Low emissions engine designed by EU-led consortium
The AFFORHD project was an EU supported project which set the aim of developing alternative fuel for heavy duty trucks. The teams achieved this result by developing a DME (dimethyl ether) fuel system. The use of DME has a number of advantages, including that it is clean-burning as it has no carbon-carbon bonds. The result of more than three years work was that the consortium involved developed an engine which utilises the low-emission and high-efficiency capabilities of the fuel. The research indicated that DME has the potential to become a highly competitive alternative to today's fossil fuels. As part of this project the VOLVO team set to work to develop a new generation fuel injection control system. New software was developed and tested. Optimisation work was carried out; this involved the installation and running of new software and datasets on the engine. The idea was that this be later used to operate within a vehicle. Tests were run in the engine control system and were carried out as the engine speed was changed. The functionality tests indicated that the engine worked well. Following these trials, the engine was installed in the vehicle and was consistently found to work well. The hardware was also designed to meet industry requirements and by the end of the project was not far off from being ready for production.
