Combination exhaust gas turbine-catalytic converter

Abstract

An exhaust turbine for an internal combustion engine, which may either serve as a compressor for turbocharging or a turbogenerator for a hybrid vehicle, has its turbine surfaces and the internal surfaces of the exhaust turbine housing coated with a catalyst so the exhaust gases are treated to catalytic conversion as they pass through the exhaust turbine. The turbine wheel is equipped with a disk-like slinger at its input end that carries particulate matter in the exhaust outward radially into a particulate trap and combustion chamber formed on the interior of the turbine housing. The combustion chamber is heated by the exhaust gases and artificial heating such as electrical heating may be used to preheat the chamber. The combustion products from the burned particulate matter are added to the exhaust.

1 . An exhaust turbine driven by the exhaust of an internal combustion engine, having a catalytic coating on the turbine surface which contacts the exhaust gases to catalytically reduce noxious products in the gases. 
   
   
       2 . The turbine of  claim 1  wherein the catalyst includes metal from the group consisting of platinum, palladium, rhodium, and vanadium. 
   
   
       3 . The exhaust gas turbine of  claim 1  wherein the catalyst constitutes a zeolite. 
   
   
       4 . The exhaust gas turbine of  claim 1  having a radially extending slinger disposed at its input end and a radially inward directed particulate trap formed in the turbine housing in opposition to the radially outward end of the slinger, whereby particulate matter combined with the exhaust is directed radially outward into the trap where it is combusted and added to the input exhaust gases.