Ngk Insulators, Inc.

Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Nissan Motor Company Limited

Corning Incorporated

Krosaki Corporation

Fumio Abe

Takashi Harada

Hiroshige Mizuno

Tomoharu Kondo

Junichi Suzuki

Naomi Noda

Masato Ogawa

Shigeharu Hashimoto

Keiji Noda

Yukio Miyairi

Tsuneaki Ohashi

Hiroshi Mori

Shinichi Miwa

Yuichiro Imanishi

Tadashi Fujita

Shigekazu Takagi

Raja Rao Wusirika

Toshio Yamada

Hiroshi Hasegawa

Kevin Robert Brundage

Tadato Ito

Toshio Takahata

Srinivas H Swaroop

Kenichi Tanaka

David S Weiss

David F Thompson

Katsuhiro Shibata

Fuminori Yamanashi

Hideharu Ehara

Toshimi Fukui

Takeyoshi Kawahara

Makoto Hori

Yoshihiro Fujiwara

Makoto Maeda

Junichi Susuki

Tsunezo Inaba

Yuuji Deguchi

In the plasma reaction vessel () of the invention, two or more laminate-structures () having ceramic formed bodies () in which a plasma generating electrode () capable of generating plasma is formed in two-tape-form, and an electrically continuous film-like electrically conductive electrode () held between the two ceramic formed bodies () are formed in such a manner as to form a plasma generating space () containing mutual laminate planes therein. Of the electrically conductive electrodes (), adjacent ones are capable of having electric discharge produced therebetween so as to generate the plasma in the plasma generating space () and of generating uniform stabilized plasma at low electric power, it being possible to reduce a passage resistance to a gas passing therein.

Plasma reaction vessel, and method of producing the same

There is disclosed a honeycomb structural body () comprising: a plurality of through channels () formed by a plurality of partition walls () in an axial direction. The honeycomb structural body () is constituted of a plurality of honeycomb sections () formed of materials having different characteristics, and the plurality of honeycomb sections () are directly bonded to and integrated with one another. According to the structure of this honeycomb structural body, different high performances can be fulfilled in accordance with requests for each honeycomb section. Additionally, there is not any local stress concentration by shape mismatch of each honeycomb section or presence of a bond material, and reliability at the time of use, and the like can be enhanced.

Honeycomb structural body, honeycomb filter, and method of manufacturing the structural body and the filter

There is provided a liquid-to-gas contact device comprising: a liquid-to-gas contact medium which is a honeycomb structural body formed of a porous material including a plurality of through channels defined by a plurality of partition walls and extending through the structural body in an axial direction, and including a plurality of flow passages extending through the honeycomb structural body from an outer peripheral surface side and formed isolatedly from the through channels; and a container which includes a gas inlet, a gas outlet, a liquid supply port, a storage tank for liquid, and, if desired, a liquid discharge port and in which the liquid-to-gas contact medium is to be stored. A capillarity phenomenon function possessed by the liquid-to-gas contact medium is used to provide the device which has a superior thermal efficiency and which can be constituted to be simple and compact.

Liquid-to-gas contact device

An adsorbent structure including a honeycomb structure having a periphery and two ends, the honeycomb structure having a plurality of passages which are defined by partition walls and extend in an axial direction between the ends, and a composition including zeolite coated on the partition walls. The zeolite may be a high-silica zeolite having a Si/Al ratio of not less than 40. The composition may include a mixture of zeolite and heat-resistant oxide loaded with a noble metal, and the zeolite may also be loaded with a noble metal. Further, the composition may include two layers, a first layer comprising zeolite, and a second layer comprising a heat-resistant oxide loaded with a noble metal. The first layer comprising zeolite may be loaded with a noble metal.

Heater and catalytic converter

A catalyst-adsorbent for purification of exhaust gases, including a monolithic carrier and a catalyst-adsorbent layer formed thereon, the catalyst-adsorbent layer including a catalyst for reduction of the carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides emitted from internal combustion engines and an adsorbent for reduction of the hydrocarbons emitted during cold start of the engines. The catalyst is composed mainly of catalyst particles each including a heat-resistant inorganic oxide and at least one noble metal selected from Pt, Pd and Rh, loaded thereon, the catalyst containing at least catalyst particles each comprising a heat-resistant inorganic oxide and 2-30% by weight, based on the oxide, of Pd loaded thereon, the adsorbent comprising adsorbent particles composed mainly of zeolite.

Catalyst-adsorbent for purification of exhaust gases and method for purification of exhaust gases

A reformer disposed in the flow path of a reactant fluid includes: a catalyst unit capable of generating hydrogen from a reactant fluid containing an organic compound or carbon monoxide, by catalysis, and an electrically heatable heater unit. An electrically heatable catalyst unit includes: any of a sintered material, a metallic material, a composite material thereof, at least a portion of each of these materials having an electrically heatable property, and a composite material of (1) a heat-resistant material having no electrically heatable property and (2) the sintered material and/or the metallic material, and a catalyst capable of generating hydrogen from a reactant fluid containing an organic compound or carbon monoxide, by catalysis, which catalyst unit has porosity, thereby enables diffusion of a reactant fluid therethrough, and is electrically heatable. The above reformer can generate high-purity hydrogen for use in fuel cell of industrial or automotive application, in a short time.

