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Kirloskar Oil to launch eco-friendly engines

Our Bureau

PUNE, March 7

BY 2001, the Pune-based Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd (KOEL) is all set to phase out its two series of diesel engines. These are to be replaced with one series of indigenously developed eco-friendly diesel engines, R1040 series, Mr. Kumar N. Joshi, Assistant Vice-President, Medium Engines (Marketing and Product Support), KOEL said here.

He noted that currently, production of the two series, RB and RV, is about 60,000, of which 10,000 engines are utilised for industrial and generator applications, while the rest is used by the tractor segment. About 40 per cent of manufacturing in this s egment has already been taken over by the R1040 series.

About 400 engines are being manufactured per month. The manufacturing of these engines came about when talks were on with Punjab Tractors and TAFE, which were looking out for exports of tractors to the US market.

For this purpose, certification from the South Western Research Institute, which is the autonomous body for approval of engines into the US for off-highway vehicles, has also been obtained by KOEL.

Mr. Joshi noted that R1040 series engines were eco-friendly and met the exhaust emission norms prevailing in Europe and the US, namely the European COM Stage-I and US Tier I, applicable to off-highway and industrial applications.

The turbo-charged engine also met European COM Stage-II and US Tier II norms, he said. The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) has also tested the product and has confirmed that the product satisfied the India 2000 norms too. Recently, the In stitute of Directors had awarded the `Golden Peacock Product Award' for innovation in design and manufacturing of these engines.

He noted that prototypes of six-cylinder engines in this series had been completed and would be launched in the market by September this year. The company would also be looking into the two and three cylinder engines and was negotiating with Mahindras fo r these engines.

The new product line would enable the small business unit of KOEL to aggressively launch export initiatives.

The engine is fuel-efficient with low emission values of hydro carbons, carbon monoxide and particulate matter and the piston has been designed to have a centralised cavity.

The engine has been specially designed for heavy duty industrial use and is not derived from light automotive engines. Hence, it can be used as load bearing member in typical applications such as agricultural tractor and forklift trucks, he said.

In this series of engines, the engine overhaul is done after 8,000 hours of usage against 4,000 to 5,000 hours in others. Fuel consumption is also lesser by 15 per cent.