EVALUATION OF A CYCLONE-BASED PARTICULATE FILTRATION SYSTEM FOR HIGH-SPEED DIESEL-ENGINES

A cyclone-based filtration system has been developed and its potential for reduction of exhaust particulates in high-speed direct injection diesel engines is evaluated; the filtration efficiency of the four cyclones has been enhanced by means of particulate agglomeration induced by cooling in a hear exchanger. With this system installed in the exhaust pipe of a 2.5 litre direct injection engine, tests covering a wide range of speed, load and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) fraction resulted in reductions of up to 77 per cent in emitted particulate mass flowrate. The dependence of the system's performance on engine operating conditions, EGR configuration and cyclone geometry is presented and discussed.