The International Commercial Powertrain Conference on May 9th and 10th, 2007 in Graz, Austria was attended by more than 200 experts and managers coming from over 20 countries, representing the three industries the conference focused on: Automotive, Agricultural and Industrial powertrain companies.
Opening the conference, Prof. Franz X. Moser from AVL List GmbH raised the key question: How far can technologies be used cross-over the three industries avoiding re-inventing the wheel? Some typical examples from powertrain development, simulation and exhaust gas after treatment prove the big potential at hand.
The first keynote given by Dr. Frank H. Lehmann from Daimler-Chrysler AG Truck Group presented the strategy of a global player in the truck industry to use synergies between five vehicle brands, yet keep market specific identities. Product commonalities and, even more importantly common components help to reduce development time and effort. The future is in aligning processes both in development and production.
Martin Richenhagen of AGCO Corporation in his keynote described the key factors affecting changes in the global agricultural market place. In a world with a rapidly growing population and diminishing arable land resources, the challenge is not only to efficiently produce food, but increasingly also energy and fuel from bio mass. Increased mechanization and precision farming is the answer.
The keynote from the construction equipment viewpoint was given by Dr. Kunihiko Komiyama from Komatsu Ltd. The powertrain for construction equipment not only provides for moving the equipment, but also for doing the actual work mostly via a hydraulic system. Construction equipments are much diversified both in specifications and in size - ranging from 1 to 700 ton machine weight. Electronic control and refined processes are especially important to cope with the future low emission legislation developing for a large variety of equipments.
Dr. Peter Scherm representing Euromot highlighted the characteristics of the application and markets of non-road mobile machinery, giving also an overview of the current global framework for non-road legislation. Constraints and options to carry over On-highway technologies are discussed.
In his presentation on transmission technology, Gebhard Woentner from AVL List GmbH explained the diverse powertrain requirements of the three industries. Currently hardly any technologies are exchanged; some examples shown however prove the big potential available, such as the powersplit CVT developed for agricultural tractors which is also attractive for city buses.
The second session started with a presentation on future technologies and strategies for exhaust gas aftertreatment in On-road commercial vehicles. Wolfgang Maus from Emitec GmbH explained first the pre-requisites for low engine-out emissions, and then gave an overview on aftertreatment systems. A new and compact system to reduce both NOx and particulates, currently in the development stage, was introduced.
The "Tier 4" legislation is especially challenging for vehicles below 75 kW in the off-highway market as Mike Hawkins from CNH Global N.V. points out. Significant cost increases are expected as electronic control and aftertreatment systems become necessary, up to 40% of the price of the machines in this category. The legislation must carefully consider the adverse effect on the industry which supplies the machines to sustain our worldwide economics in agriculture and construction.
The impact of exhaust gas aftertreatment systems on tractor design due to Tier 4 legislation is explained by Dr. Heribert Reiter from AGCO GmbH & Co. (Fendt). The tractor layout must be compact for maneuverability and good vision to the working area; additional systems are not easily packaged. The engineering challenge is to adapt technologies developed for on-highway for the specific requirements of the tractor operation, keeping the cost impact in balance with the customer and market demands.
Ing. Kurt Schachner from AVL List GmbH presented on "Engine / Drivertrain / Vehicle seen as a System". Electronic control systems need to interact for a common optimum, control strategies are focused on overall efficiency tailored to load spectra specific to the application. Intelligent control systems allow for simpler mechanical designs, as the example of the automated mechanical transmission shows, where synchronizers are eliminated.
Commercial vehicles, both on-road and off-highway rely on common rail fuel injection systems to cope with an increasingly stringent emission legislation. Dr.Ing. Marcus Parche from Robert BOSCH GmbH presented the technology status and the future development strategy of common rail systems, driven by legislative and market requirements.
Dr.Ing. Georg Eisele from FEV Motorentechnik GmbH has explained how powertrain and vehicle development can be merged from the NVH point of view. The vehicle interior noise simulation (VINS), based on measured vehicle transfer functions, is used to analyze and predict the effect of the powertrain on vehicle interior NVH. Combined with additional software, virtual VINS is already applied in the conceptual stage.
