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7. Idle Reduction Project

Idle Reduction Project

The analysis and conclusions contained in this case study are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily represent the point of view of the Government of Canada.

Organization
Canadian National Railway

Major Findings
Automatic Shutdown/Startup Systems effectively reduce locomotive idling.

Project Timeline
November 2004 to January 2008

Please note that some figures such as cost savings on fuel are based on data from the period that this project took place.

Introduction

In an initiative designed to improve fuel consumption and lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, Canadian National Railway (CN) tested automatic engine start-stop controls and layover engine heating systems to reduce diesel locomotive idling times. Why? Line haul locomotives often idle when they are not pulling freight to keep engine coolants operating in cold weather conditions as well as to maintain air brake cylinder pressure and cabin comfort while they wait for a track to clear.

Project Description

In 2003, CN applied to Transport Canada's Freight Sustainability Demonstration Program for funding for a project to reduce the environmental impact of its fleet. Of particular interest were technological innovations designed to reduce idling and its related fuel consumption and GHG emissions. Automatic Engine Shutdown/Startup (AESS) - or "SmartStart" microprocessor technology together with layover warming systems shut down idling engines when predetermined criteria are met. Engines can be maintained safely in a state of readiness, able to be re-started swiftly and with minimum warm-up.

Project Methodology

For its project, CN selected six 16-cylinder General Motors EMD locomotives, four 3000 horsepower (HP) SD-40 models and two 2000 HP SD-38 models. These locomotives were then equipped with various combinations of layover heating and AESS systems. The layover heating systems were the Kim Hotstart® DV/DH plug-in electric unit, the Kim Hotstart® Diesel Driven Heating System (DDHS) and the Ecotrans K9®. The AESS systems were the ZTR SmartStart® and Wabtec's Engine Run Manager (ERM). These systems first went on-line in November 2004, and the last data collected for purposes of this study, is from January 2008.

Layover Heating Systems

In extreme cold conditions, oil can congeal to a semi-solid state and coolant can freeze. This means that at a minimum, restart is difficult and long warm-up periods are required before a locomotive is ready to work. At worst, an engine block may sustain extensive, costly damage since locomotive diesel engines do not use anti-freeze. This is why engines are left to idle - to protect the engine and maintain a state of readiness. Layover systems prevent the need to idle by keeping oil and coolant at optimum temperatures, maintaining air brake cylinder pressure and charging batteries.

The Kim Hotstart DV/DH system is a dual heating electric plug-in system that may be installed inside the body of the locomotive, on the walkway or even trackside. It requires a 600V (volt), 70A (ampere), three-phase wayside power supply for its two electric pumps and heaters.

The Kim Hotstart DDHS is a self-contained unit powered by a three-cylinder, 27hp diesel engine small enough to be mounted on the walkway or inside the car body. It has an auxiliary water heater and a 72V, DC alternator for battery charging. This Kim Hotstart system also heats water and oil by capturing the waste heat from the engine and the oil and coolant pumps.

A third layover system evaluated in CN's study was the Ecotrans K9® APU. It has a four-cylinder, turbocharged diesel engine mated to a 16Kw, 240V single-phase generator that powers the electric immersion heaters for the main engine coolant and lube oil. This setup is similar to block heaters found in most Canadian passenger vehicles. As with the Kim Hotstart DDHS system, it can capture and use waste heat from the engine's exhaust.

Automatic Engine Shutdown/Startup Systems

Known within the industry as "Smartstart" systems, these microprocessor-based locomotive controls can interface with layover warming units to automatically re-start or shut-down a locomotive engine when preset conditions are met. For example, if a locomotive is stationary on a siding, and the AESS determines that it has idled longer than a programmed value, the main engine will shut down. The layover system will then keep the prime mover warm and ready to restart at a moment's notice, when established parameters are satisfied.

Two AESS systems were selected by CN for its project - the ZTR Control Systems' SmartStart® and Wabtec's ERM. These systems were combined with the layover warming systems in various combinations on-board six GM locomotives. Both systems are designed to monitor brake cylinder air pressure; battery condition; engine temperature; external ambient air temperature and idling time. Both automatically perform tasks that train crews would normally do to comply with a manual shutdown policy.

Results

Locomotives are in service for long periods of time, and do not routinely enter the shop, except for scheduled maintenance. A project that relied on manually downloaded information would contain large gaps and not provide meaningful results. This is why the units used in the project were equipped with Datatrax, a new wireless technology that communicates remotely with locomotive engine monitoring systems and automatically downloads information from the event recorders. Unfortunately, the GPS antenna cable developed a short and overloaded the Datatrax power supply. CN personnel were unable to get the ground-based LAN to communicate with the locomotive.

