Patent ID: 8609002

Claim:
A method of plugging a honeycomb body comprising the steps of: a) providing a source of plugging material in fluid communication with a plugging material control module configured to adjustably control at least the pressure at a dispensing area; b) providing a plugging device including i) a plugging chamber in fluid communication with the source of plugging material, the plugging chamber including a wall with a first plurality of apertures, ii) a shutter plate including a second plurality of apertures, and iii) a plugging piston configured to reciprocate within the plugging chamber; c) moving the shutter plate to a closed orientation wherein the second plurality of apertures are not aligned with the first plurality of apertures and are blocked by the wall of the plugging chamber; d) moving the plugging piston to a predetermined start position relative to the shutter plate within the plugging chamber with plugging material being added into the dispensing area from the source of plugging material until a predetermined volume of plugging material is charged in the dispensing area defined between the plugging piston and the wall of the plugging chamber; e) moving the shutter plate to an open orientation wherein the first plurality of apertures are aligned with the second plurality of apertures; f) moving the plugging piston from the predetermined start position to an extended position while the shutter plate is in the open orientation such that at least about 50% of the predetermined volume of plugging material is discharged from the dispensing area to plug the honeycomb body during a single plugging cycle; and g) operating the plugging material control module to adjustably maintain a pressure of the plugging material within the dispensing area from between greater than 0 psi to about 200 psi sufficient to minimize the uncontrolled flow of plugging material and to prevent voids from occurring within the dispensing area when the shutter plate is moved between the closed orientation and the open orientation at the beginning of the plugging cycle.