Patent ID: 7004987
Filing Date: 2006-02-28
Classification: B01D,F02M,Y02A

Abstract:
1. A pre-clean for an air induction system of an internal combustion engine, comprising: a housing enclosing an upper chamber and an aspirator port chamber; the upper chamber containing a plurality of particulate separator tubes arranged in a predetermined array, each of the tubes including a particulate outlet through which particles removed from air flowing through the tube en route to the engine are discharged, the aspirator port chamber being located beneath and upwardly open to the particulate outlets and including an upwardly facing particle collecting surface located directly beneath the particulate outlets such that discharged particles can fall from the tubes into the aspirator port chamber and onto the upwardly facing particle collecting surface, the housing including a generally horizontally facing aspirator port in the aspirator port chamber adjacent to and facing the particle collecting surface, and an element disposed for connecting the aspirator port to an exhaust tract of the internal combustion engine such that the exhaust flow through the exhaust tract will generate a suction condition in the aspirator port when the engine is operated, wherein the aspirator port has a predetermined vertical extent and the particle collecting surface has a horizontal extent in a direction substantially aligned with the aspirator port sufficiently greater than the vertical extent of the aspirator port such that when the suction condition is inadequate for drawing particles from the collecting surface into the aspirator port the particles can collect and settle on the particle collecting surface so as to form an upwardly facing particle surface adjacent to the aspirator port which is oriented at an angle of from about zero to about thirty degrees to horizontal in the direction toward the aspirator port so as to allow sufficient flow through the aspirator port and such that the collected particles can later be drawn into the aspirator port by a stronger suction condition generated by the exhaust flow when present.