Clock ticking for certified SI engine packages: Nissan/Zenith packages being certified to meet 2004 LSI emissions regulation - Industry News

Diesel Progress North American Edition, July, 2002 by Mike Osenga

With EPA's January 1, 2004 emissions regulation covering Large, Spark-Ignited (LSI) engines staring the industry in the face, engine manufacturers and gaseous-fuel system suppliers are moving quickly to provide certified engine packages to the mobile equipment manufacturers covered by this regulation.

"Manufacturers can't afford to wait until the last minute to identify applications for these closed-loop systems," said Bob Callahan, director, marketing and sales for Zenith Fuel Systems Inc., Bristol, Va. "The pressure is growing for the equipment manufacturers to start working with their engine suppliers to deliver a certified package.

"I think it's safe to say if an OEM hasn't started working with its engine supplier before the end of this year, it's going to be very tough to have a system ready for 2004," Callahan said. "There is significant engine development work to be done and beyond that equipment application engineering."

The new emissions regulation applies to all nonpre-empted engines above 25 hp (19 kW) and are based on three-way catalysts and electronically-controlled closed-loop fuel systems. The regulation sets a limit of 3.0 g/bhp-hr NMHC+ [NO.sub.x] and 37.0 g/bhp-hr CO and covers air- and water-cooled engines running on gasoline, LPG and natural gas.

The new EPA regulation is similar to one adopted by the California Air Resources Board [CARB] in October 1998. The EPA emission regulation was phased-in over three years starting in 2001, with full-lifetime compliance starting January 1, 2004.

EPA, citing industry sources, said that LPG-fueled engines represent about 65 percent of the LSI engine inventory. About 50 percent of the market for these engines are forklift trucks, EPA said, citing industry numbers from Power Systems Research. Generator sets, commercial turf equipment, pump sets, welders, scrubber/sweepers, air compressors, chipper/grinders, gas compressors, aerial lifts, aircraft ground support equipment and irrigation packages, comprise the rest of the market. Water-cooled engines dominate, with air-cooled engines representing about only 6 percent of the total market covered by the regulation, EPA said.

With this regulatory scenario facing the spark-ignited engine and equipment industry, Zenith Fuel Systems Inc. and Nissan Industrial Engine Operations (NIEO), Marengo, Ill., are combining to offer a full range of certified gasoline, LPG and dual fuel, electronically fuel-injected engines.

The engines will be available to OEM engine customers of Nissan, as well as being used in Nissan Forklift Corp., North America lift trucks.

Zenith is installing its Z.E.E.M.S. (Zenith Electronic Engine Management System) on all of the Nissan engines available in North America for all nongenerator type equipment. Zenith also supplies an [O.sub.2] sensor and Nissan adds a DCL International Inc. three-way catalyst to the system. A Zenith vaporizer and pressure regulator assembly is added for the LPG and dual-fuel engines.

Zenith has recently completed an expansion of its test cell capabilities in Bristol and will do the final certification testing on the Nissan's complete range of engine models.

The first engine to be certified was Nissan's 54 lip model [H.sub.2]0, a 2.0 L, inline four-cylinder engine. The engine was certified in late 2000 by the Caliornia Air Resources Board (CARB) during the phase-in period, to 0.4 g/bbp-hr HC+[NO.sub.x] and 6.6 g/bhp-br CO. The engines were tested to the ISO 8178 C2 seven-mode test cycle.

Nissan Forklift will be the first production application using the certified [H.sub.2]0 Nissan engine with Zenith's electronic engine management system. This certified package is providing Nissan Forklift and Nissan Industrial Engines with throttle body fuel injection systems for gasoline, propane, and duel fuel for the forklift and industrial marketplaces.

Certification work has been completed on the Nissan's 62 hp, 2.5 L model H25, and work has recently begun on the 43 hp, 1.5 L model A15 engine. Certification of Nissan's 1.3 L model CG13, 1.5 L model H15, and the 4.2 L model TB42 will follow.

"We expect all the engines to be certified by June 2003," said Ray Prussing, director, industrial engine sales for NIEO. Prussing added that Nissan would be the manufacturer of record and carry the warranty on the complete package.

One of the drivers for companies like Nissan and Zenith to co-develop an engine package is certification costs. "Fuel delivery system suppliers and engine manufacturers have to partner in this environment, unless they both have unlimited money to spend on certification," Prussing said. Callahan and Prussing described a scenario in which it could cost as much as $250,000 to do both certification and durability testing on a single engine model. Costs would then obviously run into the millions to certify an entire range of engines.

The Z.E.E.M.S. fuel system used on the Nissan engines is the latest generation of a system first introduced in 1996. The system includes a newly developed electronic control unit (ECU) with updated software, an electronic governor and throttle body injector, as well as air temperature and map sensors. Zenith also provides a water temperature sensor for each engine application.