EM&R June/July 2014

27
Feature Equipment Maintenance and Repair
I
n order to respond to the stipulations of
the Tier 4 Diesel Engine Standards,
engine manufacturers have been called
upon to dramatically change diesel engine
technologies over the years.
Since the 1930s, diesel engines weigh
half as much, produce nine times the
power, and produce twenty-eight times
the fuel injection pressures. Technology,
which enables modern diesel engines to
perform to stipulated requirements includ-
ing those to meet regulatory standards for
emissions, has resulted in creating a com-
plex interaction between the diesel fuel
and the diesel engine components, such as
on-board computers and electronics, after-
treatment systems, fuel injection systems,
and air management components.
The implication is that these systems
and components, which operate at levels
of higher precision and higher tolerances
than ever before, must absolutely be main-
tained in pristine condition and the diesel
driven equipment appropriately operated
to enable them to perform as designed to
achieve desired results.
Therefore, in the post Tier 4 mandated
world, the mining industry will need to
up-notch its operational and mainte-
nance management practices for equip-
ment which is diesel driven to ensure that
these pieces of equipment keep meeting
the regulatory and licence-to-operate
requirements.
It is also prudent that the mining
industry gear-up to ensure precision
maintenance of diesel engines as this will
lead to optimization of maintenance and
thus minimization of operational cost. A
diesel engine management program will
help ensure that the requirements of the
Tier 4 standards will be met and sustained
through the life cycle of diesel driven
equipment.
Tier 4 diesel engines essentially rely
upon emissions technology such as EGR
(Exhaust Gas Recirculation) and DPM
(Diesel Particulate Matter) filters, for
example, to further reduce emissions
from the Tier 3 levels.
In order to achieve the end result, these
engines are required to use ULSD (Ultra-
low Sulphur Diesel) fuel with less than
15ppm sulphur content and specific lubri-
cating oils. Further, the much finer toler-
ances in the common direct fuel injection
systems used on these newer engines
require ultra-clean diesel fuel to ISO
4406/99 Cleanliness Levels of 12/9/7 to
ensure that precision, high-tech compo-
nents perform satisfactorily over their
service life.
Without the basic requirements of fuel,
lubrication and intake air quality, sophis-
ticated technological devices installed in
these engines are bound to fail very quick-
ly, thus neither meeting their service lives
nor being able to provide functionality of
reducing emissions.
So it is crucial that these primary
requirements of engine operation are ful-
filled as the starting point. This has little
to do with the traditional maintenance
but is an operations function.
It is crucial that a culture of reliability is
driven within the organization to deliver
the best operational performance and to
achieve this it is recommended to adopt a
Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM)
approach which takes a broader view of
maintenance and includes those tasks
and activities undertaken by operators.
It will be a fundamental requirement
for mining companies to undertake RCM
analyses for their Tier 4 engines with par-
ticular emphasis placed upon air-intake,
lubrications, fuel systems as well as equip-
ment operating practices to establish tasks
and activities directly affecting emission
control devices.
A good starting point for Tier 4 engine
management is to have in place a solid
asset management program which deals
with the whole-of-life criteria for these
engines. Firstly, the correct engine needs
to be procured for the application, sec-
ondly they need to be operated well,
thirdly they need to be maintained well
and lastly, they need to be retired appro-
priately when they can no longer sustain-
ably provide the function and meet the
regulatory requirements for emissions
Heres a recommended summary of
activities that should be followed for Tier
4 engines:
Establishing an organization policy
for procurement, operations & mainte-
nance and retirement of diesel engines
Providing standards and procedures
to sites to enable them to meet the
policy requirements
Establishing emissions-based servicing
and maintenance of diesel engines
Providing operator and maintainer
training with particular focus on
know-why training
Providing awareness training across
the organization on the effects of
diesel emissions
Establishing collaboration with air-qual-
ity organizations and emission experts
to continuously improve diesel emissions
Establishing a clean diesel fuel and
lubrications program on sites
Using advanced condition monitoring
activities to identify and remedy incipi-
ent faults before they impact emissions
Mining companies must establish oper-
ations and maintenance practices to lower
emissions from these engines and it is sug-
gested that engine suppliers and consul-
tants in industry be approached to provide
solutions to either retrofit emission control
devices on these engines and/or assist in
establishing operational and maintenance
practices that will lower emissions.
Raman Autar is a diesel engine maintenance and
diagnostics expert based in Ontario.
raman.autar@mintrex.net.au
DIESEL WORLD
By Raman Autar*
EM&R June/July 2014
27