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Cummins eyes up ECI
Page 13
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• The first Cummins engines sold in the UK with full electronically-controlled fuelinjection could make their British debut before 1991. Cummins is currently engaged in operator trials with a number of its latest ECI (Electronic Controlled Injection) engines in the United States.
The first ECI pre-production units are rated at 235kW (315hp), although 261kW (350hp) ECI test engines could be available for trials in America later this year.
While the ECI development units are initially being based on Cummins' 14-litre Super E engine, Cummins says that the first European ECI engines are more likely to be based on its LIO straight-six engine.
According to Cummins chief engineer Harry Wilson, who is responsible for the ECI development programme at Cummins' engine plant in Columbus (Indiana), the ECI engine is not hie existing Cummins power units with electronic fuel systems added on. Instead, the ECI micro-processor-based systems on the engine precisely control the amount of fuel delivered to individual injectors with "infinitely variable timing".
Other features of the ECI engine include cruise control, automatic engine speed governing and extensive engine diagnostics.
Among the US operators currently testing ECI-equipped vehicles is Ryder Transportation Resources of Miami: ECI engines have been fitted in Ryder's Navistar Series 9700 cabover models.
Benefits of the ECI engine are claimed to include not only improved fuel economy, but also reduced emmissions.
Cummins already offers an add-on electronic engine control unit, called PACE, on its 10-litre and 14-litre engines in the United States, although so far it has not been adopted by any UK truck manufacturer. The PACE system effectively acts as an engine governor and cruise control unit.
The advances made in ECI, however, make it likely that PACE could well be superceded by the more sophisticated ECI system which, according to Cummins in Great Britain, will arrive on the European market "around 1990/91".