Claims:1. A phase change material container (10), said phase change material container
10 (10) comprising:
a bottom plate (12);
a phase change material (14) applied on said bottom plate (12), said phase
change material (14) adapted to transform its phase from a solid phase to a
semi-solid phase by absorbing heat from exhaust gases flowing through said
15 phase change material (14), thereby expanding in volume; and
a top plate (16) positioned on a top portion of said phase change material (14),
the expansion in volume of said phase change material (14) causes said top
plate (16) to expand, thereby causing said phase change material container (10)
to expand in volume.
2. The phase change material container (10) in accordance with Claim 1, wherein
a first end of said top plate (16) is secured to a first return compression spring
(18), and an opposite second end of said top plate (16) is secured to a second
return compression spring (20), wherein said first return compression spring
25 (18) and said second return compression spring (20) are adapted to restore said
top plate (16) to its original position when said phase change material (14)
transforms its phase from the semi-solid phase to the solid phase.
3. The phase change material container (10) in accordance with Claim 2, wherein
30 the change in the phase of the phase change material (14) from the semi-solid
phase to the solid phase occurs due to cooling the phase change material (14),
thereby releasing excess latent heat that is stored in 5 said phase change material
(14).
4. The phase change material container (10) in accordance with Claim 1 wherein
said phase change material container (10) is positioned upstream from a mixer
(5) that is positioned in an exhaust gas supply path.
5. The phase change material container (10) in accordance with Claim 1 wherein
said phase change material container (10) is positioned downstream from a
mixer (5) that is positioned in an exhaust gas supply path.
15
6. The phase change material container (10) in accordance with Claim 1 wherein
said phase change material container (10) is integrated within a mixer (5) that
is positioned in an exhaust gas supply path such that the exhaust gas that flows
through the mixer (5) is channeled through the phase change material (5) that
20 is positioned within said phase change material container (10). , Description:A phase change material container 10 is described. The phase change material
container 10 comprises a bottom plate 12, and a phase change material 14 applied on
the bottom plate 12. The phase change material 14 is adapted to transform its phase
10 from a solid phase to a semi-solid phase by absorbing heat from exhaust gases flowing
through the phase change material 14, thereby expanding in volume. A top plate 16 is
positioned on a top portion of the phase change material 14, the expansion in volume
of the phase change material 14 causes the top plate 16 to expand, thereby causing the
phase change material container 10 to expand in volume.