DIESEL ECONOMIZER
Page 60
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
le The Danes are more famous for but-ter, pastries and blue cheese than for major contributions to technology. But they have come up with a diesel filter for trucks which, its inventor predicts, could be a breakthrough in fuel economy.
The Economizer uses a liquid to trap impurities in dery and is claimed to cut fuel consumption by 10%. It is now being launched in the UK. The Economizer costs around 2800, and is already being used by 400 operators in Scandinavia.
Ben Nielsen, head of the Leciesterbased UK distributor, Scandiesel, has the filter on trial with four transport firms, and some users are beginning to report savings. Nielsen hopes to sell 150 filters this year, and is looking for agents around the country.
The device uses a thermostat to keep fuel at a constant 35°C. In cold weather, warm water from the truck's radiator is fed through hoses to the filter, which can pass 240 litres of diesel an hour. This does away with the need for additives to prevent waxing, explains Danish-born inventor Alex James.
James has spent thousands of pounds developing the Economizer, helped by government grants. He is now confident that it will take off in the UK, Germany. France and North America, taking him into profit next year.
At the heart of the system is the liquid which removes sulphur, carbon, bacteria water and fungi, says James, who patented the system two years ago. The litre of fluid must be changed every 10 to 15,000km, but the filter itself lasts for life and can be swapped between vehicles.
Because the liquid rids the dery of impurities, engine parts last longer, emissions are cut by more than 20%, engine noise is reduced by about a decibel and drivers find the running smoother, he
FISHING BOATS
The device can be fitted to all diesel vehicles, including taxis, cars and fishing boats. But 80% of the 1,500 sold so far have been for trucks. It comes in two sizes; a Mkt version for vehicles up to 209kW (280hp), and a MkII for those up to 410kW (550hp).
The Economizer can be fitted almost anywhere in the fuel line in less than five hours, either by the operator himself, or by the manufacturer for 2100.
Fuel travels from the engine's existing filter, through the Economizer and back through the fuel line to the injection pumps.
The thermostat — which can be mounted on the dashboard — has five settings to cope with a wide variety of ambient temperatures.
It is vital for the operator to adjust the thermostat to achieve the best fuel savings, says James. Some 70% of the savings result from keeping the dery temperature constant, with 30% through having cleaner diesel, he says.
A haulier covering 160,000km a year in a 38-boner can retrieve the cost of the filter in five months and save over 22,000 a year in fuel alone, claims Scandiesel. A 17-tonner, doing 128,000km a year at 31.41itilOOkm (9mpg) is claimed to have a pay-back period of 10 months, with future fuel savings of 2805 a year.
Aalborg Portland, one of Denmark's leading cement manufacturers, has fitted Economizers to a Scania, a Volvo and a Mercedes, and is claiming 5-8% fuel savings. Now it plans to buy them for its entire 90-strong fleet.
The City of Aalborg's bus company has 10 on test, and is using 6-8% less fuel, says fleet manager Preben Nielsen, whose 89 vehicles each cover 60,000km a year. But the cut in diesel emissions in environmentally-conscious Denmark is just as important, especially as the buses are council-owned, he adds.
Another Danish operator claims to have done even better. Tom Peterson says the coaches he has fitted with the Economizer are retuning 2.9km per litre, instead of his usual 2.4km per litre — a saving of 17°k.
The four UK operators trialling the Economizer are: parcels carrier and general haulier Carryfast of Dewsbury, Yorks; City Busways of Newcastle; bus company PMT of Stoke, and Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach.
Carryfast reports a 5-7% saving which improves when the weather is cold, says workshop manager Geoff Cook. The company has fitted Economizer to a Volvo FL10 and a Leyland Daf 2800, and is plan ning to buy more for its fleet of 90 at its Dewsbury depot. Savings are said to be around 2500 a year.
Brighton & Hove fitted the device to a Scania N113 double-decker in July, but has had to transfer it to another N113 because of problems with working out fuel savings figures. "We tried to monitor it against other vehicles, but all our buses do different routes," explains operations engineer Tony Griffiths.
MIRACLE WAY
Scandiesel approached Griffiths with the ideal of installing the Economizer, but he is cautious about it: "We get 101 firms promising some miracle way of saving fuel every week. We'll have to wait, but I'm not wholly optimistic," he says.
Although James has a world patent on his invention, he is sure that others, particularly the Japanese, will copy it; however, he is confident he has a head start on any rivals. "We're not afraid of competition," he says. "Don't forget, we're two years ahead of the rest. They have to come up with a product and market it." He has no plans to sell his idea if a manufacturer comes along. "I want to give this 10 years," he says.
Many companies have come up with variations of fuel filters, but most of these have failed he says. "They concentrated on time of injection, while we looked at filtering and cooling."
The simplest ideas are often the hardest to discover, James believes. "People ask, if our invention is so good, why haven't others come up with it? The truth is they've overlooked it."
So confident is he of success that James has bought larger premises near his Aalborg workshop. The local council is so keen to promote jobs that it sold him a two-storey school, with outbuildings, two houses and a field for 210,000.
James hopes to add another 40 to his current staff of 10 over the next two years and will change his company's name from Aj Imports to the self-explanatory Scandinavian Diesel Filters.
His partners include a chemicals company in Belgium, which makes the filtering liquid, and a government-run technology centre, which gives work to the long-term unemployed and does most of the research and development. He is now working on a better-looking Economizer for the US, where he already has one on test.
Contact Scandiesel on (0533) 558668. Oby Murdo Morrison