Interlocking Metal Catalyst Support for Thermal Deformation Resistance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional metal catalyst supports for exhaust gas treatment face challenges such as deformation due to thermal expansion, vibration, and temperature changes, and require complex assembly processes with low productivity and high costs, especially in ship exhaust gas treatment systems.
Innovation Solution
A metal catalyst support is designed with corrugated plates where the vertices of the first and second corrugated portions face and coincide, forming convex and concave portions that interlock with flat plates, eliminating the need for separate bonding and simplifying the manufacturing process by ensuring all corrugated plates are formed in the same shape.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If wave plates and flat plates are alternately stacked with vertexes not coinciding, then the structure can be assembled, but the plates deform due to external vibration, shock, or temperature change
Solution Approach 1:
The invention introduces asymmetric positioning features (protrusions and recesses) at the vertexes of the plates. These asymmetric features ensure that the plates can only be assembled in a specific orientation where vertexes coincide, preventing the symmetric but incorrect assembly where vertexes do not align. This resolves the contradiction by making the correct asymmetric configuration the only feasible assembly state.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses curved or rounded protrusions and recesses at the vertexes instead of sharp angular features. This curvature allows for easier alignment during assembly while ensuring that when assembled, the vertexes coincide perfectly. The rounded features also distribute stress more evenly, reducing deformation under external loads while maintaining the vertex coincidence requirement.
2Strength
If an integrated wave plate/flat plate assembly is fabricated by joining methods such as brazing, welding, soldering, or diffusion bonding, then the structure is strong, but productivity is low and price competitiveness is difficult to secure
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the catalyst support into separate wave plates and flat plates that are assembled together using simple mechanical interlocking at the vertexes. This segmentation eliminates the need for complex joining processes like brazing or welding, allowing each plate to be manufactured independently and assembled quickly, thereby dramatically improving productivity while maintaining structural strength through the interlocked vertex configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The protrusions and recesses at the plate vertexes create a self-aligning and self-locking assembly system. When the plates are brought together, the protrusions automatically fit into the recesses, ensuring proper alignment and secure connection without requiring external joining operations. This self-service mechanism eliminates complex bonding processes while maintaining strong joints.
3Manufacturing precision
If a separate cutting step is added to match the shapes of corrugated plates, then assembly precision is improved, but the manufacturing process becomes more complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The invention incorporates the positioning features (protrusions and recesses) directly into the plate manufacturing process itself, rather than adding them in a separate post-processing step. The corrugated plates are formed with these features already integrated during the forming operation, ensuring precise shape matching is achieved automatically as part of the primary manufacturing process, eliminating the need for additional cutting or matching operations.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a method of manufacturing a metal catalyst support including: transferring a plate member of the same size along a transfer unit; aligning the plate member so that a front portion of the plate member is located at a start point when the plate member reaches a set position; forming a corrugated plate by alternately forming a first corrugated portion and a second corrugated portion on the plate member which is aligned at the start point; and laminating the fabricated corrugated plates and the flat plates alternately in a case.