Exhaust Cleaning System for Marine Propulsion Engine

This invention relates to an exhaust cleaning system for a mrine propulsion engine and particularly to a catalytic exhaust system for such an engine.

In watercraft it is well known that the exhaust gases from the powering internal combustion engine are silenced and cooled by an exhaust system which may include a water jacket that surrounds at least a part of the exhaust system and/or by the discharge of liquid coolant into the exhaust gases for discharge back into the body of water in which the watercraft is operating along with the exhaust gases. The exhaust gas discharge is either disposed below the water level or in proximity to it. Although this type of exhaust system is quite advantageous, there are some disadvantages with it and certain problems which may arise.

For example, it is desirable to provide a catalyzer in the exhaust system so as to insure against the emission of unwanted exhaust gas constituents either into the atmosphere or into the body of water in which the watercraft is operating. Catalyzers are particularly useful in conjunction with two cycle engines wherein there may be lubricating oil mixed with the exhaust gases. The catalyzer can render the lubricating oil relatively harmless to the atmosphere in addition to treating the exhaust gases themselves.

However, most catalyzers operate with ceramic type beds and if any water strikes the catalyzer bed, the bed can shatter or become damaged. This is particularly true because of the high temperature at which the catalyzer bed must be at to be operative. These problems are particularly acute with certain types of watercraft which, by their sporting nature, may be capsized and easily righted. During such capsizing operation, water can enter the exhaust system and when the watercraft is again righted, the water can flow back to the catalyzer and cause it damage, as aforenoted.

FIG. 1 of the drawings shows a small watercraft of the type with which the problem aforenoted is particularly relevant, with the watercraft being identified generally by the reference numeral 11. The watercraft 11 includes a hull 12 having a rearwardly positioned seat 13 on which one or more riders may sit in straddle, tandem fashion. A watercraft control, such as a handle bar assembly 14, is positioned forwardly of the seat 13 for controlling the steering of the watercraft and the speed.

The watercraft hull 12 defines an engine compartment that is positioned forwardly of the seat 13 and which contains an internal combustion engine 14 of any known type. For example, the engine 14 may be a two cylinder in-line engine operating on the two stroke principal. The engine 14 has a drive shaft that coupled to an impeller shaft of a jet propulsion unit, indicated generally by the reference numeral 15 and positioned in a tunnel 16 at the rear underside of the hull 12 for powering the watercraft 11 in a known manner.

Conventionally, the engine 14 is provided with an exhaust system which transfers the exhaust gases from the exhaust port to an exhaust discharge and a portion of this exhaust system constructed in accordance with a prior art type of construction is shown in FIG. 2. As may be seen in this figure, the engine 14 has a pair of exhaust ports 17 that discharge into a combined exhaust manifold and expansion chamber 18. An exhaust elbow, indicated generally by the reference numeral 19 delivers these exhaust gases to a further expansion chamber device, indicated generally by the reference numeral 21. It should be noted that the exhaust manifold 18, exhaust elbow 19 and expansion chamber device all have a double walled construction and form respective cooling jackets 22, 23 and 24 each of which receive coolant from the engine 14 in a well known manner. The coolant may be delivered to the cooling jackets 22, 23 and 24 by independent conduits or the coolant may be delivered to one or both of the cooling jackets 22 and 23 in series or parallel fashion from the engine cooling jacket and then delivered to the cooling jacket 24 of the expansion chamber 21.

This coolant from the cooling jackets 22, 23 and 24 is normally discharged back into the exhaust gases that flow from the exhaust port 17 and as may be seen in FIG. 2, the expansion chamber 21 has an inner shell 25 that has a discharge opening 26 that communicates with an outlet pipe 27 but which passes through the cooling jacket 24 so that the engine coolant will be mixed with the exhaust gases as they pass through the exhaust outlet 27. A flexible conduit 28 extends from the exhaust outlet 27 rearwardly as will be described in conjunction with FIG. 1. The cooling jackets 22, 23 and 24 effectively cool the exhaust gases and also insure that the manifold 18, elbow 19 and expansion chamber 21, which are all positioned within the hull 12, will not be overheated.

Referring now again to FIG. 1, it should be seen that the flexible exhaust conduit 28 extends to a water trap device 29 positioned at the rear portion of the hull. The water trap device 29 has an outlet portion 31 that extends to the tunnel 16 so as to deliver the exhaust gases and entrained coolant back to the atmosphere and body of water in which the watercraft is operating.

The type of watercraft 11 is very sporting in nature and can be easily capsized and righted. The water trap device 29 insures that water which may enter the exhaust outlet 31 will not pass back to the exhaust port 17 and interiorly to the engine. However, since coolant from the engine is discharged into the flexible conduit 28, such inversion and righting can cause water from the engine coolant jacket to flow backwardly into the expansion chamber 21, elbow 19 and exhaust manifold 18 and thus possibly enter the engine.

It is desirable to provide a catalyzer, as aforenoted, for treating the exhaust gases and with the aforedescribed construction, water from the cooling jackets 22, 23 and 24 may easily impinge upon the catalyst and damage it.

