Downsizing a HD diesel engine for off-highway applications

FEV examines four technology paths to downsize a six-cylinder 7.5-L diesel to a four-cylinder 5.0-L while maintaining performance.

Many off-highway applications demand a relatively high low-end torque compared to on-highway applications. Because of this, applying downsizing strategies for non-road applications while meeting the operational requirements of the machine can be challenging. Still, downsizing can result in efficiency improvements as well as reduced production costs and packaging benefits.

Certain applications in the off-highway market are suited for engine downsizing. One example is a midsize tractor (Figure 1), which can be used for heavy field work that requires the engine to operate at medium to high speeds with a high load factor, and ancillary farm activities that are transient and for which the engine is concentrated toward low to medium engine speeds.