For the last several years, an increasing amount of attention has been devoted to the reduction of truck idling. In the past, much of the impetus for this effort has come from municipalities and regulatory agencies, seeking to reduce engine exhaust and noise emissions from heavy trucks.
But now along with those drivers, the skyrocketing price of diesel fuel and new concerns about engine wear and increased operating life have combined to create a sort of perfect storm of factors, all creating a greater urgency in the trucking industry to significantly reduce engine idling.
As a result of all this, a number of packages are beginning to enter the market with an eye on providing a complete solution to the electrical and climate control requirements of heavy-duty truck cabs and sleepers. One of these is from Mechron Power Systems, a subsidiary of Canadian Caterpillar dealer Toromont, which has developed a new auxiliary power unit. The Mechron Lightning Cab Comfort System (CCS) became commercially available this month and is initially available through Toromont dealer locations.
The CCS Lightning is built on Mechron's long history in packaging power generation systems. The company's power gen activity dates to 1949 and it has supplied APUs for military and commercial applications for the last decade. Mechron became part of Toromont in 1997This newest APU was in development for nearly 2 1/2 years, according to Mark Richardson, manager, mobile products at Mechron, and while it is similar in many ways to other units available in the marketplace, it also offers a range of additional optional features designed to make it more flexible and capable than many competitive products.
The APU is powered by a Kubota Z482 liquid-cooled diesel engine. The inline, two-cylinder engine has a displacement of 0.479 L and a standard gross hp rating of 13.3 hp at 3600 rpm. The engine directly drives a Mechron generator rated 6 kW continuous, 115 Vac at 60 Hz.
In the standard configuration, the engine cooling system is tied into the truck engine's cooling loop, but a Kubota-supplied radiator package is also available to make it a completely stand-alone package.
"In general, we believe that shared cooling is the best overall approach especially if you're driving in cold climates," said Richardson. "But through our market research, we found that some people were absolutely against tying the APU into the main engine for fear that a cooling system failure on the APU would take down the whole truck. We decided to give the customer the option."
The engine-generator unit is packaged into a nearly square (21 in. wide x 28.8 in. high x 28.8 in. deep) module that Mechron said requires only 21 in. of frame rail mounting space with no additional frame space required for ventilation access. Weight of the module is 380 lb. A standard 30 amp charger is mounted under the bunk with the power distribution equipment.
Along with the engine gen-set, the system incorporates a combined heating and air conditioning unit with remote stainless-steel condenser. The unit, packaged by Dometic, is designed to provide 10,000 Btu/hr heating capacity standard--up to 13,500 Btu/hr as an option--and a standard cooling capacity of 10,000 Btu/hr or as much as 14,000 Btu/hr optional.
The CCS Lightning has three basic operating modes. Normal mode provides continuous, uninterrupted heating, air conditioning and electrical power. The power is accessible in the cab through a 115 Vac, 20 amp GFCI duplex receptacle. A similar outdoor style receptacle is standard and can be mounted at the bottom of the cab, close to a block heater connection, the company said.
In the cycling mode, the APU is programmed to cycle on and off to maintain cab temperature and ensure the truck is able to start by monitoring coolant temperatures and battery voltage. An autostart mode allows the APU to be programmed to start at a pre-set time or when the battery voltage reaches a specified low level. The operation is completely unattended. There are also a series of shutdowns programmed into the system designed to prevent damage to the APU, the climate systems or connected equipment.
The system is controlled and programmed through an illuminated LCD in the cab. The display includes self-diagnostics and fault displays at startup, one button starting and simple automatic climate controls with manual override.
According to Mechron, at full load, the system has noise emissions of approximately 65 dB(A), which the company claims is low enough to allow the truck operator to sleep through starts and stops. Fuel consumption is 0.21 gph, according to the company.
Additional optional features include an automatic transfer switch that allows heating, cooling and battery charging operations to be powered by external shore power as well as a keyless starting system that provides completely remote starting or shutdown of the APU from as much as 1000 ft. away. "That's a very popular option," said Richardson
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