Detroit Diesel '07 Path
Heavy Duty Engine (HDE) will ultimately be the common engine platform for all DaimlerChrysler commercial vehicles worldwide.
Steve Sturgess
Executive Editor
In a candid preview of its 2007 power line-up, Detroit Diesel recently displayed the technology and hardware that it will deploy on MBE900 medium- and MBE4000 and Series 60 heavy-duty engines. And at the same time executives gave truck and equipment editors a tantalizing peek at the worldwide Heavy Duty Engine (HDE) that is to be introduced in the 2007 timeframe.
The reveal was at Detroit Diesel's Redford headquarters in suburban Detroit at the announcement of a $275-million investment in the facility needed to bring it up to the production and quality levels to produce these engines.
Of this sum, no less than $200 million will go to tool the lines that will produce the HDE. This is the platform that is expected to take DaimlerChrysler commercial vehicles to and beyond 2010 in the NAFTA territories and Euro 6 in 2012. It will also qualify for Japanese emissions requirements where DC sells the Mercedes-Benz Actros and where certain Fuso trucks will also use the engines.
Production will start in the United States with a 14.8-liter version during 2007. European production will start three years behind this launch and concurrent with the phase-out of the Series 60 and the MBE4000 at the end of 2009.
Ultimately, the HDE will be the common heavy-duty worldwide engine platform for all DC commercial vehicles, available in the 14.8-liter displacement, supplemented by other family engines at 9.9, 12.8 and 15.6 liters.
While the HDE is to be the engine of the future for DC trucks, the certified heavy duty engines at the introduction of the U.S. EPA 2007 emissions will be the 12.7-liter and 14-liter Series 60 and the 12-liter MBE 4000. Both will utilize heavy exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) to achieve the averaged 1.2 gm/hp.-hr. of NOx permitted for 2007 to 2010. Particulates (PM) must be reduced to 0.01 g in '07 and this will be achieved with a diesel particulate filter (DPF).
The medium-duty MBE900 engine final assembly will also move to the engine plant for 2007, with long-block engines getting the final dress to comply with U.S. emissions regulations.
The Mall Approach
Interestingly, the investment in Detroit Diesel's Redford plant brings a number of disparate DaimlerChrysler divisions all under one roof. As well as a consolidation and commitment to the diesel engine business, DC has also brought the Alliance Axle Corp. (AAC) development and manufacturing business into the plant. It has also opened up a DC-owned Purem DPF development and manufacturing facility in another area of the Detroit plant.
At the same time, the Sterling and Western Star management - previously housed in glorious splendor in Willoughby, Ohio - will move in the spring onto the property in a dedicated space with its own entry on Telegraph Road.
AAC is a wholly-owned DC business unit chartered with designing and developing axles for Freightliner LLC brands Freightliner, Sterling and Western Star. In all, there are currently seven axle platforms covering medium- and heavy-duty drive axle applications as well as steer axles. Currently, these axles are gaining significant penetration in the Freightliner brands with customers saying they appreciate the generally lighter weight, higher torque capacity and quiet operation.
The component production is in line with Freightliner LLC's expressed desire to integrate the powertrain of its future vehicles. According to company chief executive Rainer Schmueckle, by integrating its own drivetrain and power into the chassis, the company is better able to bring complete "solutions" to the customer. Included in this is an all-new heavy truck range timetabled for 2007 to integrate emissions engines and the necessary chassis changes to accommodate them.
Part of this strategy is to bring the particulate filter development and manufacture in-house at Detroit Diesel. The German Purem was purchased three years ago by DaimlerChrysler to fold its technology into engine development, since DPFs will be fundamental to meeting PM regulation in every market in which DC commercial vehicles are sold. And, given DC is the world's leading commercial vehicle manufacturer, this is every developed and most developing nations.
Since the DPF is a fundamental component in the overall engine emissions system, it makes sense to take responsibility for its development, said Tim Tyndall, director of 2007 emissions and compliance.
Integration of the components is much simplified under the DaimlerChrysler ownership of Detroit Diesel, he said. It has opened up complete communications between the engine manufacturing arm and the truck manufacturer to allow simultaneous development of engine systems and chassis packaging of supporting systems such as cooling and exhaust systems.
Engine Laboratories
Included on the 31-acre site, which has been occupied by Detroit Diesel since 1937, is a comprehensive design and development operation fully supported by engineering and test facilities. These are complemented by engineering resources in Stuttgart and Mannheim, Germany, other centers of DaimlerChrysler heavy-duty diesel engine competence.
Included in the Detroit engineering complex is a pilot build facility, where three Freightliner Century Class vehicles were arranged during the visit. All featured Series 60 '07 engines. These were development vehicles for DPF technologies so, while equipped with the filters, they did not include the cooling systems for the '07s.
Nevertheless, it was interesting to see the installation of the filter, which is comparable in size to a slimline 75 to 80-gallon round fuel tank. It weighs around 150 pounds, said Tyndall, but since there is total sound attenuation as the exhaust passes through the filter structure, there is no requirement for mufflers, making the net weight gain around 70 pounds.
The install on the prototype has the air tanks down one side of the driveline and the filter housing slung on the other side, tucked in behind the passenger fuel tank. Since the DPF may well require service to remove ash at around 200,000 miles (legislation requires it must go at least 150,000 miles) it has to be serviceable.
With the close collaboration enabled by the common ownership, Detroit Diesel and Freightliner have been able to package the filter so that other service areas are not compromised. It even looked as if the transmission could be removed without disturbing the DPF.
Walking around the labs, we were privileged to see not only Series 60 engines in development, but also some HDE prototypes running on the dynamometers. There was little to be gained from the distant views however, though it was noted the overhead was wide, suggesting maybe a double overhead camshaft.
At one cell, a Series 60 we noted was running 1,400 rpm pushing 470 hp and 2,010 pounds feet of torque. This may have been over-rated for durability testing, or it may indicate that hp and torque will migrate upwards again with the next emissions compliance.
What is certain, though, was the number of Holset turbos on these engines. It looks highly likely that Detroit Diesel will embrace the Cummins-owned subsidiary's turbos on its 2007 engines.
A comment confirmed this, underscoring the fact that the Holset variable-geometry turbocharger is the simplest, most elegant, reliable and best performing VGT available.
Future Developments
Detroit Diesel staged a very convincing demonstration that it is on top of the technology for 2007. Indeed, it plans to field customer engines in trucks later this year to get fleet input as well as real world testing. Availability of the low-sulfur fuel needed for these engines will be something of an issue during these trials, but not insurmountable, said Tyndall. In all, by the time the new emissions hit, Detroit Diesel will have accumulated real-world or equivalent mileage of 67,700,000 miles on 450 engines in 235 vehicles.
Part of the customer evaluation will be to look at the potential fuel economy of these '07 engines. Detroit Diesel is saying that by the time they are introduced in the '07 trucks, the difference in fuel economy between them and the '04 engines will be "negligible." The '04s are a little better than the 10.02 engines that traded off 3-5% economy to EGR. That difference has narrowed 1.5 to 2% with the Jan. 1, '04 updates, so the assumption is the '07 engines will still be 2 to 4% off from 1998, though DDC people say they will still be the economy leader.
The company says it wants to communicate that it is well-positioned to have reliable, durable, proven engines ready for the next phase of the upcoming diesel emissions. To that end, we are hoping to get hands-on experience of the driveability of the next generation of Detroit Diesels before the end of '05. Watch this space.