It, therefore, a principal object to this invention to provide an improved exhaust system for a watercraft wherein a catalyzer may be employed and the catalyzer will be protected from possible damage from the coolant present in the exhaust system and/or water from the body of water in which the watercraft is operating.

It is a further object to this invention to provide an improved catalytic exhaust cleaning system for a marine propulsion engine.

It is a yet further object to this invention to provide an improved exhaust cleaning system for an engine that embodies a catalyzer and an effective device for insuring that the exhaust system may be partially cooled by the engine coolant but this engine coolant cannot come into contact with the catalyzer.

This invention is adapted to be embodied in a an exhaust system for a watercraft that is comprised of a hull containing an internal combustion engine and having at least one exhaust port. The exhaust system is comprised of an exhaust conduit having an inlet end communicating with the exhaust port for receiving exhaust gases therefrom and an outlet end for discharging the exhaust gases to the atmosphere in proximity to the body of water in which the watercraft is operating in at least some conditions of the watercraft. The exhaust conduit includes means defining an expansion chamber and a tube containing a catalyzer bed communicating at one end with the expansion chamber and through which the exhaust gases must pass. Means are provided for precluding water in the exhaust conduit from entering the tube end and impinging on the catalyzer bed.

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a watercraft showing the environment of the invention with portions broken away so as to show the engine and its exhaust system and the jet propulsion unit in solid lines.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross sectional view showing a prior art type of exhaust system for a watercraft of the type shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view, in part similar to FIG. 2, and shows a first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view, in part similar to FIGS. 2 and 3, and shows a second embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view, in part similar to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, and shows yet another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view, in part similar to FIGS. 2 through 5, and shows a further embodiment of the invention.

Before proceeding to a detailed description of the four preferred embodiments of the invention as specifically illustrated in FIGS. 3 through 6, it should be noted that these figures show a similar area as that shown in FIG. 2 and embody some components which are the same or substantially the same as the prior art type of construction. Where that is the case, these components which are the same or substantially the same as those employed in the prior art have been identified by the same reference numerals and will be described again only insofar as is necessary to understand the construction and operation of the various preferred embodiments.

Basically, the invention deals with portions for replacing the expansion chamber 21 and its communication with the flexible conduit 28. A first embodiment of construction of this type is show in FIG. 3 and includes an expansion chamber, indicated generally by the reference numeral 51. The expansion chamber 51 is provided with an inner wall portion 52 that defines a first expansion chamber 53 that communicates directly with the exhaust elbow 19 through a megaphone section 54. A second expansion chamber portion 55 is spaced from the first expansion chamber portion 53 with the expansion chamber portions 53 and 55 having facing walls 56 through which a tube 57 extends for transfer of exhaust gases from the expansion chamber 53 to the expansion chamber 55. A catalyzer bed 58 of a suitable configuration is positioned within the tube 57 so that all exhaust gases passing from the expansion chamber 53 to the expansion chamber 55 must come into contact with the catalyzer bed 58.

The expansion chamber device 51 has an outer shell 59 that is spaced from the inner shell 52 and which defines a cooling jacket 61 which receives water from the elbow cooling jacket 23 through a small bleed port 62.

The expansion chamber device 51 has a discharge portion 63 which extends generally at a right angle to the tube 57 and catalyzer bed 58 and which is comprised of an inner pipe 64 which forms a part of the inner shell 52 and an outer pipe that defines a further extension of the cooling jacket 61 around this inner pipe 64. The inner pipe 64 conveys only exhaust gases to a third expansion chamber 65 of an expansion chamber device, indicated generally by the reference numeral 66. The expansion chamber device 66 is formed with an internal baffle 67 for a purpose to be described. Also, an internal baffle 68 may be provided in the expansion chamber 55 in confronting relationship across the tube 57 for protecting the catalyst bed 58 in a manner which will be described.

The expansion chamber device 66 and specifically its expansion chamber 65 is provided with a discharge port 68 which extend parallel to the inlet port formed by the pipe 64 but which is offset to it. The flexible conduit 28 is connected in communication with the discharge port 68 but spaced outwardly from it to define a water discharge gap 69 through which coolant may be discharged from a cooling jacket 71 formed between the inner shell and an outer shell 72 of the expansion chamber device 66. A further water discharge passage 73 may be provided for discharging some water independently of the exhaust gases.

As should be readily apparent, the water trap device 29 (FIG. 1) will insure that water from the body of water in which the watercraft is operating cannot flow forwardly to contact the catalyst bed 58 if the water trap becomes inverted and is again righted. However, since coolant from the cooling jackets 22, 23, 61 and 71 are discharged into the exhaust conduit 28, if the watercraft is inverted and the engine is stopped there can be water accumulate in the exhaust conduit 28. The construction is such to insure that this water, however, cannot contact the catalyst bed 58 upon such inversion and/or righting.

