AIR FILTER ASPIRATION AND ASPIRATION FAN DRIVE FOR USE WITH EXHAUST TREATMENT
In one embodiment, a system includes: a diesel engine having an intake and an exhaust; an exhaust treatment system communicating with the exhaust and operative to treat combustion products of the engine; an intake treatment system communicating with the intake and having an air filter assembly operative to remove particles from a flow of air and to provide the flow of air to the engine; and an aspiration fan assembly having a fan mechanically driven by the engine to produce scavenging vacuum pressure, the aspiration fan assembly being operative to apply the scavenging vacuum pressure to the air filter assembly to remove particles collected in the air filter assembly.
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This application claims priority to copending U.S. provisional application entitled, “Air Filter Aspiration and Exhaust Treatment and Aspiration Fan Drive,” having Ser. No. 61/372,780, filed Aug. 11, 2010, which is entirely incorporated herein by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELDThe present disclosure is generally related to diesel engines and, more particularly, is related to a system and method for aspirating an air filter assembly of a diesel engine, which uses exhaust treatment.
BACKGROUNDUtility vehicles, such as agricultural tractors, and plant machinery are often required to work in dusty environments. In order to avoid dust entering the air intake of an internal combustion engine of such a vehicle or machine, it is known to filter intake air upstream of the engine.
A typical air intake system includes, in airflow order, a pre-filter and a main filter. The pre-filter removes larger dust particles from the intake air, and then the main filter removes smaller particles. Without the pre-filter, the main filter tends to clog in an unacceptably short time.
The particles collected by the pre-filter are typically removed by scavenging vacuum pressure that is created from engine exhaust. However, reliance on an engine exhaust system to provide such vacuum pressure can be problematic due to various factors, such as structural complexity and back pressure being too high to accommodate additional requirements.
Many aspects of the disclosure can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.
An example embodiment of a system includes a diesel engine with an intake and an exhaust. An exhaust treatment system communicates with the exhaust and treats combustion products of the engine. An intake treatment system communicates with the intake and includes an air filter assembly that removes particles from a flow of air that is provided to the engine. An aspiration fan assembly includes a fan mechanically driven by the engine to produce scavenging vacuum pressure, which is applied to the air filter assembly to remove particles collected in the air filter assembly.
Detailed DescriptionAs will be described in more detail below, scavenging vacuum pressure can be provided for aspirating an air filter of a diesel engine that implements exhaust treatment (e.g., Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR)). In various embodiments, this is accomplished by an idler pulley that engages a drive belt of the engine, and which imparts rotational speed to a fan that produces the scavenging vacuum pressure. Notably, rotational speeds of the fan in excess of 8,000 RPM can be achieved.
The use of various exhaust treatment technologies limit the ability to use exhaust pressure to provide various functions, such as scavenging vacuum pressure. In contrast to the prior art, the use of an engine driven idler pulley to produce scavenging vacuum pressure enables the use of exhaust treatment with an aspirated air filter since the idler pulley does not draw from or rely on exhaust pressure to function. Though certain embodiments described herein achieve these and/or other benefits, it should be understood in the context of the present disclosure that all of these benefits may not necessarily be provided through a single embodiment or realized in all embodiments described herein.
As shown in
Intake treatment system 112 is positioned along the flow path of intake 118, which provides a flow of air to engine 114. Exhaust treatment system 116 is positioned along the flow path of exhaust 120, which directs combustion products from engine 114.
In operation, intake treatment system 112 removes particles (e.g., dust) from a flow of air that is provided to engine 114 via intake 118 to facilitate combustion. Thereafter, combustion products are directed to exhaust treatment system 116, which performs a catalytic reaction with the combustion products to reduce undesirable emissions.
In
An injector 128 is fluidicly coupled to supply 126. Injector 128 selectively dispenses additives (e.g., DEF) into exhaust 120, with the dispensed additives being represented by arrow B. Notably, the additives are dispensed within exhaust 120 and upstream of catalyst 122 to stimulate a reaction that is known to reduce various emissions such as NOx. Dispensing of the additives is performed responsive to signals from controller 124, which monitors various system parameters. By way of example, controller 124 can monitor exhaust temperature via sensor 130. Remaining products, represented by arrow C, are directed to atmosphere with exhaust 120.
