Patent ID: 7357829

Claim:
A method for dislodging trapped particulate matter from a diesel particulate filter, the method comprising: a) charging a storage tank with a gas to superatmospheric pressure; b) placing a face at one end of a flow path through a trapping medium of the diesel particulate filter in communication with the superatmospheric gas charge in the storage tank via a gas flow path containing a valve that is selectively operable to a closed condition closing the flow path and to an open condition opening the flow path and that comprises a diaphragm to which the superatmospheric gas charge in the storage tank is applied to provide force for unseating a valve element from a seat when the valve operates from closed condition to open condition; c) operating the valve from closed condition to open condition to allow the gas charge in the storage tank to discharge through the gas flow path and the flow path through the trapping medium and maintaining the open condition long enough to allow a majority of the charge in the tank to discharge; and d) repeating steps a), b), and c); including placing a face at an opposite end of the flow path through the trapping medium in communication with a particulate collector and collecting particulate matter dislodged from the medium by the discharge of the gas charge through the trapping medium; wherein the step of placing a face at an opposite end of the flow path through the trapping medium in communication with a particulate collector comprises communicating the interior of a filter bag to the face at the opposite end of the flow path through the trapping medium to collect articulate matter in the interior of the bag; and including placing the trapping medium in a saddle capable of holding trapping media having different diameters, and using one or more straps to secure the trapping medium in the cradle.