Studies on the effect of sulphuric acid on engines with external cooled EGR were reported from Dipl.-Ing. Manfred Pister, DEUTZ AG. As in some countries the fuel sulphur is still on a high level, corrosion inside the EGR system is of great concern. While the condensation of sulphuric acid was found in tests with high sulphur fuel, corrosion effects could be avoided as long as the condensation of water was prevented. This is achieved by shutting down EGR whenever water would possibly condensate.
A fuel cell powertrain concept for a municipal road sweeper vehicle was presented by Dr. Martin Weilenmann from EMPA - Material Science & Technology. The powertrain requirements were analyzed to specify the fuel cell powertrain, which then was optimized by simulation for best fuel efficiency. The hybrid fuel cell - electric powertrain is well suited for municipal vehicles, as they are mostly operated at low loads. Further simulation work will address durability issues to prepare for testing actual hardware.
The challenges and opportunities in design and development for Tier 4 and Stage IV off-road legislation was the topic of Dr. Xinqun Gui, John Deere Power systems. The non-road engine and equipment manufacturer must address both the regulatory and customer needs. A building block approach, shown by some examples, is proposed to efficiently manage the powertrain technology development process.
Dipl.-Ing. Heinrich Dismon from Pierburg GmbH presented an innovative electronically actuated EGR valve for heavy duty application. Future low emission engines require precise EGR control at high flow rates. The modular system comprises the valve, electric actuator and gear set. Prototype tests have proven the concept regarding dynamic response, flow control, leakages, thermal response. The "plug and play" system reduces application work in engine development.
SCR systems for non-road applications derived from on-road technology are described by Meinrad Signer from Fiat Powertrain Technologies (Iveco Motorenforschung AG Arbon). While proven in truck and bus applications, the SCR development for non-road machinery and equipment is challenging because of packaging, regional legislations and conditions and AdBlue infrastructure problems. System layout and installation of prototype SCR systems tested in farm tractors, harvesters and trains are completely different. SCR will be introduced in combination with DPF; fuel and lubricant quality must be improved.
Big non-road equipment is typically produced in a large variety but low production volumes. Dipl.-Ing. Jens Krug from Liebherr Machines Bulle SA shows how to cope with the large number of applications for series production, only possible with a highly automated database system. The ECU hardware is common for all engines and applications, the software uses a single engine specific module for all applications, and application specific modules can be developed and tested separately. In production, software and operation parameters are installed end-of-line, and parameters are adjusted during engine testing.
Ing. Massimo Ribaldone from SAME Deutz-Fahr Group SpA reported on the development of the T8500 transmission with AVL DRIVE. Tractor transmissions need up to 50 gear ratios to cope with the operation requirements both on the field and on the road. Modern powershift transmissions are automated to provide the optimum gear ratio considering good drivability, low emissions and fuel consumption. The application, including smooth shifting under load, is a complex task which was accomplished with the DRIVE methodology. Already in the concept stage using a tractor simulation model and through the entire development process the drivetrain components were assessed and optimized. The effects of design changes were simulated off-line, saving project time and cost.
The engine manufacturers need competent system and module partners from the supplier industry. Karl Schmauder from ElringKlinger AG has presented how the development is shared with module suppliers and engineering partners to cope with new challenges resulting from emission legislation, increased performance requirements, longer service life and extended service intervals. Synergies are possible if the supplier is given the system responsibility.
The highlight closing the conference was the presentation of a high speed off-road vehicle. Alan Tolley from J.C. Bamford Excavators Ltd. has demonstrated the extreme capabilities of an industrial engine, with an output increased from 93 kW to 563 kW. Two of these engines in separate drivelines for an all wheel drive were installed in a "cigar shaped" vehicle. The development of the powertrain and the control system was explained. In a video, the record run for a 350 mph (560 km/h) top speed was shown.
After the conference many positive comments were overheard regarding the high quality of the presentations and discussions, giving a lot of valuable information cross-over the three industries.