Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

John W Riddel

Michael P Murphy

John A Carol, Jr

Wayne E Paxton

A diesel engine exhaust cleaner and burner system includes at least one exhaust cleaner member with a filter positioned therein to effect removal of particulates from a stream of exhaust gas delivered thereto via an inlet manifold. A fuel burner supplied with fuel by a fuel nozzle is operatively associated with the inlet manifold to supply the necessary heat to effect incineration of particulates collected on the filter. A cyclone duct providing a vortex chamber therein is operatively positioned downstream of the fuel nozzle and is supplied with sufficient air so as to effect both the complete combustion of the fuel and the controlled incineration of the particulates by increasing the residence time of the fuel in the reaction region within the vortex chamber and also effecting a more uniform distribution of the heat of combustion across the inlet face of the filter for the uniform heating of the particulates thereon to their combustion temperature.

Diesel exhaust cleaner with burner vortex chamber

A vehicle road speed control system for a transducer generating a vacuum control signal which is delivered to a flow amplifier. The flow amplifier generates a positive pressure control signal in accordance with the vacuum control signal. The positive pressure control signal powers a servomotor to control the vehicle engine throttle and maintain vehicle road speed at a desired value.

Vehicle road speed control system with flow amplifier

A vehicle road speed control system is provided with a position feedback valve sensing position of the system servomotor power wall to modify the vacuum signal acting on the servomotor. One embodiment uses such a valve to control atmospheric air bleed, and another embodiment uses such a valve to control the vacuum supply.

Position feedback valve assembly and servo motor incorporating same

A vacuum and atmospheric air pressure actuated valve assembly which prevents re-energization of the servomotor of a vacuum actuated vehicle road speed control system after the brakes have been applied and the road speed control system de-energized. The device requires manual opening movement of the throttle valve by movement of the accelerator pedal, or stopping of the engine, to decrease the amount of vacuum sufficiently to let the device re-set to a condition which will permit the road speed control system to be re-energized.

Vacuum latching dump valve

A two-position dump valve for use in a vacuum powered or pressure differential powered cruise control system. The dump valve is closed upon energization of a solenoid, provided the brake pedal is in the brake release position. It opens when the brake pedal is moved to actuate the vehicle brakes.

Dump valve assembly

A durable and relatively inexpensive air/fuel ratio sensor for detecting oxygen concentration in exhaust gases of internal combustion engines, that does not require a separate reference atmosphere. A body of stabilized zirconium dioxide with two opposite major faces serves as a solid oxygen ion electrolyte. A catalytic electrode is on one of the faces, while a noncatalytic electrode is on the other face. The body is mounted in an exhaust pipe so that both of the electrodes are exposed to the exhaust gases.

Method for maintaining stoichiometric air/fuel mixtures

A vacuum operated road speed control system release valve with vacuum in the release chamber exerting a closing force on the valve. When the release circuit is opened to atmosphere by brake actuation, vacuum is lost in the release chamber and the valve is opened by the higher pressure in the control system. The open valve then connects the higher pressure side of the servomotor of the control system to vacuum to provide a powered release.

Servo motor with differential pressure controlled and actuated release

An aspirator using pressure from a suitable source boosts the vacuum available when intake vacuum drops. The pressure source may be the A.I.R. pump, for example. At low throttle settings engine vacuum is high and pump pressure is low. At 25% throttle engine vacuum is lower and the A.I.R. pump pressure is higher. With some flow the output vacuum from the aspirator is greater than the engine vacuum. This is also true at greater throttle openings. The device has a regulation effect causing output variation to be less than the variation in manifold vacuum. This makes the lock-up transient and lockup error less dependent on engine speed and makes cruise performance more uniform over the entire range of cruise speeds.

Cruise control system using positive pressure to boost vacuum

A vehicle vacuum operated road speed control system has a flow amplifier valve in the circuit. The system uses a very low flow controlled by a system control valve and applied to the amplifier valve. The amplifier valve receives vacuum directly from a vacuum source and provides an output to the vehicle road speed control servomotor which is proportional to the control flow but is at a much higher flow level. This leads to the improved system performance.

Flow amplifier valve assembly

A vehicle road speed control system having a redundant release valve assembly. A solenoid control actuated control valve energized by application of the vehicle brakes dumps the higher pressure side of the servomotor to the lower pressure side to balance the pressures on the power wall. The power wall return spring and the throttle valve return spring respectively return the power wall and the throttle valve to the closed throttle position. If the effective opposed areas of the power wall are substantially different, a bleed orifice is utilized to offset the difference. The servomotor output rod extends through the higher pressure servomotor chamber in two illustrated embodiments and through the lower servomotor pressure chamber in another embodiment.

Road speed control with redundant release

A vehicle road speed control system in which the engine intake manifold pressure and the engine exhaust manifold pressure are utilized on opposite sides of a servomotor power wall to control the engine throttle and maintain a desired constant vehicle speed. The intake manifold pressure is normally subatmospheric and the exhaust manifold pressure is normally superatmospheric. Within the usual operating range of vehicle engine loads, the pressure difference between the two pressures remains substantially constant and provides a more uniform pressure differential than that provided in systems in which atmospheric pressure is the higher of the two pressures. The intake manifold pressure has a control valve in the conduit leading to the servomotor which varies the value of the pressure difference delivered to the servomotor in accordance with a control signal generated by a comparison of desired vehicle speed and actual vehicle speed.

Differential pressure power road speed control system

A differential pressure control valve is solenoid operated on a controlled duty cycle to alternately open and close a pair of inlets to establish a desired outlet pressure. The valve member acts as a solenoid armature. It is of sandwich construction with a magnetically soft center section and a thin, wear-resistant, nonmagnetic coating on one or both sides. The nonmagnetic coatings or layers are disclosed as being made of a nonmagnetic stainless steel, while the center section is disclosed as being made of a low carbon steel having a low magnetic remanence or residual magnetization. Valve life is increased due to the wear resistance of the stainless steel, and the nonmagnetic characteristic of the stainless steel layer adjacent the field plate avoids erratic retention of the valve member against the solenoid core and field plate. The arrangement is such that the magnetic forces across the valve member during solenoid energization act in parallel.

Pressure control valve

A silicon solid state temperature responsive switching device having a thermally dependent P-N junction. The thermally dependent P-N junction is at the interface of a thermally invertible region and a non-invertible region. The thermally invertible region is doped with both P-type and N-type impurities. The P-type impurities have a concentration which is at least about 10 times the concentration of the N-type impurities. The P-type impurities also have an activation energy which is at least about three times the activation energy of the N-type impurities. Below a predetermined temperature, the doping effect of the N-type impurities predominates, and the invertible region is N-type. However, above the predetermined temperature, the doping effect of the P-type impurities predominates. A device insensitive to voltage source polarity is formed by sandwiching the thermally invertible region between two non-invertible regions.

Solid state temperature responsive switch

An orbital vane rotary machine including a housing defining a cavity having two halves, each half being a cylinder which intersects with the other at a cavity minor axis. The centers of the cylinders are spaced a predetermined distance defining a cavity major axis. Trunnions are secured to the housing at each cylinder center and vanes of separate vane sets rotate about the trunnions while extending and retracting in slots in a rotor connected to an output shaft. The vanes extend and engage the housing while rotating through the cavity half where their trunnion is located and retract while rotating through the other cavity half.

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Fenton, MI, United States of America

John W Riddel