Booster Online

VNT™ Solutions for Premium Off-highway Engines

Posted 05.18.2011

• 
• 
• • 
  • Share this on:
  • Mixx
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • delicious
  • reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • MySpace!
  • Twitter
  

The turbo system, which marries Honeywell’s VNT™ DutyDrive with an actuation technology usually paired with the company’s AVNT turbochargers for light trucks, has helped John Deere to meet its aggressive performance and emissions targets while reducing turbo part number complexity by 80% over its predecessor.

While the off-highway advantages of variable geometry turbos were already well understood in the industry, including enhanced control over power and torque, and the ability to drive exhaust gas recirculation to reduce NOx, Honeywell’s lead and experience in the field of electro-hydraulic actuation facilitated the adoption of VNT for the premium John Deere 9L engine platform.

“From the outset, reliability, performance and packaging were clear objectives for this engine program,” says Zandrie Wiersma, Manager of Application Engineering at Honeywell Turbo Technologies. The project meant developing a turbo system capable of withstanding the high temperatures, vibration harshness and extended periods of heavy workload associated with off-highway operations. “The solution – and the challenge – was to create a unique turbocharger that combines the performance benefits of VNT with a proven actuation method that offers additional packaging flexibility and reduction in complexity.”

For Honeywell Turbo engineers, combining DutyDrive VNT and electro-hydraulic went way beyond simple addition. In fact, it meant a full-scale development program that entailed rising up to such challenges as turbo stage development, solving issues related to vane loading and protecting actuation against contamination. For turbo hardware, innovations included cambered vanes and a new turbine wheel to optimize turbine efficiency across the engine range, while a new piston design, along with vane position sensor, helped to ensure the effective operation of the electro-hydraulic actuation system across all engine conditions.

After almost a year’s close collaboration with John Deere and hard work, Honeywell engineers succeeded in delivering a turbo system befitting a premium off-highway engine: it has contributed to meeting the customer’s aggressive target in power and torque, helped meet the latest Tier4i emissions, while offering great flexibility in packaging and orientation and reducing overall turbo complexity. “Our comprehensive expertise in wheels, aerodynamics, shaft motion and structural design played a key role in bringing this new technology to the off-highway segment,” says Zandrie Wiersma.

Anticipating tighter emissions standards and increased customer and end-user expectations, Honeywell engineers are already working on refining this technology such as developing a water-cooled version and possibly introducing ball bearing technology.