Design, Development and Optimization of Exhaust System

Abstract

Main focus of this dissertation is to Design and Develop integrated catalytic converter and muffler, which is low costing, using CAD Modeling Software & fabrication of the same. Catalytic Converter is developed from metal oxides which are readily available in the local market. Modern cars are equipped with three way catalytic converters which are made from Platinum Group Metals (PGM) and Cerium Oxide (CeO2) [1,2]. These days platinum is used as a lead catalyst in the catalytic converter which is both costly and it agglomerates at working temperature of catalytic converter [3]. Aim of this work is to use metal oxides in place of the Platinum Group Metals (PGM) and oxides which are required to import such as CeO2 and use honeycomb structure formed by stacking hollow tubes made of stainless steel one over another so as to increase the contact area through which the exhaust gases pass and also causing laminar flow of exhaust gases to take place through the hollow tubes [4] in compare to conventional muffler in which resonating chambers are used which are harmonically tuned to cause destructive interference wherein opposite sound waves cancel each other out. In this work catalytic converter is developed based on catalyst material consisting of metal oxide namely kaolin (Al2O3•2SiO2) and Urea (CO(NH2)2), in Wire Mesh substrate type. Here Urea is used for reduction and Kaolin for oxidation of flue gases, in which Urea replaces PGM.