| The Ford Motor Co., www.ford.com |
The newest 6.4-liter Power Stroke Diesel from Ford boasts 350 hp at 3,000 rpm and 650 lb-ft of torque at only 2,000 rpm. It will be available on the company’s 2011 Super Duty lineup, including the F-Series Super Duty truck and E-Series vans. Its features include:
• Compacted graphite-iron (CGI) engine block, the first in a Super Duty-class vehicle in North America. CGI is stronger than conventional grey cast iron.
• An inboard-exhaust/outboard-intake configuration. Ford engineers essentially flipped the cylinder heads so the exhaust manifolds runs down the valley of the engine instead of down the outside. Instead, fuel and air intakes are on the outboard side of the engine. This reduces the volume of the exhaust system by about 50%, letting exhaust gases get to the turbocharger more quickly for faster spool-ups and less lag. The layout also keeps components that must be cooled away from the hot exhaust pipes.
• A single-sequential turbocharger from Honeywell drives two compressor wheels using one turbine impeller. This combines the benefits of a single inertia wheel for faster responses with the thrust of a larger turbocharger, so it can force more compressed air into the engine for more power. The turbine also has vanes with variable-pitch angles, so it can optimize the boost it provides depending on operating conditions.
• The piston bowl and fuel injectors can deliver five 30,000-psi fuel injections/cylinder/cycle while eight holes in each injector assure precise fuel delivery.
• Two resonators in the intake system and one near the air cleaner let Ford engineers tune the engine to give them the sound they wanted.
• And it can burn up to B20 biodiesel, a mix of 20% biodiesel, 80% diesel fuel. The engine is also designed to burn the least amount of oxygen and thus create fewer nitrogen oxides (NOx). A particulate filter traps soot, which is periodically burnt at temperatures up to 600°C.