990050

Catalytic Converter Design, Development & Optimisation using Computational Analysis and Engineering
S.Rajadurai, L.Geer, H . C h a n g , C . C h u n g and F.Pan Tenneco Automotive Engineering Center, Grass Lake, U S A

ABSTRACT Computational Analysis and Engineering using P-Cat, W A V E , HeatCad, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) are sequentially applied to design, develop, and optimize catalytic converter. P-Cat is used to estimate back pressure due to substrates, end cones, and inlet/outlet pipes. W A V E simulation is used to predict the exhaust system back pressure from the engine headface to tail pipe to estimate engine performance. Heatcad, a transient heat transfer analysis is used to simulate the temperature response in the exhaust system to locate the catalytic converter to achieve m a x i m u m performance. Heatcad analysis provides the easy w a y to identify thermal m a n a g e m e n t issues and to design and optimize the runner lengths, material thicknesses of the manifold and downpipes. Computational Fluid Dynamics ( C F D ) analysis, a powerful m e a n s of simulating complex fluid flow situations in the exhaust system, is used to design the converter inlet, outlet cones and the downpipes to obtain uniform exhaust gas flow to achieve m a x i m u m converter performance and reduce mat erosion. T h e uniformity index, velocity index (eccentricity) and pressure drop index predicted are used to optimize the geometry and orientation of the converter components. C F D analysis using heat transfer analysis with chemical reaction is used to identify and optimize insulation mounting material to achieve the targeted converter external shell skin temperature. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is used to predict structural mechanics and structural dynamics of the full exhaust system to give insight about the thermal fatigueness of the converter assembly. Heat transfer analysis performed with thermal, mechanical and road load conditions is used to predict the static and vibrational stresses of the converter components. I also provides information to t design the converter shell structure, cone geometry and material selection. F E A analysis using Explicit code is used to simulate the converter assembly process and to optimize manufacturing tool geometry.

INTRODUCTION The design success of the catalytic converter lies in its performance, durability, reliability, quality and warranty [1]. Securely mounting the catalytic converter within the constrained space is always the concern since i w a s introduced on the vehicle in 1975. Durable t catalytic converter mounting, using thinwall substrates, poses the challenge of developing new converter canning techniques [2,3]. Close coupled converters are being installed with fuel injected engines having three-valve and four-valve-per-cylinder heads instead of conventional two-valves-per-cylinder design. A s a consequence of these vehicle designs and the increasingly stringent emission requirements, close coupled converters are subjected to higher inlet gas temperatures and greater engine-induced vibrational and pressure pulsation force than the conventional underbody converters. Currenttechnology, close coupled catalysts are typically operating at higher temperatures than the earlier close coupled converters that benefited from fuel richening catalyst cooling strategies. High temperature mounting systems for effctive thermal mangements to maintain external skin temperature dictates the converter canners to c o m e up with system specific selected canning techniques [1]. Catalytic converter product development cycle starts with carry-over components and results well before acquiring engines. Conventional catalytic converter developments driven by trial and error attempts by experts w h o sucessfully employ heuristics (a set of empirical rules gained through time and experience) will not be able to meet the current demanding needs. The cost and time involved in testing every catalytic converter mandates n e w approaches aimed at improving efficiency and reducing development lead time. Deterministic computational modeling and engineering using P-Cat, W A V E , Heatcad, C F D and F E A provides major inroads to design, develop and optimize catalytic converter.

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CONVERTER DESIGN PROCESS

T h e catalytic converter design process given in Figure 1 illustrates the sequential steps involved in the converter design, development and manufacturing cycle. T h e process starts with the customer specific inputs such as vehicle information, engine characteristics and the Federal Test Procedure (FTP) data containing second by second raw emission, Air/Fuel ratio, exhaust gas m a s s flow rate, and temperature histogram. T h e design optimization criteria and material selection are based on the customer defined targets such as catalytic converter emission performance, pressure loss, durability, warranty, noise vibration and harshness requirements and cost.

Computational Analysis a n d Engineering ( C A E ) capabilities were used to identify and optimize the components of the catalytic converter. C A E capabilities used in our converter product development cycle is given in Table 1. Proper material selection using these computaional predictions eliminates material and design failure issues. T h e prototypes produced and validated using the computarized optimized soft-tools gives the validation confort level and eliminates unforeseen process delays. Verification of Design of Experiment ( D O E ) and production validation (PV) tests of the product produced from the production hard-tool satisfies the customer requirements without any product failures.

