Motor vehicles – Power
Reexamination Certificate
1996-01-19
2002-01-22
Griffin, Steven P. (Department: 1754)
Motor vehicles
Power
C180S068400, C055S356000, C055S385300, C096S228000, C423S210000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06340066
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a pollutant treating device for removing pollutants from a gas, especially ambient air flowing naturally through the engine compartment of a motor vehicle. The device contains a pollutant treating component including a catalyst and/or an adsorbent. The present invention is especially adapted to a renewable pollutant treating device used in automobiles which can be readily replaced and/or reused.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The removal of pollutants from a gas (e.g. air) requires that the gas moves in proximity to a material that can either chemically convert the pollutants to non-toxic materials and/or absorb the pollutants so that the gas may be cleansed. In order to provide conditions for the removal of pollutants from gases, it is necessary to have a flow of air and in some cases a source of heat to elevate the temperature of the gas flow to above a critical temperature particularly when using catalysts to promote chemical conversion of the pollutants.
Such devices employ catalytic materials to convert pollutants to non-toxic materials. Such catalysts include noble metal catalysts (e.g. platinum, rhodium and the like) as well as the less expensive base metal catalysts such as copper, iron, manganese and the like.
Systems employing catalysts for the removal of pollutants from gasoline and diesel exhaust are commonplace in the auto industry. Catalytic converters are devices which contain a catalytic material to promote the chemical conversion of such pollutants including hydrocarbons, sulfur compounds and nitrogen compounds to produce non-toxic gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapor and the like. Catalytic converters of the type employed in the automotive industry to treat engine exhaust are expensive and not readily replaceable. Currently, the EPA does not permit individuals to remove catalytic converters from motor vehicles. They are typically provided with relatively high concentrations of very expensive catalysts so that replacement over the life of the automobile is preferably not necessary.
It is also known in the art to use adsorbents to entrap pollutants within a maze of interstitial spaces while allowing air to pass therethrough. Examples of such adsorbents include activated carbon, silica, zeolites and the like.
While catalytic converters in automobiles are used to treat exhaust, there are generally no provisions for treating ambient air to remove pollutants such as hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and ozone contained therein. Such devices would have to be inexpensive compared to typical catalytic converters. Accordingly, the devices would have to employ generally less expensive catalytic materials and/or adsorbents and be readily replaceable and/or reusable.
It has been disclosed to treat atmospheric air directed into a confined space to remove undesirable components in the air. However, there has been little effort to treat pollutants which are already in the environment; the environment has been left to its own self cleansing systems. References are known which disclose proactively cleaning the environment. U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,088 discloses an air filtering assembly for cleaning pollution from the ambient air by utilizing a vehicle as a mobile cleaning device. A variety of elements are disclosed to be used in combination with a vehicle to clean the ambient air as the vehicle is driven through the environment. In particular, there is disclosed ducting to control air stream velocity and direct the air to various filter means. The filter means can include filters and electronic precipitators. Catalyzed postfilters are disclosed to be useful to treat nonparticulate or aerosol pollution such as carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons, nitrous oxide and/or sulfur oxides, and the like.
Another such reference is German Patent DE 43 18 738 which discloses using a motor vehicle as a carrier for conventional filters and/or catalysts to physically and chemically clean outside air.
Another approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,429. There is disclosed a mobile airborne air cleaning station. In particular this patent features a dirigible for collecting air. The dirigible has a plurality of different types of air cleaning devices contained therein. The air cleaning devices disclosed include wet scrubbers, filtration machines, and cyclonic spray scrubbers.
The difficulty with devices disclosed to proactively clean the atmospheric air is that they require new and additional equipment. Even the modified vehicle disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,088 requires ducting and filters which can include catalytic filters.
DE 40 07 965 C2 to Klaus Hager discloses a catalyst comprising copper oxides for converting ozone and a mixture of copper oxides and manganese oxides for converting carbon monoxide. The catalyst can be applied as a coating to a self heating radiator, oil coolers or charged-air coolers. The catalyst coating comprises heat resistant binders which are also gas permeable. It is indicated that the copper oxides and manganese oxides are widely used in gas mask filters and have the disadvantage of being poisoned by water vapor. However, the heating of the surfaces of the automobile during operation evaporates the water. In this way, continuous use of the catalyst is possible since no drying agent is necessary.
It would therefore be a significant advance in the art of removing pollutants from ambient air flowing through the engine compartment of a motor vehicle to provide a pollutant treating device that can be positioned within the normal flow patterns of the ambient air without the need to employ additional equipment for directing the ambient air flow.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is generally directed to an apparatus and method to treat the atmosphere. In particular, the present invention provides for the removal of atmospheric pollutants as they travel in normal flow patterns within the engine compartment of a motor vehicle. In accordance with the present invention the pollutants can be treated with a pollutant treating device that is convenient to use, relatively inexpensive and, in a preferred form of the invention, readily renewable. The pollutant treating device can remove pollutants from the atmosphere by catalytically promoting the conversion of the pollutants to harmless by-products and/or by adsorbing the pollutants.
More specifically the present invention is directed to a pollutant treating device positioned in the engine compartment of a motor vehicle which lies in at least one normal flow pattern of ambient air as it passes through the engine compartment. The pollutant treating device comprises at least one pollutant treating component in the form of a structure having a pollutant treating composition. The structure is positioned within a normal flow pattern of ambient air passing through the engine compartment and thereby is in flow communication with pollutants contained within the ambient air. The pollutant treating composition which may include a catalyst and/or an adsorbent converts and/or entraps the pollutants to thereby remove the same from the ambient air. The pollutant free ambient air is then returned to the atmosphere.
In accordance with an important aspect of the present invention the ambient air entering the engine compartment of the motor vehicle is allowed to flow through normal flow patterns within the engine compartment. In particular, there is no special equipment provided to the engine compartment for the purpose of directing the ambient air towards a particular location. Instead, the pollutant treating device of the present invention is positioned in at least one normal flow pattern of the ambient air so that its sole purpose is to enable effective contact between the pollutants and the pollutant treating composition.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the pollutant treating device is positioned in proximity to the radiator of the motor vehicle so as to be in flow communication with the ambient air passing into or out of the radiator. The pollutant treat
Dettling Joseph C.
Russo Robert V.
Spencer Michael
Steger John J.
Engelhard Corporation
Griffin Steven P.
Vanoy Timothy C
LandOfFree
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