Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

John Eric Kreucher

Stephen Joe Myers

Barry Odell Christenson

Charles Scott Nelson

John A Horton

Albert Hunter Mayfield

Ramesh C Shah

Theodore Rogers Turner, Jr

Richard S McClaughry, Iii

Roger Kurt Starke

Daniel W Wendland

An exhaust management system comprising a catalytic converter having a catalyst operative to reduce HC emissions from a flow of exhaust gas from an automotive internal combustion engine when the catalyst is above a light-off temperature and a heater assembly mounted in the flow of exhaust gas, upstream of the catalyst and exterior of the catalytic converter, wherein the heater assembly includes an electric heater located more than one inch from a front surface of the catalyst.

Exhaust management system

A catalyst heater assembly for use in a catalytic converter comprising: an electric heater through which a flow of gas passes, wherein the electric heater heats the gas; a plurality of legs around an exterior of the heater, each leg extending in an axial direction toward a flow inlet of the catalytic converter; a flow tube having an inlet end and an outlet end, wherein each of the legs is attached to an exterior peripheral surface of the outlet end and wherein the inlet end is mounted at the flow inlet of the catalytic converter.

Catalyst heater assembly

The present invention includes an automotive exhaust system including a catalytic converter having a substrate of substantial surface area and having a catalyst composition carried thereon. The catalytic converter substrate is carried in a housing extending the length of the catalytic converter substrate and conforming to the outer surfaces of the substrate and/or any mounting material. A two-wall diffuser is connected by an outer wall to the converter housing at one end and to an exhaust pipe at the other. An inner wall is spaced a distance from the outer wall and defines a diffuser portion having an inlet cross-section area less than its outlet cross-section flow area. The inner wall also defines an abrupt expansion section which is provided between the end of the diffuser section and the end of the inner wall nearest the substrate. The inner wall ends in the region between the substrate and the converter housing and is free-floating and is not rigidly connected to the converter substrate or housing. Thus, the inner wall is free to move with thermal cycling associated with operation of the automobile combustion engine. The space provided between the inner wall and the outer wall of the diffuser provides a thermal insulating air barrier which limits the thermal expansion and contraction the outer wall experiences at its mechanical connections to the converter housing and exhaust pipe.

Integral cast diffuser for a catalytic converter

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Davison, MI, United States of America

John Eric Kreucher