Effect of Diesel Soot Deposition on the Performance of Exhaust Gas Recirculation Cooling Devices

An investigation was performed to characterize the effect that the particulate matter in diesel exhaust gas has on the performance of the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) cooling devices used in the EGR systems for diesel engines. The tests were performed by exposing a small-scale device designed to model commercial devices. It was found that the fouling caused by the diesel exhaust had a significant impact on the performance of the device during 12 hours of operation, increasing the thermal resistance by 150% and the pressure drop by 200%. The change in the performance on consecutive tests was cumulative, although it was found that the performance of the device did improve slightly between tests.