Abstract
This paper summarizes the technical development of a performance improvement package for Wabtec Corporation’s 7FDL diesel engine. To support the engine and make it more productive for its owners, Wabtec Corporation has developed a modification package for the engine that will improve its performance, enabling either a significant efficiency improvement over the current 7FDL Tier 1+ diesel engine or producing lower emissions at the current efficiency. The redesign improvements also focused on maximizing base engine part reuse to deliver an improvement package at an effective cost point, as well as minimize tooling changes and maintenance retraining efforts for end-users.
The engine performance benefits were achieved through changes in the air handling system, fuel system, and control system. Changes to the air handling system include the optimization of intake valve closure and matched turbocharger. The fuel system was upgraded to a high-pressure common rail fuel system that allowed for increased in-cylinder air-fuel mixing optimization. This performance improvement package for the 7FDL engine was developed through the Lean Startup method of Minimum Viable Product. A series of low-cost experiments were conducted to slowly step into the benefits of changing fuel system and air handling components.