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D E S I G N OPTIMIZATION P - C A T A N A L Y S I S - P-Cat is a software used to predict the back pressure due to converter substrates,

end cones and inlet pipes. A representative P-Cat analysis spreadsheet of the dual substrate catalytic converter assembly is given in Figure 2 . Exhaust gas m a s s flow rate, temperature, substrate dimension, cell density and wall thickness are used to calculate the Reynold N u m b e r and the pressure drop across the substrates. Back pressure of a close coupled converter due to single and combination substrates with different cell densities and wall thicknesses were predicted to calculate the total pressure drop across the substrates. Figue 3 gives the relative pressure loss and substrate volume for equal geometric surface area (GSA) substrate combinations. This output is used in the W A V E simulation to estimate the back pressure of the full exhaust system.

W A V E M O D E L I N G - Engine performance and the exhaust system back pressure were predicted using W A V E simulation. A representative dual bank exhaust system to predict the engine performance using W A V E simulationis given in Figure 4 . T h e catalytic converter internals were optimized by predicting the system back pressure with different substrates in catalyst 1 and catalyst 2 in the Figure 4 configuration. Figure 5 gives the effect of substrates on engine perfromance. Susbstrates with 400 cells per square inch (cpsi) and 4 mil wall thickness as represented by 400/4 is compared with 600/4 and combination 900/2 and 400/4. A s seen in the graph, the engine performance at higher engine R P M conditions with high cell density substrates caused higher back pressure and lower engine performance. Since more than 6 0 % of the back pressure is caused by the substrates in the exhaust system, a proper selection of the cell densities is very critical to achieve m a x i m u m engine performance. Obviously the trade-off between the emission performance and the back pressure was carefully weighed to optimize the substrate shape, geometry, and cell densities. Thus computational simulation gives a tremendous time saving in optimizing the components of the catalytic converter.

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H E A T C A D A N A L Y S I S - A transient heat transfer model for exhaust systems based on m a s s flow rate and engine-out thermal parameters were used to predict the location of the catalytic converter. Heat transfer due to convective flow, convection heat transfer between exhaust gas and pipe wall, conduction within pipes along the axial direction and radiation to the ambient had been considered in this model [4-6]. The flow condition at each location of an exhaust pipe w a s determined by the independent variables such as velocity, density and pressure. T h e non-linear and hyperbolic governing equations of m a s s , m o m e n t u m and energy used here assumed the incompressible flow and quasi-staedy state conditions [7-9]. A typical example of locating a catalytic converter by optimizing runner lengths of the manifold using Heatcad prediction is discussed here. A monifold represented in Figure 6 w a s a 4-2-1 configuration used in the analysis. Other configurations such as 4-1 with single wall and thinwall air gap ( T W A G ) with different runner lengths were also used in the analysis. Results given in Figure 7 and 8 showing the temperature profiles for 20 seconds and 150 seconds clearly demonstrates the loss of temperature due to the runner length and configuration. T h e right length of the runners and the configuration suitable for the light-off performance needed w a s optimized using the transient response prediction.

CFD ANALYSIS OF THERMAL FLUID FLOW - I t is well known that the catalytic converter performance and the pressure drop are substantially affected by flow distribution of the exhaust gas within the substrate. Uniform gas flow can be achieved by careful design of the hot end of the exhaust system specifically the catalytic converter cones and the downpipes [10]. T h e computational m e s h consists of 8 0 K cells, which includes the fluid, substrate, mat and the shell. The m e s h w a s generated using I C E M C F D . Star-CD w a s incorporated with all theoretical models to d o the analysis. A porous media model w a s used to treat the substrate in the flow analysis, which represents a pressure resistance to the fluid. T h e flow within the substrate channel w a s assumed to be laminar and fully developed. The model parameters were calculated based on the substrate properties: the material, cell density, wall thickness and coating. Flow uniformity can be defined in several ways. By defining a flow uniformity index C d , the effect of the geometry of the exhaust manifold and converter on flow maldistribution at the inlet cross-section of the monolith could be better understood. T h e average velocity of the inlet space is calculated as follows. where Vi is the velocity component in the stream V is the direction for a single cell and n is the total number of cells at the selected plane. A local uniformity index for a single cell is then defind as; T h e uniformity index C d is then calculated using Hence, C d has values from zero (worst case) to one (unifrom flow). T h e four functional advantages to uniform flow distribution are: i) available catalyst volume is maximised for chemical reactivity, ii) highly concentrated and localised flow are minimized, iii) exhaust back pressure is minimized and iv) excessive temperature gradients are minimized. A more uniform flow increases the useful life of the catalyst, while reducing the risk of "in-use" emissions and/or thermal, mechanical, and chemical durability failures.

