An experimental study on removal of exhaust gas recirculation cooler fouling using washer fluid steam

Lowering the temperature of recirculated gas in an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system reduces the emission of nitrogen oxide (NOx). However, the EGR cooler can become polluted by PM in recirculated EGR gas, which reduces the cooling efficiency and the gas flow rate. A steam EGR cooler fouling remover (SECFR) system was designed using evaporated washer fluid to remove fouling on the cooler surface. However, the injection pressure is only 5 bar, which is not sufficient to atomize the washer fluid. Therefore, in this study, an impinging plate was used to promote the atomization of sprayed washer fluid, and the droplet area ratio (DAR) and droplet uniformity index (DUI) were measured through quantitative analysis of high-speed images. Finally, the performance. of the SECFR system was evaluated in a real diesel engine.