JCB has made one of the biggest investments in its history to develop the off-highway sector’s cleanest engine, in readiness for increasingly stringent emissions legislation in both the United States of America and in Europe. The move has been well received by original equipment manufacturers (OEM) from around the world, with a surge in demand for the award-winning JCB Ecomax T4 engine range.

The company invested around £80 million in developing the new JCB Ecomax T4 4.4 litre engine - the latest generation of the JCB Dieselmax engine. The investment has delivered an industry-first solution that eliminates the need for any exhaust after-treatment and delivers cost savings for customers. Indeed the 55kW (74hp) Ecomax engine requires no aftertreatment for Tier 4 Final.

JCB’s innovation with the JCB Ecomax T4 engine has been honoured with the presentation of two awards in 2011: the coveted 2011 Diesel Engine of the Year Award by Italian magazine Diesel and also an award for innovation from the organisers of the SIMA agricultural show in Paris. However the company is not resting on its laurels and development of Tier 4 Final/Stage IV emission level engines is well under way.

The keys benefits of the innovative JCB Ecomax design are:
• Reduced fuel consumption
• Reduced cost of ownership
• Better reliability
• Better packaging and no compromise in machine design

Alan Tolley, JCB’s Director of Engine Programmes, said: “Meeting Tier 4 emissions legislation is a massive challenge but also a huge opportunity for innovation; an opportunity to come up with a solution that has real advantages for our customers. We believe the result is not only the off-highway sector’s cleanest engine, but a first for our industry.

“The expectation for the first part of Tier 4 interim/Stage 3B legislation was that to achieve these really low particulate levels you needed to fit a Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF).

“But when you look at that technology for our particular part of the market, namely mid-range construction equipment, we see there are some real disadvantages with that solution, in particular increased fuel consumption through increased back pressure to the engine. Also, in many applications load cycles are light and the DPF doesn’t self regenerate so you have to force it to do so and it needs fuel to do it.”

“Our strategy has been to meet Tier 4 interim emission standards without a DPF but also to achieve this without any exhaust after-treatment. We have focussed our research and development efforts on a high efficiency combustion system; in other words we have made sure we don’t create the pollutants to start with rather than try and deal with them later. This approach also gives us very low fuel consumption levels.

“The solution we have come up with gives significant advantages for our customers for packaging and integration. On machines there is not much spare room in the engine compartment and we had a lot of discussion about how to optimise the machines, their design and functionality. The risk with something like Tier 4 is that in order to package everything you have to compromise those elements and we were not willing to do that which is what drove us to pursue a different technology solution.”

It is an approach that has also been well received by OEMs, with a huge amount of interest generated since the engines were unveiled at last year’s Bauma exhibition. With an extended range now available from 55kW (74hp) to 129kW (173hp), JCB Power Systems is well placed to provide power for a wide range of off-highway equipment.

2010 was a record year for engine sales to OEM`s, with new customers in an variety of industry sectors, from power generation, water pumping, crushing and screening, fork lift truck and even the marine sectors. Further expansion of the engine Sales and Distribution network across the globe in countries such as North America, Australia, New Zealand, Benelux & South Africa means that future growth prospects are bright for JCB Power Systems and its OEM partners.

The investment in JCB Power Systems has also seen the introduction of a second stage of the Tier 4 engine dress line, allowing the company to provide further dedicated engine options to a wider range of OEM customers.

“One of the advantages we have as a company that makes machines and complete engine and Powertrain packages is that we can deliver optimum solutions that suit many applications. The real end user benefits come in the shape of improved efficiency, higher functionality, lower operating costs and better reliability,” says Mr Tolley.

Better by design
Since its launch in 2004 the JCB Dieselmax engine, which powered the JCB Dieselmax car to a world diesel land speed record of 350mph on the Salt Flats in Bonneville, USA, in 2006, has undergone continual development. More than 100,000 engines are now working in the field globally, recording class-leading levels of performance and reliability. The latest developments will see the Dieselmax engines cleanly past the Stage IIIB/Tier 4 Interim legislation that will come into effect for engines of this size in 2012 and well set for Stage IV/Tier 4 Final in 2014.

As many engines within the 56-129kW (75-175hp) range are used in plant and equipment that is operated under variable light loads, there can be concerns about Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) regeneration, with the engine management system having to force the regeneration process by burning additional fuel. This is not only inefficient but can result in additional service requirements, substantial cost increases and the risk of damage to the DPF if a contractor uses a high sulphur fuel.

To achieve the next round of emissions regulations, JCB Power Systems has worked closely with research and development specialist Ricardo, using computational fluid dynamics, finite element analysis and a Ricardo designed combustion bowl to perfect the combustion process.

With second generation common rail fuel injection technology, injection pressures have been raised to 2,000 bar and nozzle hole geometry has been refined to provide highly effective atomisation and distribution of the fuel within the cylinder. JCB has incorporated variable geometry turbochargers on all but the lowest powered 55kW Dieselmax engine, which falls under a slightly different emission regulation. Cooled Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) is also used to clean up the exhaust gases before they are passed from the engine. This means that there is no requirement for any exhaust after-treatment components to meet these emissions levels on the 4.4 litre JCB Ecomax T4 engine.

The company has worked with fuel system and electronics specialist Delphi to develop an electronic control system with a form of learning capacity, that will ensure that the engine stays within its intended parameters even as the components settle throughout their design life.

Benefit to the Customer
As well as there being no need to fit a costly exhaust after-treatment system, there has been no requirement to increase the cooling pack size or to reduce service intervals from their standard 500 hours. In addition, under test conditions, the engines have been achieving a 5-10 per cent fuel consumption improvement compared to the previous generation.

The engine design is also future-proofed, as the structural architecture, the componentry and systems will remain the same for Stage 4/Tier 4 Final regulations in the future, at which time exhaust
after-treatment for NOx reduction may be unavoidable.

Investment In The Future
JCB has invested heavily in its Power Systems business in Derbyshire, UK, to meet the requirements of its customers and legislators. The original 4.4 litre Dieselmax 444 engine has been joined by a 4.8 litre Dieselmax 448 version, while power ratings have been extended at both ends of the scale.
The latest investment has created one of the most sophisticated engine test facilities in the world, with JCB Power Systems operating 10 state of the art test cells. Each cell is capable of carrying out the full EU transient test cycle that is required to meet Stage IIIB and Tier 4 Interim legislation and the cells can handle engines with up to 300kW of power output, leaving room for further expansion in the future.

To meet this increase in workload, JCB Power Systems has increased its research and development team by 40 per cent, investing further in the JCB Dieselmax range.

This continual investment in technology and research and development of the JCB engine line will ensure that JCB stays at the forefront of diesel engine technology. JCB Power Systems will continue to provide customers around the world with low fuel consumption emissions compliant powertrains, without unnecessary expense or complex exhaust after-treatment.