The present invention concerns a device applied to or inserted inside exhaust silencers o f endother ic engines , for the reduction of pollution gases by means of high tension electrostatic fileds .

The serious problem of atmospheric pollution is known, due to the exhaust gases of endothermic conbustion engines, which at present is not solved nor by the conventional silencers , which have an insuf ficient absorption, nor by the recent catalytic silencers which request - for obtaining good functioning levels - high temperatures, which can be obtained only after a long and continuous working time .

The present invention has its origin in the discovery of the deviation efficiency of a high tension electrostatic field, due to its direct action onto the ions present in the pollution as well as due to the induction effect onto the neutral particles present in the exhaust gases .

The device according to the present invention determines a relevant and, in some cases, total

14498 PCI7IT94/00219

reduction of the nitrogen oxide, of the carbon monoxide and of the particles of the unburnt gases of the exhaust which, before getting out of the silencer , are led between to electrodes kept at a high electrostastic potential difference, by means of a Van De Graaf generator or similar , so as to deviate the present and/or induced ions onto apposite containers , which may be replaced and regenerated after a determined working time .

The device according to the present invention will be shown more in detail hereinbelow according to the enclosed figure 1 in which a device is shown inserted inside or applied to the exhaust silencer T of an endothermic engine of the kind used on vehicles or different, comprising:

- a container 1 , applied to the end part of the exhaust T or inserted inside the same;

- two electrodes 2 , kept at the potential dif ference of many thousands Volts by an electrostatic generator 3, anch which determine the presence of strong electrostatic f ie ld through which the exhaust gases pass on their way to outlet 7 , so that the negative ions 5 are deviated towards the positive pole and the positive ions 6 towards the negative pole, until they reach the collectors 4 , provided on the

⁴⁴⁹⁸ PCI7TO4/00219

internal walls of said container 1, where they loose their kinetic energy when they strike against layers of rock wool, glasswool or other suitable materials, and are therefore prevented from diffusion in the air through exhaust 7; - a high tension elctrostatic generator 3, of the Van De Graaf kind, with a rubbin generator G or similar, carried by the vehicle, the sphere and the electrodes with opposite signs are connected to said electrodes 2 so as to bring them to potential differences of many thousands of Volts.