The U.S. Department of Energy will provide Detroit Diesel Corp. $27 million in grants in upcoming years to help fund two proposed programs to improve thermal efficiency while meeting 2010 emission regulations.
The DDC will work to develop commercially viable technology that improves thermal efficiency through the proposed High Efficiency Clean Combustion and the Exhaust Energy Recovery programs.
The HECC program’s goal is to combine several processes that enhance engine combustion into one system that would enable “high-efficiency clean combustion across the entire engine speed-load range,” according to a DDC statement.
Project participants will develop engine systems, hardware and controls to improve thermal efficiency, while meeting emissions levels of 2010 and beyond. In addition to the DOE, the company also will work with the Freightliner Group, Sandia National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Shell International Gas.
The collaborative EER program also is intended to improve large diesel engine fuel economy while it examines how engine-based technologies can partially recover and convert exhaust energy into mechanical and electrical work.
