The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 05, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 23, 2000
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Toyota, JP;
Abstract
A catalytic combustion heat exchanger includes a fuel gas passage and a number of tubes, which are located in the fuel gas passage. Fuel gas flows in the fuel gas passage. An object fluid, which is heated by the heat exchanger, flows in the tubes. Fins, which carry a catalyst, are fixed to the outer surfaces of the tubes. The fluid is heated by an oxidation reaction of the fuel gas that occurs on the surface of the fins. When the heat exchanger is initially activated, the controller maintains the flow rate of the object fluid at a relatively low rate until a temperature detector detects that the temperature of the object fluid is higher than a certain level to limit heat transfer from the fins to the object fluid. This increases the fin temperatures throughout the heat exchanger. The controller increases the flow rate of the object fluid when the temperature of the object fluid exceeds a certain level, to increase heat transfer to the object fluid. The control method prevents the fins from overheating and speeds up the initial activation of the heat exchanger.