Patent ID: 7981174

Claim:
An exhaust particulate filter system comprising: a shell including an exhaust gas inlet and an exhaust gas outlet; an array of filter cartridges positioned within said shell and configured to filter exhaust gases passing between said exhaust gas inlet and said exhaust gas outlet, each of said filter cartridges including a tube having perforations therein, a fibrous metallic filter medium and at least one inlet fluidly connected with said exhaust gas inlet; a distribution element for exhaust gases disposed within said shell between said exhaust gas inlet and said exhaust gas outlet, said distribution element having a fixed configuration and being adapted to direct exhaust gases toward inlets of each of the filter cartridges of said array, said exhaust particulate filter defining a single exhaust gas distribution pattern which includes a fixed distribution of exhaust gases from said exhaust gas inlet to the inlets of each of said cartridges; and a filter regeneration system configured to selectively regenerate less than all of said filter cartridges at a time, said filter regeneration system being configured to connect with an electrical power source and including electrically powered heating elements coupled one with each of said filter cartridges; said exhaust particulate filter system having a first filter state in which a first subset of said heating elements is in a regeneration initiating electrical energy state, a second subset of said heating elements is in a second electrical energy state, and said exhaust gas inlet is fluidly connected with said exhaust gas outlet by way of said fixed distribution of exhaust gases; and said exhaust particular filter system having a second filter state in which the second subset is in the regeneration initiating electrical energy state and the first subset is in the second electrical energy state, and said exhaust gas inlet is fluidly connected with said exhaust gas outlet by way of said fixed distribution of exhaust gases.