Cummins has laid out its technology path to reach the next emissions hurdle – a phase-in from 2007 to 2010 that sees emissions levels drop to a tenth of even today’s stringent requirements.
To reach those levels, Cummins says it will build on the same technology that allowed it to meet the 2004 levels and put 30,000 post ’02 engines into operation. The company says the technology building blocks that first debuted in the 10/02 introductions to meet the Consent Decree emissions pull-ahead are the basis for the cooled exhaust gas recirculation solution to 2007. In short, Cummins says what you will see in its next level engines is basically what we have today, with the sole addition of a particulate filter in the exhaust stream.
That should mean that customers will be comfortable with the technology and the engines for 2007. Further easing customer fears of the next transition, Cummins says it has prototype engines running in trucks today and will have 20-30 development engines in customers hands by mid-2005.
Tina Vujovich, vice president of marketing and environmental policy, said the upcoming regulations call for a phase-in of the NOx limits from today’s 2.5 g per hp-hr to the far more stringent 2010 level of 0.2 g. Over the three-year period from 2007 to 2010, 50% of the engines must be 0.2 g level, while 50% could be 2.5 g engines. That, said Vujovich, would create a major manufacturing and marketing problem. Instead, Environmental Protection Agency allows for an averaging, so Cummins is targeting 1.2 g NOx throughout the phase-in.
According to technology chief John Wall, Cummins already has laboratory engines that can achieve a 1 g level for NOx emissions and, with Cummins’ latest and very sophisticated computer modeling, he is confident of being able to produce production engines that will meet the 1.2 g level without exhaust aftertreatment. Particulates (PM), though, present more of an issue, because the tough 0.01 g requirement for this emissions component have no phase-in: that level hits in 2007. Although the company is having success with engine-out PM control – down to 0.04-0.05 g – the indications are that a particulate filter will be needed, he said.
Furthermore, Wall says highly advanced combustion research techniques that actually use windows on the combustion process, and the complex modeling they can now do, allow him to predict that fuel consumption will not take a hit next time. It may even improve in some applications. Conclusion: Refinement of the EGR process currently in place is the right emissions strategy for North America.
In Europe, Wall says it is likely Cummins will use the alternative selective catalytic-reduction technology. The requirements for Euro 5 are less stringent on PM and the big differential between the cost of fuel between European countries and the United States (their cost per gallon is four or five times ours) means SCR is the more economical solution. The economics are simply not there for the U.S., where going from the 6-g per hp-hr non-EGR engines that would be the basis for the SCR technology. However, he did not rule out some SCR for 2010 to clean up the NOx from 1.2 down to the 0.2 g levels.
A differentiator for Cummins, and one that helps integrate the products, is to have all the component design and manufacturing "in house." A case in point is the Holset division’s elegant variable-geometry turbocharger. It is quite unique and robust, having only one moving part and is proprietary to Cummins (although it is sold to Iveco in Europe where there are tens of thousands in operation today). With the need for aftertreatment devices such as the particulate filters for 2007, Cummins has secured the development in-house with the purchase last year of exhaust system and aftertreatment manufacturer Nelson, which is now a part of Cummins’ Fleetguard division.
The PM filter technology has been under development by Cummins since the 1980s, said Wall. The filtration uses a ceramic element in the muffler. Exhaust gas is pushed through the filter and the very small particulates of soot and lube-oil ash are deposited on the filter media. This has to be cleaned periodically to remove the deposits and passive regeneration – as used on bus PM filters today – occurs when the exhaust is hot enough to burn the soot into CO2. On the urban bus cycles this occurs with no intervention and the only issue is the lube oil ash, which has to be cleaned out, usually by back flushing. On other duty cycles it may be necessary to add fuel, either by a temporarily rich mixture in the cylinders or by direct injection into the filter. Wall says Cummins is working with lube oil additive suppliers to come up with low ash compounds with the target of maintenance-free filters by the time we get to 2007.
To reach those levels, Cummins says it will build on the same technology that allowed it to meet the 2004 levels and put 30,000 post ’02 engines into operation. The company says the technology building blocks that first debuted in the 10/02 introductions to meet the Consent Decree emissions pull-ahead are the basis for the cooled exhaust gas recirculation solution to 2007. In short, Cummins says what you will see in its next level engines is basically what we have today, with the sole addition of a particulate filter in the exhaust stream.
That should mean that customers will be comfortable with the technology and the engines for 2007. Further easing customer fears of the next transition, Cummins says it has prototype engines running in trucks today and will have 20-30 development engines in customers hands by mid-2005.
Tina Vujovich, vice president of marketing and environmental policy, said the upcoming regulations call for a phase-in of the NOx limits from today’s 2.5 g per hp-hr to the far more stringent 2010 level of 0.2 g. Over the three-year period from 2007 to 2010, 50% of the engines must be 0.2 g level, while 50% could be 2.5 g engines. That, said Vujovich, would create a major manufacturing and marketing problem. Instead, Environmental Protection Agency allows for an averaging, so Cummins is targeting 1.2 g NOx throughout the phase-in.
According to technology chief John Wall, Cummins already has laboratory engines that can achieve a 1 g level for NOx emissions and, with Cummins’ latest and very sophisticated computer modeling, he is confident of being able to produce production engines that will meet the 1.2 g level without exhaust aftertreatment. Particulates (PM), though, present more of an issue, because the tough 0.01 g requirement for this emissions component have no phase-in: that level hits in 2007. Although the company is having success with engine-out PM control – down to 0.04-0.05 g – the indications are that a particulate filter will be needed, he said.
Furthermore, Wall says highly advanced combustion research techniques that actually use windows on the combustion process, and the complex modeling they can now do, allow him to predict that fuel consumption will not take a hit next time. It may even improve in some applications. Conclusion: Refinement of the EGR process currently in place is the right emissions strategy for North America.
In Europe, Wall says it is likely Cummins will use the alternative selective catalytic-reduction technology. The requirements for Euro 5 are less stringent on PM and the big differential between the cost of fuel between European countries and the United States (their cost per gallon is four or five times ours) means SCR is the more economical solution. The economics are simply not there for the U.S., where going from the 6-g per hp-hr non-EGR engines that would be the basis for the SCR technology. However, he did not rule out some SCR for 2010 to clean up the NOx from 1.2 down to the 0.2 g levels.
A differentiator for Cummins, and one that helps integrate the products, is to have all the component design and manufacturing "in house." A case in point is the Holset division’s elegant variable-geometry turbocharger. It is quite unique and robust, having only one moving part and is proprietary to Cummins (although it is sold to Iveco in Europe where there are tens of thousands in operation today). With the need for aftertreatment devices such as the particulate filters for 2007, Cummins has secured the development in-house with the purchase last year of exhaust system and aftertreatment manufacturer Nelson, which is now a part of Cummins’ Fleetguard division.
The PM filter technology has been under development by Cummins since the 1980s, said Wall. The filtration uses a ceramic element in the muffler. Exhaust gas is pushed through the filter and the very small particulates of soot and lube-oil ash are deposited on the filter media. This has to be cleaned periodically to remove the deposits and passive regeneration – as used on bus PM filters today – occurs when the exhaust is hot enough to burn the soot into CO2. On the urban bus cycles this occurs with no intervention and the only issue is the lube oil ash, which has to be cleaned out, usually by back flushing. On other duty cycles it may be necessary to add fuel, either by a temporarily rich mixture in the cylinders or by direct injection into the filter. Wall says Cummins is working with lube oil additive suppliers to come up with low ash compounds with the target of maintenance-free filters by the time we get to 2007.
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