Reformer and method for operation thereof

A reformer is disposed in the flow path of a reactant fluid. The reformer includes an electrically heatable heater unit of honeycomb structure, in the upstream of the flow path of a reactant fluid, and a catalyst unit of honeycomb structure capable of generating hydrogen from a reactant fluid containing an organic compound or carbon monoxide, by catalysis, in the downstream of the above heater unit. The heater unit and catalyst unit satisfy the following relationship: Cell density of the heater unit&lE;Cell density of the catalyst unit. The reformer improve efficiency for production of hydrogen and reduce CO as the by-product.

Reformer

A reformer includes two or more catalyst units in the flow path, capable of generating hydrogen from a reactant fluid containing an organic compound or carbon monoxide, by catalysis. In the reformer, at least two of the catalyst units satisfy the following relationship: Heat capacity of the upstream-side catalyst unit&lE;Heat capacity of the downstream-side catalyst unit. The reformer is improved in the relationship between these catalyst units with respect to heat capacity. This improvement leads to improvement of the reformer in safety, heating characteristics during the start-up period, efficiency of hydrogen production and reduction in production of CO as the coproduct.

A heater unit includes a metallic casing, and a honeycomb heater held in the casing via a metallic holding member, comprising a metallic honeycomb structure having a large number of parallel passages extending in the direction of the flow of an exhaust gas passing through the heater unit and at least one electrode for electrical heating of the honeycomb structure, attached to the honeycomb structure. In the heater unit, the holding member has such a structure as (1) is fitted to part of the outer surface of the honeycomb heater to allow the honeycomb heater to have a stable shape and (2) substantially blocks the flow path of exhaust gas between the honeycomb heater and the casing. This heater unit can withstand severe operating conditions such as experienced in automobiles; moreover, in this heater unit, the by-pass flow of exhaust gas is made substantially zero and the whole exhaust gas can pass through the honeycomb heater.

Heater unit

A heater unit includes a metallic casing, and a honeycomb heater held in the casing, comprising a metallic honeycomb structure having a large number of parallel passages extending in the direction of the flow of a gas passing through the heater unit and at least one electrode for electrical heating of the honeycomb structure, attached to the honeycomb structure. A fastening member is fitted to part of the outer surface of the honeycomb heater to stabilize the shape of the honeycomb heater and a holding member is fitted to the outer periphery of the honeycomb heater to connect the honeycomb heater with the inner surface of the casing via the holding member. This heater unit can be suitably used for purification of the exhaust gas emitted from an automobile engine, because, in the heater unit, the unpurified exhaust gas which passes through the gap between the casing and the honeycomb heater, i.e. the by-pass flow, is minimized.

Honeycomb heater in a metallic casing

An exhaust gas purification system includes an adsorbent containing an adsorbent element for adsorbing harmful compounds such as hydrocarbon in an exhaust gas and a catalyst containing a catalyst element for lowering the harmful compounds in the exhaust gas, each disposed in the exhaust gas pipe of an internal combustion engine. When an oxidizing gas is added to the exhaust gas or amounts of combustion gas and fuel are regulated, for a given period, in the process in which the hydrocarbon in the exhaust gas produced at the cold start-up of the internal combustion engine are adsorbed by the adsorbent and desorbed from the adsorbent as a temperature of the adsorbent is increased by the exhaust gas, an exhaust gas composition containing excessive oxygen is provided and the desorbed hydrocarbon are oxidized on the catalyst. With this arrangement, the harmful compounds in the exhaust gas, in particular, the hydrocarbon produced in a large amount at the cold start-up of the engine can be effectively purified.

Exhaust gas purification method and apparatus therefor

An exhaust gas purification system for an internal combustion engine is herein disclosed which comprises an exhaust system having an adsorption flow path provided with an adsorbent capable of adsorbing harmful components such as hydrocarbons in an exhaust gas, and a catalyst flow path provided with at least one catalyst for decreasing the harmful components in the exhaust gas, the exhaust gas purification system being characterized in that an outlet of the adsorption flow path is joined to the catalyst flow path at a predetermined position on the upstream side of the catalyst to form a joint portion; the exhaust gas produced at least at the time of the operation start of the internal combustion engine is divided so as to flow through both the adsorption flow path and the catalyst flow path in a predetermined ratio, so that part of harmful components such as the hydrocarbons are adsorbed by the adsorbent in the adsorption flow path; and when the adsorbed harmful components begin to desorb from the adsorbent with the temperature rise of the adsorbent, the catalyst on the downstream of the joint portion is activated.

Exhaust gas purification system and exhaust gas purification method

A honeycomb heater comprising a honeycomb structure and a catalyst layer supported on partition walls of the honeycomb structure. The honeycomb heater includes a first portion that is resistance adjusted such that the first portion is adapted to heat more quickly than a second portion of the honeycomb heater. The first portion includes at least an inlet end of the honeycomb that receives gas that flows therethrough. In addition, the first portion has an area along the gas inlet within a range of 5 to 50% of the sectional area of the gas inlet. The first portion may extend through the honeycomb structure and terminate before reaching the gas outlet of the heater. The partition walls of the first portion may have a different hydraulic diameter, different thickness or different cell density than the second portion of the honeycomb heater.

Honeycomb heater having a portion that is locally quickly heated

Growing community of inventors

Handa, Japan

Fumio Abe