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Characteristics for efficient flow defines high velocity flow area as the area where the minimum flow velocity is 6 5 % of the m a x i m u m flow velocity and the low velocity area as the area where the m i n i m u m flow velocity is 3 5 % of the maximim flow velocity. By rule of thumb, the high velocity area must utilize 4 0 % of the catalyst frontal area and the low velocity flow must utilize about 9 0 % of the catalyst frontal area. Velocity Index, the "location" of the peak velocity point relative to the center of the catalyst is defined as the location within 3 0 % of the distance from the catalyst center to the extremities of either axis of the catalyst. A n example of the flow distribution with different downpipe geometries is given in Figure 9. A baseline case and modified versions of the d o w n pipes were studied to understand the velocity and the flow profile of the exhaust gas. A s seen in Figure 9, the baseline case with bend in the inltet downpipe gave the turbulent flow and higher backpressure whereas the smooth modified case gave uniform flow and less back pressure. Figure 1 0 s u m m a r i z e s the flow uniformity index, eccentricity index and pressure drop index for various configurations from which test case 1 w a s selected as the optimized system for better performance.

A n example of the converter cone design using C F D analysis is given in Figure 11. Flowed inlet and outlet cones w e r e chosen a s baseline case, t w o different straight inlet and outlet cones were used as modified cases. Velocity magnitude index, uniformity index and pressure contour index comparisons of the baseline a n d modified c a s e s are given in Figures 12-14. About 2 3 % pressure drop benfit w a s observed in the straight cone system.

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The conjugate heat transfer model w a s used for the thermal analysis, which simulates the convection between the exhaust gas and mat, the conduction in the mat and shell, the convection and radiation between the shell and ambient air, and the heat transfer between the gas and substrate. T h e heat transfer coefficient between the gas and substrate is fixed to value based o n a laminar Nusselt N u m b e r (Nu). A Langmuir-Hinshelwood type second-order surface reaction model w a s used to simulate the chemical reaction taking place on the substrate surface. T h e m a s s transfer coefficient between the gas and the substrate surface w a s calculated using a laminar S h e r w o o d N u m b e r (Sh). In this study, the three-dimensional compressible turbulent flow w a s analyzed with the heat transfer and chemical reactions for both the static and transient simulations. Figure 1 5 displays the temperature distribution without chemical reaction for a static simulation. It gives the temperature of the skin, mat, substrate and the fluid. The temperature of the fluid and substrate is the s a m e at the s a m e space position. Figure 1 6 s h o w s the temperature distribution with chemical reactions for a static simulation. It can b e seen that the m a x i m u m temperature is increased by 65C d u e to the heat released from the chemical reactions. T h e substrate has higher temperature than the corresponding fluid due to the chemical reaction simulation.

Figure 17 shows the temperature evolution in the light-off period. T h e time is 3 0 , 7 0 , 110 and 1 5 0 seconds after the engine start respectively. It shows the substrate thermal response to the inlet heat and also the chemical reactions. T h e substrate reaches the highest temperature and becomes steady in about 3 minutes. It takes about 2 0 minutes for the skin to reach the steady temperature value.

Figure 18 shows the CO concentration varying with time for a specific catalyst formulation. T h e time is 5 , 1 5 , 2 0 a n d 3 5 s e c o n d s after the engine start respectively. Since the inlet temperature is very high, the chemical reactions on the substrate surface take place very soon and the concentrations reaches the steady state quickly. O n c e the steady state is reached, the emission is very low. Figure 1 9 s h o w s the conversion efficiency of C O and C 3 H 6 used to simulate the substrate midbed temperature. By careful selection of the light-off behaviours and the initial concentrations, a required midbed temperature could be simulated to predict the external skin temperature. It should be noted that the effective reaction of the catalyst formulation is

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a function of m a n y different variables which is system specific. This model is only a temperature simulator for a required mid-bed temperature. Heat transfer analysis using the simulated mid-bed temperature w a s used to predict the external skin temperature of the shell. A mounting mat basis weight of 8140 g / m 2 for a typical close coupled converter with inlet gas temperature 1050 C w a s selected based on this prediction.

