Purification of internal combustion engine exhaust gas

Claim 1

Apparatus for purifying the exhaust gas from a cylinder of an internal combustion engine comprising a reactor of hollow, generally cylindrical form, a casing member surrounding the reactor and fixedly spaced therefrom to provide an annular space between the reactor and the casing member, at least one conduit extending through the said annular space and terminating at one end in an exhaust gas entrnace aperture of the reactor, and being adapted at its other end for conducting exhaust gas away from the engine, the gas conduit being inclined, at the confluence with the reactor, at an angle of less than 90* with a radius from the centre of the reactor whereby at least some exhaust gas entering the reactor from the conduit, during operation, is caused to flow substantially tangentially with respect to, or substantially parallel with, the inside wall of the reaction chamber, at least one pipe communicating with the annular space for the supply of air to the annular space, a plurality of apertures in the wall of the reactor for permitting cooling air to pass from the annular space into the reactor, the walls of each of said apertures being inclined, relative to respective radii from the centre of the reactor, at an angle of less than 90* and in the same sense as the said conduit whereby to cause at least some air passing into the reactor from said apertures to flow generally tangentially relative to, or generally parallel to, the inside wall of the reactor, an exhaust conduit extending at least between a gas escape orifice defined in the wall of the reactor, and an adjacent discharge orifice in the wall of the casing member.