Diesel engines drive T&M growth

Already well-established in Europe, diesel engines face rapid growth in North America as an alternative to gasoline combustion engines. Despite several false starts for diesel technology in the past, today's high fuel prices coupled with technical advancements provide the catalysts to propel a hesitant automotive industry into diesel production.

To gain a better understanding of the state of diesel technology, I asked Larry Rinek, senior consultant on automotive technologies for market forecaster Frost & Sullivan, about the test and measurement aspects of diesel-engine production for the North American marketplace.

Q: What is the basis for the projection that diesel engines are poised for growth in the North American market?

A: For many years, light diesels have been relegated to a few percent of light powertrains in North America, mainly DOT (Department of Transportation) class 2 and 3 pickup trucks and a small volume of passenger cars. With a renewed interest in fuel economy, plus the forthcoming availability of cleaner, quieter, and less-smelly European-style diesels, we see room for growth. Our forecasts show diesel penetration growing up to 10% (three to four times today's numbers) in North American light vehicles, yielding around 2 million light diesel engine sales by 2015. Most of the growth will be in new segments, such as lighter pickup trucks (class 1, like the Ford F-150) and SUVs, and not as much in passenger cars.

Q: What engine systems benefit from diesel technological advances?

A: The diesel engine systems most benefiting from recent advances include electronic engine management (controllers, sensors), combustion technology, and emissions controls such as exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and various exhaust aftertreatments.

Q: Which kinds of test technologies will new diesel engines need?

A: Diesel builders have always needed a suite of test technologies for their "hot cells" (dynomometer rooms) for R&D projects, routine calibration work, and production QC validation. Test and measurement equipment with digital data storage for real-time and post-run analysis is needed for engine performance parameters (power, torque, RPM); fuel consumption, air, coolant, and lube temperatures; cylinder pressures; intake manifold pressures; intake mass air flow; exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) gas flow; and exhaust emissions, especially the problematic nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter. The dyno setups need to run through the EPA federal test procedure (FTP) for emissions in an automated fashion, on a repeated basis.

Q: Are R&D and test facilities able to meet present diesel engine challenges?

A: Today's R&D and test facilities and technical staff at engine builders and powertrain engineering consulting firms are largely adequate, but with gaps here and there—particularly involving advanced combustion work, like homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) and other low-temp combustion avenues.

Q: Can you offer advice for test engineers as they consider entering the automotive diesel industry?

A: Test engineering, just for diesels emissions compliance, has been a robust employment opportunity for at least 10 years in North America, and every diesel builder is sweating the next tightening of EPA regs in 2009–2010. The highway vehicle challenges come first, but for many years afterward, US off-highway diesels will be ramping up compliance as their requirements tighten, providing another test engineer employment opportunity wave.