Investigation of electrically heating catalytic converter flow and temperature field performance improvement based on field synergy

To effectively improve the flow field uniformity inside the catalytic converter and the purification performance at low temperature, a new model of electrically heating multi-carrier catalytic converter is proposed. In this paper, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method is used to compare the performance of the conventional and optimized catalytic converter. Then, the effect of the working parameters on the internal temperature and NO conversion of the optimized catalytic converter is investigated. Finally, the synergistic relationship between the temperature gradient field and the flow field is explored by using the field synergy principle. The results of the study are as follows: (1) Compared with the conventional maximum gas uniformity index, the optimized catalytic converter is 0.0515 higher and the NO conversion is 14.07% higher; (2) With the increase of power, the flow rate, temperature and the NO conversion rate first increased and then decreased. With the increase of oxygen concentration, the NO conversion rate continued to increase; (3) Due to the shape and structure of the heater, the temperature gradient field and flow field angle cos β The region of −1 appears in the middle of the carrier, cos β 1 area appears in the front.