Optimization of Exhaust Gas Distribution on the Catalytic Converter Inlet-Cone Diffuser using Advanced Shape Deformation Technology

The Objective of this paper is to explain a procedure for using Arbitrary Shape Deformation (ASD) technology coupled with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software for product development of a generic catalytic converter inlet-cone diffuser. The paper uses the development of an inlet-cone diffuser as an example of such a process.

The non-uniformities of the flow field at the inlet of the catalytic converter bricks are considered to have a negative impact on the converter performance. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a powerful tool for computing the flow field in the exhaust system and the catalytic converter which enables the engineers to optimize the geometry of the inlet cone at a very early design stage. The goal of this study is to optimize the shape of an inlet-cone diffuser upstream of a catalytic converter to reduce the pressure drop and maximize the uniformity of exhaust gas distribution on the catalytic converter inlet. The objective of this study is to utilize shape optimization technology to quickly optimize design concept. This will eliminate the lengthy process of looping from CAD to mesh generation to solver. In this study Sculptor^™, the commercial shape optimization software is used to automatically adjust the shape of the cone diffuser and end-cone, which is coupled to commercial CFD software, Fluent^™. ICEM^™ CFD Hexa was used for the mesh generation.