Diesel Exhaust Aftertreatment System Packaging and Flow Optimization on a Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine Powered Vehicle

Diesel exhaust aftertreatment systems are required for meeting both EPA 2010 and final Tier 4 emission regulations while meeting the stringent packaging constraints of the vehicle. The aftertreatment system for this study consists of a fuel dosing system, mixing elements, fuel reformer, lean NOx trap (LNT), diesel particulate filter (DPF), and a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst. The fuel reformer is used to generate hydrogen (H₂) and carbon monoxide (CO) from injected diesel fuel. These reductants are used to regenerate and desulfate the LNT catalyst. NOx emissions are reduced using the combination of the LNT and SCR catalysts. During LNT regeneration, ammonia (NH₃) is intentionally released from the LNT and stored on the downstream SCR catalyst to further reduce NOx that passed through the LNT catalyst. This paper addresses system packaging and exhaust flow optimization for heavy-duty line-haul and severe service applications. Various packaging options are provided for both applications. Exhaust flow and fuel vaporization optimization was conducted using computational fluid dynamics followed by test cell and vehicle test results. Performance metrics were met including 97% uniformity for fuel vaporization and 97% uniformity for exhaust flow distribution having less than 2% fuel pulse broadening. The optimized system met the packaging constraints and EPA 2010 emission regulations.