Joielesin

When the diesel engine first came into the world, Rudolph Diesel must have been pretty well pleased with himself. His engine was far more fuel efficient than gasoline and it did not require spark ignition. Chances are, he didn’t give much thought to the fact that diesel produces less CO2 than petrol, or the fact that it’s quite a bit more efficient as well. These days, nearly 5 million diesel engine cars per year would meet the roads of Britain, and over 50% of Europe’s cars would become diesel-powered.
The rates of diseases have gone up along with the level of air pollution. There are some who claim that dirty diesel has become cleaner – and it’s true. Those types of particulates are now being contained within a filter. Diesel particulate filters trap the soot that is created during the burning of diesel fuel. The standards that are demanded of car engine manufacturers are constantly changing; a new legislation in Europe will call for all diesel engines to be fitted with diesel particulate filters, just like when petrol engines were required to be equipped with a catalytic converter.

A diesel particulate filter works like a vacuum cleaner’s filter – it has to be changed or cleaned on a regular basis in order to continue working at its maximum efficiency. Modern particulate filters are designed so that they are entirely self-cleaning. The soot that is trapped in the filter is burnt off at an extremely high temperature, mainly experienced while driving on the motorway. If you primarily drive around town however, the ECU is capable of detecting the fill-level of the filter and can modify the engine timing to make the exhaust hotter and rid the filter of any remaining soot – a very clever modern device that will help keep things cleaner.