With no automatic downloads, it was not possible to use the locomotive event recorders, since they retain only five to seven days of data and the nature of a locomotive's operational cycle made it impractical to make frequent visits to a maintenance shop for manual downloads. As a result, the retrieved data from this project is incomplete. Download summaries are based on information collected from the automatic stop/start systems, which provide cumulative downloads only.

   Idling Data Summary

Unit#	6000	6001	6002	6003	1652	1653
Layover Warming System	Kim DDHS	Kim DDHS	Ecotrans APU	Ecotrans APU	Kim DV / DH	Kim DV / DH
AESS System	ZTR SmartStart	ZTR SmartStart	Wabtec ERM	Wabtec ERM	ZTR SmartStart	ZTR SmartStart
Parked Idling Hours	9581.5	5921.6	No Data	253.8	7910.8	8398.6
Manual Shutdown Hour	1129.1	1286.5	No Data	30.4	1429.0	1314.2
AESS Shutdown Hours	227.7	2094.3	No Data	384.7	3586.5	6120.9
Total Potential and Actual Shutdown Hours	10938.3	9302.4	No Data	668.9	12926.3	15833.7
% Parked Idle Hours Shutdown by AESS	2.08%	22.51%	No Data	57.51%	27.75%	38.66%
Latest Download Date/Total Hours	2008/01/18 25252.9	2008/01/27 25616.6	2005/08/09 No Data	2008/01/25 1225.6	2007/10/01 22486.9	2008/01/30 24356.7

Clearly, there are significant performance differences between AESS systems in the project locomotives. Reasons why include:

• A defective brake cylinder pressure switch prevented unit 6000 from shutting down for 5,318.9 hours.
• Unit 6001 was unable to shut down for 2,470.8 hours.
• Unit 6002 was lost in a wreck.
• The ERM and layover systems onboard unit 6003 were known to be functioning, but the APU was off-line for an extended period of time due to an electrical short, and was unable to provide a detailed download.

Of the project locomotives, units 1652 and 1653 came closest to meeting CN's expectations for reduced emissions and fuel consumption, perhaps in part because they were used primarily as switching engines.

Obstacles

CN encountered significant challenges over the course of the project:

1. CN could not get the wireless communication systems needed for remote downloads and system status monitoring to work. As a result, manual downloads were required.
2. Since locomotives do not, as a rule, enter a maintenance facility, malfunctions of the equipment being assessed went undetected for long periods of time. Therefore wireless engine and AESS systems were offline for some of the time.
3. CN personnel's general lack of awareness of the project prevented greater success. For example, not all crews knew that units 1652 and 1653, outfitted with Kim Hotstart plug-in layover equipment, needed to be parked close to a wayside power supply. As well, not all crews were aware of the need to turn on layover systems after maintenance.
4. It was also felt that CN technicians did not have the needed expertise or technical support to address system malfunctions.

Cost and Payback

   Idle Emissions Savings (Based on AESS shutdown hours)

Unit#	6000	6001	6002	6003	1652	1653
AESS SD Hours	227.7	2094.3	No Data	384.7	3586.5	6120.9
*NOx@776gm/hr	176695.2	1625176.8	No Data	298527.2	2783124.0	4749818.4
*HC @88gm/hr	20037.6	184298.4	No Data	33853.6	315612.0	538639.2
*PM @21gm/hr	4781.7	43980.3	No Data	8078.7	75316.5	128538.9
*CO @297gm/hr	67626.9	662007.1	No Data	114255.9	1065190.5	1817907.3

*NO_x: Nitrogen Oxides
*HC: Hydrocarbons
*PM: Particulate Matter
*CO: Carbon Monoxide

   Financial Costs and Savings

Unit#	6000	6001	6002	6003	1652	1653
Fuel Savings/Year: Unit Fuel Saved - Layover System Fuel Used - Imperial Gallons (IG)	310.72	2851.39	No Data	5300.0	5517.01	8316.03
Fuel Savings $ (Assumes $2.50/IG)	$776.81	$7,128.49	No Data	$13,250.00	$13,792.53	$20,790.08
Equipment Cost + Installation	$72,301.08	$72,801.51	$64,309.66	$62,975.17	$49,399.61	$50,328.98

Conclusion

Clearly, automatic start/stop systems, in combination with layover warming technology, have been shown to reduce fuel consumption and lower GHG emissions. Locomotives 1652 and 1653 registered significant savings using SmartStart equipment alone, when ambient air temperature permitted its use. The Kim Hotstart DDHS showed greater versatility than the electric 'plug-in' system, since it does not require an external power source.

The project would have greatly benefited from:

• An assigned 'point person' to monitor the functioning of systems and crew performance for the project period
• A properly operating wireless, on-board data transmission system.

Although CN's projected savings were not realized over the course of the study, the potential exists to recoup their investment in relatively short order, once the systems are up and running smoothly.

Additional Information

• Canadian National Railway
• Kim Hotstart
• ZTR SmartStart
• Wabtec ERM

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Date modified:

2012-02-08

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