Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Nippon Steel Corporation

Takuzou Kako

Kouji Yoshizaki

Kazuhiro Sakurai

Masahiko Ogai

Yuuji Nakashima

Takaaki Itou

Yukihiro Yamamoto

Kazuo Yoshida

Shogo Konya

Kouki Yotsuya

Keiji Sato

Shohgo Konya

Kazunori Itoh

Kenji Fujino

Yuuji Nakajima

In the production of a metallic honeycomb body for use as a metallic carrier, for supporting a catalyst, in the purification of an exhaust gas from automobiles or the like, a desired joint site for each layer constituting the metallic honeycomb body is preset, and, when a portion of contact between a metallic corrugated foil and a metallic flat foil for forming the metallic honeycomb body has reached the joint site, a brazing foil which has been cut into a predetermined length is inserted and enfolded in the contact portion.

Process and apparatus for production of metallic honeycomb body for

Device for purifying exhaust gas of internal combustion engine

A honeycomb support structure of an electrically-heated catalyst apparatus is disclosed, in which a support member of retainers for preventing an electrically-heated catalyst moving backward is coupled to an outer cylinder while causing the support member to follow the thermal deformation of the outer cylinder thereby to suppress the deformation of the support member due to the thermal stress. A metal foil laminate having a corrugated foil and a tabular foil superposed one on the other is spirally wound to form a cylindrical honeycomb unit, which is accommodated in a metal outer cylinder and is heated by being supplied with power. The honeycomb unit support structure includes a plurality of ceramic bars and at least a support member having a plurality of recesses for holding the ceramic bars at such a position as to traverse the end surface of the honeycomb unit downstream of the exhaust gas flow and in such a manner as to follow the deformation of the outer cylinder. The structure of the support member that can follow the deformation can be realized by preparing a cylindrical metal plate and forming at least a gap in the cylindrical metal plate. Consequently, the honeycomb unit is prevented from telescoping, a uniform temperature distribution in the support member is assured, and the durability of the support member is improved.

Structure for supporting honeycomb unit of electrically-heated catalyst

The electrically heated catalytic converter of the present invention includes a catalyst substrate, which is formed as a scroll-like cylindrical laminated assembly. The assembly is formed by laminating a thin corrugated and plain metal sheets and winding the metal sheets together around a center electrode. The outermost layer of the laminated assembly is connected to an outer electrode. The corrugated metal sheet has an insulating coating made of an alumina, and the plain metal sheet is uninsulated. Local conductive connections form between the thin metal sheets by soldering strips of zirconium solder foils between the layers of the thin metal sheets. Since zirconium has a larger reducing capability than aluminum, the alumina in the insulating coating is reduced by zirconium and precipitates at the local conductive connections. Therefore, the plain and corrugated metal sheet are electrically connected to each other at the local conductive connections. The solder foils in the respective layers are arranged in a configuration where a strip of solder foil in one layer overlaps with strips of solder foils in adjoining layers only at its ends, and does not overlap with strips of solder foils in the adjacent layers when viewed radially. Since the solder foils overlap only by a small area, electric current flowing through the local conductive connections concentrates in the overlap area and produces hot spots. The overall resistance of the electric paths can be adjusted by varying the solder strip length.

Electrically heated catalytic converter for an engine

An electrically heatable catalytic converter for converting pollutant materials from an engine, such as carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, etc., to carbon dioxide, nitrogen and water. A catalytic core has a rod center electrode, metal strips, such as corrugated strips and plane strips, and insulation layers spirally wound together about the center electrode to form a spiral electrical path. The central region adjacent to the center electrode and the peripheral region of the catalytic core are wound without intervening of the insulation layer and contact metal to metal. The intermediate region of the core is mainly heated, and there is almost no heat generation in the central and peripheral regions of the catalytic core.

Electrically heatable catalytic converter

Growing community of inventors

Tokai, Japan

Takuzou Kako