Optimising weight is a central part of the development work and here lightweight materials like aluminium extrusions play a vital role.
Increasing EU demands
The majority of engine and vehicle makers today are working to meet the emission demands laid down by the EU. The demands are continually being made harder and Scania already satisfies those included in EURO 5 that come into force in 2009. The majority of engines can also be run on alternative fuels such as ethanol, rapeseed oil, biogas and synthetic diesel.
Minor revolution
The last few years have seen a minor revolution in technology and performance where Scania has reduced the emissions from its engines by 80 per cent. This has come from the development of systems and electronics for things like fuel injection and the control of air and temperature.
Future developments are aimed at reducing fuel consumption and increasing efficiency as well as to a great extent hybrid technologies where the vehicle’s kinetic energy can be converted to electricity. Lower weight, less friction and the reuse of heat from the vehicle’s exhaust are also very important.
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| Fuel manifolds for Scania’s environmental engines for supplying fuel under high pressure. The nominal working pressure is 15 bars with peaks of up to 50 bars. |
Aluminium increasingly important
Today’s engines use aluminium extrusions for things like fuel manifolds for high-pressure injection, cable ducts, fan ring fittings, cooling tubes and compressor pipes.
Lightweight materials will be even more important in vehicles in the future. New hybrid technologies mean that vehicles will have to be fitted with even more equipment and here aluminium will be of decisive importance in order to minimize increase in weight.
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A Scania engine from the new EUR 5 EGR environmental diesel range, a straight-six, 13 litre, 480 horsepower engine. The fuel manifold is fitted to the underside of the cylinders. The demands for strength, seal and resistance to heat and vibration are great. Extrusions have proved to be far more robust than cast-iron components. |
Extrusions are more robust
Scanias new diesel range motors includes a ‘common rail’ system where a common manifold supplies fuel to each cylinder head instead of having separate pipes. The manifold is designed with low weight and optimal function in mind. The demands for strength, seal and resistance to heat and vibration are great. Extrusions have proved to be far more robust than cast-iron components. Hydro Aluminium Profiler, working according to the strict automotive ISO/TS 16949 quality standards, has supplied fully machined fuel manifolds that are ready to install in the engine workshop. Tolerances are tight and each component is tested for quality and seal before delivery.
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| Håkan Malmstad (right), manager of Scanias predevelopment of new generations of engines, and Carl Gunnar Jonasson from Hydro Aluminium Profiler agree that lightweight materials like aluminium extrusions will become increasingly more important in engines that have less impact on the environment in the future |
According to Scania´s engineers extrusion technology gives valuable freedom when developing components and low tooling costs make it possible to produce prototypes for testing.
Consequently aluminium extrusions are of major importance in the continuing development of engines from Scania.
