Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-2008

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Mechanical Engineering

Major Professor

Ke Nguyen

Committee Members

Bruce G. Bunting, David K. Irick, J. Roger Parsons, Todd J. Toops

Abstract

The accelerated ash loading of diesel particulate filters (DPFs) by lube-oil derived products is investigated in the present study. A 517-cc single-cylinder, naturally aspirated direct-injection diesel engine is used to accelerate ash formation by artificially increasing the rate of lube-oil consumption to approximately 40 times that observed during normal engine operation. Lube-oil consumption (LOC) is accelerated by blending diesel fuel with 5% by volume of standard 15-w40 lube oil and is subsequently injected through the fuel injector into the combustion chamber.

The ash loading protocol is a backpressure-based method of determining the amount of soot present within the DPF and initiating active regeneration upon achieving the target soot loading of 3 grams per liter. The final protocol employed a backpressure threshold that is defined for each individual loading by adding 0.20 psi to the baseline backpressure observed for that cycle, and consistently achieved the target soot loading. The active regeneration strategy was also refined to gradually increasing DPF temperatures to approximately 700ºC.

A total of five full experiments are carried out in the present investigation. Two cordierite substrates, one silicon carbide substrate, and two mullite substrates are utilized to evaluate the performance of the accelerated ash loading protocol and make necessary refinements. The rate of backpressure increase with respect to ash accumulation varies substantially between substrates. Soot lightoff temperatures for all substrates are observed to be approximately 600ºC, with ash having a minimal effect on this value except in the highly-catalyzed substrates, where lightoff temperatures are initially lower but increase as ash accumulation limits exposure of the PGM to the soot layer.

Characterization techniques such as Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA), Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) are used to analyze the ash layer for comparison to previously published results. All characterization results depict an ash layer that increases in thickness along the direction of flow within the DPF. The relative thickness of each ash layer is observed to be a strong function of the channel wall topography as well as the presence of catalyst and washcoat material.

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