Toyota today announced the commercial availability of a new, smaller catalyst that uses 20% less precious metal in approximately 20% less volume, while maintaining the same exhaust gas purification performance. The design is the world’s first integrally-molded Flow Adjustable Design Cell (FLAD) substrate, with a different cell cross-sectional area at the inner portion compared to that at the outer portion. Toyota and Denso have developed this new FLAD substrate to improve the uniformity of exhaust gas flow. Through a series of validations using simulations and prototype substrates, both companies have succeeded in improving uniformity of exhaust gas flow within the catalyst by optimizing factors such as the ratios of cross-sectional areas of cells at the inner and outer portions, and their corresponding densities.
With this development, approximately 20% less precious metal is used in a more compact catalyst that contains approximately 20% less volume, while maintaining the same exhaust gas purification performance as that of conventional catalysts. The newly developed innovative design and manufacturing technologies have also allowed for the mass production of the world’s first integrally molded catalyst. Innovative design and manufacturing technologies have allowed for the mass production of the new catalyst, which will gradually be installed in new vehicle models, starting from the Lexus LC 500h later this year.
