tube connected to the inlet section of the chamber.

12. An engine muffler as in claim 1 where the inlet tube has perforations in it, to disturb the air flow through the muffler.

13. An engine muffler as in claim 1 where the gap between any two plates is fixed.

14. An engine muffler as in claim 13 where the gap between any two plates is approximately three inches.

15. An engine muffler as in claim 1 where gap between plates varies.

16. An engine muffler of claim 1 comprising,

at least one elongated chamber bordered by a housing, with an inlet end and an outlet end and a longitudinal axis, at least one planar plate located inside the chamber and fixedly attached to the housing mechanical means, said plate positioned perpendicular to the longitudinal axis;

a multiplicity of slots in each plate; and

each slot having an exhaust gas deflector on each plate, wherein each gas deflector having a fixed leading edge and a free trailing edge positioned in proximity to a slot, so as to deflect the gas passing though the slot in a cyclonic direction, and each gas deflector on each plate being positioned at a similar angle to each other.