GE has unveiled it's Tier-4 GEVO demonstrator. There's a noticeable raised hump on top of the center section of the long hood where the horn and turbocharger stack were located on all GE Dash 9s and GEVOs until now.
http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/mechanical/locomotives/ge-unveils-prototype-next-evolution%C2%AE-series-locomotive.html?channel=35#.UDguWKPhd9u
So now both GE and EMD/Progress/Cat are banking on non-urea solutions? A big gamble given what is happening in the OTR diesel industry (where a major truck manufacturer went with a non-urea system and it has been plauged by technical issues)..
"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock
I spent some time looking at the GE photo of 2015, and a couple of things came to mind. Firstly, it looks like the air to air intercooler has gone, possibly to provide more room for the emission control equipment. That would mean air to water intercooling. The radiator is larger, about the size of that on an AC 6000 and might have two radiator fans instead of the one on an ES 44, but part of this larger radiator would be needed for intercooling of course. As well as being longer, the radiator is slightly wider, indicated by the greater angle between the the two cores than in the standard locomotive.
Having compared it with a side view of the export ES44DCi, the new unit has a standard frame and not the longer AC6000 frame.
Does the new unit have a model number? I assume that 2015 is an AC unit, but that DC versions will be built.
M636C
One thought about air to water aftercooling is that the the temperature of the air supplied to the cylinders would be more uniform than what would be available with an air to air aftercooler. IIRC, the aftercooler installed on the '91 1/2 Dodge/Cummins pickup trucks were put there for meeting emissions regulations. The aftercooler provided a more uniform manifold than the previous non-cooled turbo.
- Erik
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