Of special consideration w a s the converter assembly's behavior at high operating temperature. Figure 21 shows an example of a hot end system model including the converter assembly. The skin temperature of a converter assembly at operating condition sometimes could reach 700C. Under such conditions, the thermal stress/strain occurs due to the thermal expansion and the constraints of the system. H o w the converter assembly w a s placed in an exhaust system and h o w the exhaust system was mounted to the vehicle body/chassis usually had a profound impact on the thermal stress/strain level in the converter assembly and the exhaust system.

FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS - I order t n o investigate the durability of a converter, the necessity of studying the converter from a full system point of view had been recognized. T h e loading which the converter assembly is exposed to were from the full system loading, such as engine movement, engine/road vibration as well a s thermal expansion load, etc. Figure 2 0 gives the influence of the load conditions on the exhaust system to the converter assembly.

CONVERTER CANNING PROCESS SIMULATION The canning process has a substantial impact on the quality and performance of the converter, since the pressure distribution o n the substrate, the G B D distribution in the mounting mats are affected by the converter shell design, canning tool design, as well as the closing speed and load. In order to prevent substrate breakage during the converter assembly closing process and to maintain the desired mat G B D , these critical variables need to be carefully controlled. A n example of the F E model of a shoebox converter assembly with a oval substrate during canning is shown in the Figure 22.

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This f l model includes the converter shells, the mat, ul the seals, and the substrate. In this model, the converter shells and the substrates were modeled as undeformable surfaces. The mat and the seals were modeled using solid elements with material properties assigned according to experimental measurement conducted by mat supplier. The canning process was simulated using displacement control, achieving a desired gap between the shells and the substrate. ABAQUS/Explicit code w a s used to conduct the analysis. The stress distribution on the mats and seals and the pressure distribution on the substrates were determined; c i i a parameters predicted rtc l in the canning process was used to optimize the tool and manufacturing process.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors are greatful to Tenneco Management for the constant encouragement and support to perfrom advanced converter development work. REFERENCES 1. Locker,R.J., Sawyer,C.B., "Qualification of ceramic pre-converter hot vibration and durability," S A E 960563 2. Ryan, M.J., Becker, E.R., and Zygourakis,K.,"lightoff performance of catalytic converters, The effect of heat / m a s s transfer characteristics," S A E 910610 3. John D . Ten Eyck, " Monolithic catalytic converter mounting arrangement," U S Patent 4,863700, Sep.5, 1989 4. 5. 6. 7. Robertson,D.F., " A study of thermal energy conservation i exhaust pipes," S A E 790307, n 1979. Wendland, D . W . , " Automotive exhaust system steady state heat transfer," S A E 931085,1993. Chen, D . K. S . , " A numerical model for thermal problems in exhaust systems,' S A E 931070 Incropera, F. P. and Dewitt, D . P., Fundamentals of heat and mass transfer, Third Edition, John Wiley & Sons, 8. 1990. Ball, D . J., "Distribution of warm-up and underfloor catalyst volumes," S A E 922338, San Francisco, California, 1992. 9. Zucrow, M . J. and Hoffman, J. D., "Gas Dynamics," Volumel, John Wiley and Sons 10. Bressler,H., R a m m o s e r , D . , 1976. Neumaier,H., and

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

() i P-Cat is used to optimize the substrate size, cell density, and wall thickness of the catalytic converter with minimum back pressure. W A V E simulation is used to predict the effect of substrates in the f l exhaust system back pressure ul and engine performance. Heatcad analysis is used to design and optimize the manifold of the exhaust system and to locate the catalytci converter at the right place for maximum lg t o f performance. i h- f C F D i used to design the downpipes and the cones s of the converter for the desired uniformity index, eccentricity index and pressure index. C F D is also used to predict the external skin temperature of the catalytic converter shell with chemical reaction for the given i l t gas temperature ne to choose the insulation mat for the system. F E A is used to predict the influence of system vibration on the structural stresses of the converter assembly. F E A is used to simulate the converter canning process and tool design.

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Terres.R., "Experimental and predictive investigation of a close coupled converter with pulsating flow," S A E 960564,1996

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