Patent ID: 7470407

Claim:
A reducing apparatus for carbon particles having one or more filters housed in an outer cylindrical casing set between an upstream portion and a downstream portion of an exhaust pipe for the exhaust gas and comprised of a flexible wire mesh structure of predetermined mesh density of from between 10% and 35% based on cubic volume and constructed of wire of a diameter between 0.2 mm and 0.8 mm, which captures, accumulates, oxidizes, burns, and reduces the carbon particles contained in the exhaust gas of a diesel engine, characterized in that the filter is formed by rolling a belt of mesh to form layers surrounding an open central through-hole into a substantially toroidal-shape, a shielding plate for partitioning the inside of the outer cylindrical casing in the lateral direction on the downstream side of the filter and at least one exhaust duct extending from a central through hole in said filter to the downstream portion of the exhaust pipe, wherein the exhaust gas flows from an outer peripheral side of the filter through the layers of mesh to the central through-hole side thereof and to the downstream portion of the exhaust pipe via said at least one exhaust duct and inwardly in the opposite direction through the mesh past said shielding plate; wherein the capture rate and the reduction rate of the carbon particles are set between 5% and 80%; the apparatus further comprising a pair of holding plates for blocking and holding the two ends of the filter, and wherein the holding plates hold a pair of exhaust ducts for communicating between the central through-hole of the filter and the downstream side of the exhaust pipe via the two holding plates and the shielding plate; wherein the filter is disposed on an axis perpendicular to an axis of the outer cylindrical casing.