Abstract
Most of the pollutants from passenger cars are emitted during the cold-transient phase of the FTP-75 test. In order to reduce the exhaust emissions during the cold-transient period, it is essential to warm up the catalyst as fast as possible after the engine starts, and the Unburned Exhaust Gas Ignition (UEGI) technology was developed through our previous studies to help close-coupled catalytic converters (CCC) reach the light-off temperature within a few seconds after cold-start. The UEGI system operates by igniting the unburned exhaust mixture by glow plugs installed upstream of the catalyst. The flame generates a high amount of heat, and if the heat is concentrated on a specific area of monolith surface, then thermal crack or failure of the monolith could occur. Therefore, it is very important to monitor the temperature distribution in the CCC during the UEGI operation, so the local temperatures in the monolith were measured using thermocouples. Experimental results showed that the temperature of CCC rises faster with the UEGI technology, and the CCC reaches the light-off temperature earlier than the baseline case. Under the conditions tested, the light-off time of the baseline case was 62 seconds, compared with 33 seconds for the UEGI case. The peak temperature is well under the thermal melting condition, and temperature distribution is not so severe as to consider thermal stress. It is noted that the UEGI technology is an effective method to warm up the catalyst with a small amount of thermal stress during the cold start period.