Patent ID: 7165539

Claim:
Air inlet module incorporating, in one structural unit, on the one hand, an inlet manifold or distributor with a supply conduit, on the other hand, a circuit for the controlled reinjection and mixing of exhaust gases in the fresh air admitted by the inlet manifold and, finally, a gas/liquid heat exchanger designed to cool the exhaust gases before they are mixed with the optionally turbocompressed, air admitted, said exchanger being composed substantially of several exhaust gas circulation manifolds mounted in a hollow container forming a tank and receiving a cooling liquid circulating around said circulation manifolds, the module comprising a sealed assembly of at most four parts, namely, a first part made of a plastic material comprising the inlet manifold, the outlet manifolds thereof, a portion of the supply conduit opening into said inlet manifold, a second part comprising the many circulation manifolds and a support body for positioning and assembling said manifolds in the tank to form the exchanger, a third part made of a metallic material of which one portion forms a cover for the hollow open container and comprising a plurality of conduit portions forming at least part of an exhaust gas circulation circuit incorporating the circulation manifolds and conveying the exhaust gases in the inlet manifold or in the conduit supplying said manifold, and a fourth part made up of a hollow body forming an open container and part of the tank of the exchanger, the conduit portions also defining a bypass channel, allowing the flow of exhaust gases to bypass or short-circuit the circulation manifolds; the third part comprising, in addition, an exhaust gas flow by-pass or diversion component of which the position determines the circulation of these gases through the manifolds or through the by-pass channel, the actuating device of this component being also mounted on said third constituent part.