NEBULIZER AND DRIVER CIRCUITY THEREFOR PARTICULARLY USEFUL FOR CONVERTING LIQUIDS TO FINE SPRAYS AT EXTREMELY LOW RATES

摘要

A nebulizer for nebulizing a liquid into a fine spray for introduction into a gas flowing through a conduit, said nebulizer includes a housing including a lower section for receiving a piezoelectric device and driver circuitry therefore, an intermediate section including an inlet for inletting the liquid to be nebulized, and an upper section for receiving the nebulized liquid; a piezoelectric device in the upper part of the lower section of the housing for nebulizing said liquid, and a restrictor at the upper end of said upper section of the housing communicating with said conduit for restricting the flow of nebulized liquid into the as flowing through said conduit. The embodiments described are capable of nebulizing a liquid at a rate of less than 5 ml/hr, and are therefore particularly useful for nebulizing a fuel combustion catalyst in a vehicle internal combustion engine.