There are a lot of words that come to mind when you think of global heavy-duty diesel engine manufacturers. Words like technology, durability, horsepower, along with some that can’t be mentioned in a family setting.
One word you normally wouldn’t think to associate with diesel manufacturers would be “coy.” Yet that’s what they’ve pretty much all been when the subject turns to Tier 4 final emissions standards.
Even as they were outlining their Tier 4 interim paths, they talked about how the technology that enabled engines to meet the initial standards would serve as the foundation or building block to meet Tier 4 final. In most cases, they’d talk about cooled EGR and DPFs as the basic Tier 4 interim answers, then talk about how these same technologies would be employed with some additional wrinkles, at final.
And when asked what those additional wrinkles would be, the answer would typically be a smile and a short statement about how they knew what they were, but just weren’t ready to talk publicly about them. Followed by another smile.
But indications are growing that they may at last be ready to identify what those final technologies are and that we’ll see a lot of them at the upcoming ConExpo-ConAgg 2011.
A few companies – Perkins, Cummins and MTU – have already announced that they will unveil the first of their Tier 4 final engine lineups at the show. The smart money is that we’ll see a lot of what we’ve seen before in other markets, namely a combination of cooled EGR, DPFs with SCR added, a configuration that nearly everyone has taken in the heavy-duty truck market. For a couple of manufacturers, who have already adopted SCR, it’ll be slightly reversed. Their final answers will be the addition of cooled EGR. Either way, it’s not too likely we’ll see anything we haven’t seen before – which is not to say it’s any less exciting.
Yet there is an outside chance that someone may throw a curveball and adopt one of the altered forms of SCR (solid or hydrocarbon-based) that Tenneco and a few other companies say will be ready to roll in 2012. Now that would be exciting!
Either way, it’s fair to say the curtain is about to go up on yet another “new era” in off-road diesel technology. And what better place for a show than Las Vegas?