First, the pipes 64 and 69 of the expansion chamber device 66 are offset from each other and the pipe 64 extends into the expansion chamber 65 so that any water that accumulates therein in an inverted state cannot pass into the pipe 64. Further, the offsetting and the interposed baffle 67 will insure that water cannot pass directly from the pipe 68 to the pipe extension 64. Furthermore, any water which may somehow pass back into the expansion chamber 55 will be prevented from impending on the catalyst bed 58 by the further baffle 68. Hence, the catalyzer material is well protected and damage will not occur.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment which is basically similar to the embodiment of FIG. 3 and, therefore, components of this embodiment which are the same or substantially the same as the previously described embodiment have been identified by the same reference numerals and will be described again only insofar as is necessary to understand the construction and operation of this embodiment.

In this embodiment, the construction of the interior of the expansion chamber device 66 differs slightly from that of the embodiment of FIG. 3 and thus only this portion of the construction need be described in detail. It should be noted, however, that a flexible joint 101 is provided in the conduit 63 that interconnects the expansion chamber 51 with the expansion chamber device 66. In this embodiment, a gravity biased valve 102 having a pendulum mass 103 is positioned in confronting relationship to the extension of the pipe 64 that extends into the expansion chamber 65. The pendulum 103 normally biases the valve 102 to its open position. However, if the watercraft becomes inverted, the pendulum 103 will close the valve 102 and preclude any water which may enter the expansion chamber 65 from passing into the pipe section 64 and into the expansion chamber 55. Again, the baffle 68 further assist in insuring that any water which may escape into this area will not impinge upon the catalyst bed 58. When the watercraft is righted, the water can drain out of the expansion chamber 65 into the conduit 28 and the valve 102 will then be biased back to its open position by the gravity. Hence, this embodiment is also effective in insuring good protection for the catalyst bed 58.

In the embodiments of FIGS. 3 and 4, the expansion chamber device 66 has been positioned vertically beneath the expansion chamber device 51. In some arrangements, a reverse positioning may be desirable and FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of such a construction wherein the protection of the catalyst bed 58 is insured. This embodiment has many features in common with those of the embodiments of FIGS. 3 and 4 and where elements are the same or substantially the same, they have been identified by the same reference numerals and will be described again in detail only insofar as is necessary to understand the construction and operation of this embodiment.

In this embodiment, a further expansion chamber device, indicated generally by the reference numeral 151 is positioned vertically above the expansion chamber 55 of the expansion chamber device 51. A vertically upwardly extending pipe section 152 interconnects the expansion chamber 55 with an expansion chamber 153 formed by the expansion chamber device 151. The expansion chamber 153 communicates with the flexible conduit 28 through a pipe section 154 with a water flow gap 156 being positioned therebetween.

A cooling jacket 157 through which coolant from the cooling jacket 61 of the expansion chamber device 51 may flow is provided. This coolant will normally flow under the pressure of the exhaust gases out of the flexible conduit 28. However, if the engine is stopped due to either inversion and righting of the watercraft or for any other reason, coolant may flow back into the expansion chamber 53.

To prevent this coolant from impacting on the catalyst bed 58, there is provided a vertically extending baffle 158 in the expansion chamber 53 that defines a first well "a" to one side of the pipe extension 152 in which water may accumulate to the illustrated level. If water flows over the top of the baffle 158 it will be collected in a further well "b" formed around the extension of the pipe 152 and thus trapped so that it will not flow into the expansion chamber 55 which is now vertically below it.

For further protection, a baffle 159 may be provided in the expansion chamber 55 that provides a still further well "c" in which water may accumulate. Thus, the series of water traps in this system will insure that water cannot impinge upon the catalyst bed 58. In addition, the baffles 158 and 159, pipe extension 152 and offset of the pipes 152 and 154 will assist in insuring that water cannot return back in the exhaust system and impact on the catalyst bed 58. Of course, once the engine is restarted, any water accumulating in the wells a, b and c will be vaporized and pass out of the flexible conduit 28 back into the atmosphere or body of water in which the watercraft is operating.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the invention which has the same relationship to the embodiment of FIG. 5 with the embodiment of FIG. 4 has to FIG. 3. That is, rather than baffling in the further expansion chamber device 161, water protection is provided by employing a gravity biased valve. Because this is the main distinction between the embodiments of FIGS. 5 and 6, only this different construction will be described and components which are the same or substantially the same have been identified by the same reference numerals.

In this embodiment, the connecting section 63 between the expansion chamber device 51 and the expansion chamber 155 includes a flexible coupling. The pipe extension 152 has associated with it a control valve 201 which is offset relative to its pivot axis and which is biased to a close position by a pendulum mass 202. In this construction, when the engine is running the pressure of the exhaust gases will cause the valve 201 to open and normal exhaust flow can occur. However, the minute the engine 14 stops, the valve 201 will pivot to its closed position under the operation of the pendulum 202 and any water which may accumulate in the expansion chamber 153 cannot flow back into the expansion chamber 55 nor will it be able to contact the catalyst bed 58.

It should be readily apparent from the foregoing description that the described embodiments of the invention are extremely effective in insuring good catalytic treatment of the exhaust gases of a small watercraft which may become inverted and righted and which has coolant discharged into the exhaust system. However, the construction is such that no water can reach and damage the catalyst bed regardless of whether the watercraft is inverted and righted or not. Of course, the foregoing description is that of preferred embodiments of the invention and various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.