The newly developed Duramax 6600 V8 Diesel engine has incorporated a lot of the latest technologies to achieve better fuel economy and lower exhaust emissions. It will provide the GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado with a Diesel engine to satisfy a multitude of major customer requirements such as higher output, lower fuel consumption, comfortable V8 sound, high reliability and good driveability. An optimized combustion system coupled with a four-valve per cylinder configuration, high pressure common rail fuel injection system, new design combustion chamber and valve covered orifice (VCO) nozzle enables to meet 1998 U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emission standards for heavy-duty diesel engines without exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and aftertreatment.
After a short review of the emission standards in the United States and the general features of the new engine, the effects of the emission devices will be discussed such as air and exhaust gas ducting, combustion chamber geometry, common rail injection system including the difference between a mini-sack nozzle and VCO nozzle. KIVA-II computer simulation code helped to optimize the combustion, in particular, to reduce the soot emission.
This high performance engine introduces a new generation ready to meet future regulations, and is designed to further improve customer satisfaction.