Heavy Truck Engine Program

Abstract

The Heavy Duty Truck Engine Program at Cummins embodied three significant development phases. All phases of work strove to demonstrate a high level of diesel engine efficiency in the face of increasingly stringent emission requirements. Concurrently, aftertreatment system development and refinement was pursued in support of these efficiency demonstrations. The program's first phase focused on the demonstration in-vehicle of a high level of heavy duty diesel engine efficiency (45% Brake Thermal Efficiency) at a typical cruise condition while achieving composite emissions results which met the 2004 U.S. EPA legislated standards. With a combination of engine combustion calibration tuning and the development and application of Urea-based SCR and particulate aftertreatment, these demonstrations were successfully performed by Q4 of 2002. The second phase of the program directed efforts towards an in-vehicle demonstration of an engine system capable of meeting 2007 U.S. EPA legislated emissions requirements while achieving 45% Brake Thermal Efficiency at cruise conditions. Through further combustion optimization, the refinement of Cummins Cooled EGR architecture, the application of a high pressure common rail fuel system and the incorporation of optimized engine parasitics, Cummins Inc. successfully demonstrated these deliverables in Q2 of 2004. The program's final phase set a stretch goal of demonstratingmore » 50% Brake Thermal Efficiency from a heavy duty diesel engine system capable of meeting 2010 U.S. EPA legislated emissions requirements. Cummins chose to pursue this goal through further combustion development and refinement of the Cooled EGR system architecture and also applied a Rankine cycle Waste Heat Recovery technique to convert otherwise wasted thermal energy to useful power. The engine and heat recovery system was demonstrated to achieve 50% Brake Thermal Efficiency while operating at a torque peak condition in second quarter, 2006. The 50% efficient engine system was capable of meeting 2010 emissions requirements through the application of NOx and particulate matter reduction techniques proven earlier in the program.« less