Environmental sustainability is one of the most important challenges that the powertrain industry must tackle. With the aspiration to achieve air quality improvement and the reduction of heavy­ duty vehicles' impact on climate change, FPT Industrial is showcasing its Cursor 13 NG EVO Prototype during its Tech Day 2018 event.

The Brand is a leader in the Natural Gas segment, with more than 40,000 Natural Gas (NG) engines sold worldwide in the last 20 years. Taking advantage of its experience, FPT Industrial started the Cursor 13 NG EVO R&D project with the aim to develop a highly innovative direct injection system for the next generation of Heavy-Duty Natural Gas engines. It is a user-friendly 100% Natural Gas mono-fuel engine, not requiring Diesel nor Urea refill systems. Moreover, it adopts a simple after treatment, a 3-way catalyst without DPF, SCR and EGR. 

The new positive ignition NG engine can improve brake thermal efficiency, increase torque and rated power, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, have all improved by 10% when compared to the NG baseline engine. During tests, the FPT Industrial engine reached a performance of 370 kW@ 1,900 rpm and 2,200 Nm @ 1,000 rpm. The fuel consumption aIso proved to be well below the target of 200g/kWh in a large area of the engine's operating map. Overall, the Cursor 13 NG EVO can reach an efficiency of 41%.

The Cursor 13 NG EVO concept integrates different components to achieve these results and is supported by state-of-the-art simulation tools for hardware selection and optimization, as well as a single cylinder engine for testing and calibration. Among the main features, the concept has a specific cylinder head featuring a pent-roof combustion chamber with tumble intake ports, designed for optimal positive-ignition combustion; a fuel direct injection system, which brings advantages such as higher specific engine power output and better and more flexible control of fuel mixture. The latter results in an overall emission reduction during transient operations, contributing to better fuel economy. Moreover, the Cursor 13 NG EVO components include a high­ pressure cooled EGR circuit, which helps reduce throttling losses at partial load; and a Variable Valve Timing system, that uses cam-phaser technology to achieve the best phasing conditions, volumetric efficiency and turbulence level in every operating condition, thus reducing fuel consumption.