Patent ID: 8007556

Claim:
A filter body, particularly for filtering particulates present in the exhaust gases of an internal combustion engine, comprising: a plurality of one-piece blocks; and seals assembled with said blocks, a nature of a material of said seals being different from a nature of a material of said blocks, the plurality of said blocks each comprising a plurality of flow channels for said exhaust gases, each of said flow channels being bounded by a respective side wall, a plug, and an opening terminating outwardly, wherein a side wall of a flow channel defines a boundary on all sides in a transverse cross-section for surrounding an internal volume of the flow channel, wherein the plurality of flow channels of each block comprises internal channels and at least one reinforced channel, a first portion of the side wall of the at least one reinforced channel comprising a reinforcement compared to all other portions of said side wall, said first portion having an external face defining an exterior of the block, and a ratio of a thickness of said first portion to a thickness of said other portions, in the transverse cross-section, being always between 1.1 and 3, the thickness of the other portions being identical to a thickness of side walls of the internal channels, wherein the filter body comprises a plurality of adjacent reinforced channels arranged so that each said first portion of said reinforced channels form a continuous reinforcing partition, a thickness of said reinforcing partition being substantially constant, wherein said reinforcement is substantially constant for all the reinforced channels of a group in any transverse plane of section and/or in any longitudinal plane, and wherein inlet channels of the plurality of flow channels each have a shape in the transverse cross-section, outlet channels of the plurality of flow channels each have a shape in the transverse cross-section, and the shape of the inlet channels is different than that of the outlet channels.