It should be noted that use of exhaust treatment system 116 increases the backpressure on diesel engine assembly 110 to such an extent that exploitation of the flow of combustion products to produce vacuum pressure may not be practicable. Notably, such vacuum pressure can be used for scavenging particles from an air filter assembly that, if not removed, could reduce the ability of the assembly to provide an appropriate volume of clean air for combustion. In this regard,
As shown in
An aspiration fan assembly 134 also is depicted in
An example embodiment of a method for operating a diesel engine is depicted in
Intake treatment system 112 of
Main filter 148 receives pre-filtered air from pre-filter 146 and removes smaller particles from the air flow. Air filter assembly 132 then provides a flow of filtered air to engine 114 via intake 118. Thus, main filter 148 functions as means for filtering the flow of air.
Aspiration fan assembly 134 incorporates a fan (not shown in
A more detailed view of diesel engine assembly 110 is provided by
As shown in
As shown most clearly in
Also depicted in
The assembly view of
It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments, particularly, any “preferred” embodiments, are merely possible examples of implementations, merely set forth for a clear understanding. Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments without departing substantially from the spirit and principles of the disclosure. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.
Claims
1. A system comprising:
- a diesel engine having an intake and an exhaust;
- an exhaust treatment system communicating with the exhaust and operative to treat combustion products of the engine;
- an intake treatment system communicating with the intake and having an air filter assembly operative to remove particles from a flow of air and to provide the flow of air to the engine; and
- an aspiration fan assembly having a fan mechanically driven by the engine to produce scavenging vacuum pressure, the aspiration fan assembly being operative to apply the scavenging vacuum pressure to the air filter assembly to remove particles collected in the air filter assembly.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the exhaust treatment system has a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the fan produces the scavenging vacuum pressure without adding exhaust restriction to the system.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the aspiration fan assembly further comprises an aspiration drive belt operative to drive the fan.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein the aspiration fan assembly further comprises an idler pulley engaging the aspiration drive belt and operative to drive the aspiration drive belt.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein:
- the engine further comprises an engine drive belt, a first pulley and a second pulley, the engine drive belt engaging about and extending between the first pulley and the second pulley; and
- the aspiration fan assembly further comprises a compound idler pulley having a first pulley stage and a second pulley stage, the first pulley stage being operative to engage the engine drive belt such that the compound idler pulley rotates, the second pulley stage being operative to drive the fan responsive to rotation of the first pulley stage.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein the first pulley stage and the second pulley stage are coaxial and the second pulley stage has a longer radius than that of the first pulley stage.
8. The system of claim 7, wherein the aspiration fan assembly further comprises a fan pulley and an aspiration drive belt, the aspiration drive belt engaging about and extending between the fan pulley and the second pulley stage of the compound idler pulley.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the aspiration fan assembly is operative to drive the fan at speeds in excess of 8,000 RPM.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein:
- the air filter assembly has a pre-filter and a main filter, the pre-filter being upstream of the main filter and operative to remove particles from air drawn into the air filter assembly and to collect the particles; and
- the aspiration fan assembly has an aspiration conduit operative to apply the scavenging vacuum pressure to the pre-filter such that the particles collected by the pre-filter are drawn into the aspiration conduit.
11. A system comprising:
- means for performing Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) on combustion products of a diesel engine;
- means for collecting particles from an intake flow of air for the diesel engine; and
- means for removing the particles collected using scavenging vacuum pressure and without adding exhaust restriction to the system.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the means for collecting particles comprises means for pre-filtering the flow of air and means for filtering the flow of air.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the means for removing the particles removes the particles from the means for pre-filtering the flow of air.
14. The system of claim 11, wherein the means for removing the particles comprises means for converting rotational motion to higher speed rotational motion.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 10, 2011
Publication Date: Feb 16, 2012
Applicant: AGCO CORPORATION (Duluth, GA)
Inventors: Rex Schertz (Hesston, KS), John D. Anderson (Wichita, KS)
Application Number: 13/206,758
International Classification: F01N 3/10 (20060101);