Patent ID: 7543600

Claim:
An exhaust gas recirculation system comprising: a conduit defined by a wall for communicating air therethrough; an inlet passing through the wall of said conduit for introducing recirculating exhaust gas into said conduit; a valve body disposed within said conduit, said valve body being displaceable in a longitudinal direction with respect to said conduit at the inlet, and penetrating a plane lying on a longitudinal axis of the inlet and perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the conduit at the inlet, in order to at least partly occlude said inlet and to vary the extent of occlusion of said inlet in order to regulate flow of the recirculating exhaust gas into said conduit, thereby regulating a proportion of the air and the recirculating exhaust gas in a resulting mixed gas flow, wherein an active diffuser region is created within said conduit downstream of said inlet, wherein the valve body and the conduit define a venturi therebetween, and wherein the conduit has a cross-sectional area that decreases in the direction of flow in the conduit up to the inlet, such that the venturi has a throat proximate to the inlet independently of the position of the valve body whereby throttling of the air is greatest at the inlet independently of a position of said valve body; wherein said conduit includes a bend downstream of the body with respect to a direction of the mixed gas flow, and wherein the bend in said conduit begins in the vicinity of the active diffuser region; a substantially straight, substantially rigid holder operably connected at a first end thereof to a downstream end of said valve body, said holder passing through a bore in the wall of the conduit at the bend; and an actuator operably connected to a second end of the holder, said actuator causing, via said holder, said valve body to be displaced in the longitudinal direction.