Onan

Onan Options From Winco - Featuring Stamford End From Cummins

In the year, 1910, the NORWEGIANS launched the first OCEAN-GOING vessel with a diesel motor - this first ocean-going DIESEL engine was relegated to AUXILIARY use.


Did you know that, when it comes to the partial load - while gasoline engines (even as they burn less fuel in the process) actually lose efficiency (the ratio of energy produced to fuel consumed) - the efficiency of diesel motors is almost constant? This may not be sufficient to sell most consumers on a diesel automobile (or a diesel generator) - given what is commonly a higher purchase price of the diesel unit. Here are a couple more diesel-generator facts to mull over: the diesel engine accepts turbo (and supercharger) power augmentation more seamlessly than its gasoline equivalent (in large part because of its ability to withstand tremendous amounts of pressure in the cylinder). The diesel engine also produces lower carbon monoxide levels during its operation, making it an especially good fuel choice for generator applications. Not only do lower Co2 levels reduce the risks of carbon-monoxide poisoning, they entail, as long as adequate air-flow exists for cooling purposes, that the diesel generator can be installed in confined quarters that would be unavailable to a gaseous model. Further, many diesel engines will utilize synthetic fuel like biodiesel without any significant alteration (such as use of a conversion kit). Gasoline equivalents, on the other hand, require ponderous prepping, and, even then, are frequently unable to use synthetic fuels except as an additive.




In the year, 1909, Inventor, Prosper L'ORANGE developed the first PRECHAMBER with a HEMISPHERICAL combustion chamber.


The pre-electronic diesel employed a crankshaft-driven mechanical plunger-type fuel pump. Because it operated in time with the crankshaft, the pump was able to distribute the proper amount of fuel into each cylinder via a spring-loaded injector at the end of a high-pressure fuel line (a separate line for each engine cylinder). This valve-type injector was activated (forced open) by pressure of the incoming fuel. In addition to its own high-pressure line (all lines needed to be of equal length to maintain consistent pressure to each injector), each cylinder harbored its own fuel-pump plunger. After drawing a requisite dose of fuel from the tank, the plunger, timed by a mechanical speed governor, would rotate a handful of degrees to release this fuel into each high-pressure line. The plunger pumps of low-speed diesel motors were often housed separately. On the other hand, high-rpm units housed all plunger pumps together, or employed (typically used in motors with six or less cylinders) a pump with one rotating plunger - the plunger turned like the hand of a clock, first drawing in fuel, then releasing it into whichever high-pressure line was being passed.






In 1912, the DANISH launched the world's FIRST (exclusively) diesel-POWERED ship designed for ocean travel.



How does operation of the modern electronic diesel engine differ from the mechanically-controlled units it replaced? For one thing, the modern diesel typically employs a single fuel pump which feeds the injectors with a single (common) fuel line. An ECU (electronic control unit) opens and closes each injector (by way of a solenoid) with far more precision than could be achieved by any mechanical setup. Another difference between electronic and mechanical configurations is that the mechanical controller works exclusively off of engine speed (rpm), and will supply fuel to the injectors at each cylinder accordingly. The ECU, meanwhile, monitors both rpm and load on the engine - for both superior performance and efficiency. Consider two engines, both operating at 2000 rpm: the engine that runs at 2000 rpm across a flat surface will obviously require far less fuel than the engine running at 2000 rpm as it climbs a steep grade. The mechanical controller, gauging engine speed alone, will treat both motors in the example identically, an obvious limitation. One trait that mechanical and electronic injection systems share is their capacity to serve in a direct or indirect injection structure.





The year, 1912, saw INTRODUCTION of the INITIAL diesel-powered LOCOMOTIVE.


Did you know that the diesel motors in large sailing ships can be operated in either direction without compromising performance? Absolutely true. Vintage car and truck diesels with mechanical injection could also be run in reverse, though the toll on performance, in such cases, would have been considerable. What about direct versus indirect injection methods. Direct injection occurs when fuel is introduced straight into the engine's combustion chamber. Engines with the indirect injection design, meanwhile, feature a pre-chamber (above and connected to the combustion chamber) - in these motors, the combustion process begins in the pre-chamber (also called an ante-chamber) before spreading to the combustion chamber itself. Indirect injection can produce smoother operation in a motor, however it lowers overall efficiency by as much as ten percent (the lower combustion-chamber temperatures produced result in a lesser percentage of burned fuel). Since its exhaust harbors greater amounts of unburned fuel, the motor with indirect injection is also responsible for higher emissions.




The year, 1920, saw assembly of the VERY-FIRST of what would become many CUMMINS-BUILT diesel engines.


Employment of an ECU (electronic control unit) made the more-efficient direct-injection motor more palatable for small passenger vehicles, automobiles and light trucks, than it had been when controlled mechanically (via pressure activation). While the mechanically-controlled direct injection system boasted significant improvements in fuel economy (over an indirect-injection design), it was also notorious for loud operation. This would prove a difficult sell in passenger-vehicle and other non-industrial applications. Additional advancements in fuel injection include the unit direct and the common-rail direct systems. The unit direct injection method is characterized by individual pump/injector packages above each cylinder. Since injection of fuel is straight into each combustion chamber, high pressure fuel lines are eliminated (injection timing is controlled by the camshaft). The unit direct injection system was developed by industry leader, Bosch, and is widely used in the diesel powerplants of major manufacturers like Cummins, Volvo, and Caterpillar (also by passenger car makers Mercedes Benz and Volkswagen). The common rail system is composed of a single heavy-duty fuel pump, and tube - similar in purpose to the standard high-pressure fuel line, however this tube supplies all rather than one of a motor's cylinders. At each cylinder is an ECU-controlled injector (usually with a solenoid-actuated plunger to manage the amount of fuel distributed to the combustion chamber). Historically, the common-rail system has had an advantage in operating pressure, but now, thanks to technical advancements, both methods operate at roughly 35000 psi (pounds per square inch).