Tenneco has opened a new clean air research, development and manufacturing facility in Kunshan near Shanghai, China, says a company press release. The company will design and manufacture emission control products and technologies for commercial trucks in China. The facility has 10,200-square metre area and employs 150 people, including 120 engineering and testing personnel. The company expects to almost double the workforce to 400 people once the facility becomes fully operational. The facility will serve to the company’s commercial truck and off-highway equipment business throughout the Asia-Pacific region.
The new facility houses robust system design and analysis, modeling, controls simulation, acoustic analysis and predictive tools development. “Our engineering know-how, global regulatory expertise, and capabilities in systems integration are driving Tenneco’s success in serving our customers with innovative, cost-effective aftertreatment solutions”, said Gregg Sherrill, chairman and CEO of Tenneco.
In a separate development, Tenneco announced plans to display a series of new products for commercial vehicle clean air technologies at the 2014 IAA Commercial Vehicles to be held from 23 September to 2 October in Hanover, Germany. The company will highlight how its product line-up of diesel aftertreatment technologies combined with full systems integration expertise and advanced thermal management technologies will aid in reduction of fuel consumption and achieve weight reduction and meet Euro six compliance targets. “Tenneco’s clean air solutions have been designed to go beyond Euro VI requirements to deliver optimised system performance that deliver consistent in-use compliance and reduced fuel consumption through the use of advanced technology,” said Ben Patel, vice president, global research & development and systems integration at Tenneco Clean Air Division.
Tenneco says that its proprietary compact mixing technologies results in high ammonia uniformity to the SCR catalyst and reduces packaging space requirements and overall system weight. When compared with traditional cast manifolds, modular fabricated manifolds provide benefits in weight and packaging. Also air grip pipe offers thermal advantages for faster catalyst light off and low temperature SCR applications.
In addition, Tenneco will showcase developments in advanced suspension technologies at the IAA event. "Tenneco's complete portfolio of axle, cabin and seat suspension applications and elastomers for heavy duty and light commercial vehicles are designed to provide enhanced ride performance, comfort and optimized vehicle life while helping reduce fleet operating costs," said Sandro Paparelli, vice president and general manager of Tenneco’s Ride Performance Europe.
The company has developed velocity progressive damping (VPD) to improve driver comfort in commercial vehicles. At low velocity, low damping forces are generated and at higher velocities, damping increases progressively to avoid bigger movements. This contributes to improved performance for a driver and eliminates the need to manually adjust the damping force.
Tenneco has also developed Integrated Height Valve (IHV), an air suspension damper module to continuously level truck cabins. This modular solution can be adapted for any on- or off-road applications.
Tenneco develops products which are light in weight, are easy to pack and offer the benefit of reduced fuel consumption without hampering a vehicle’s performance. In this regard, the company developed integrated front suspension (IFS) as a cost-effective way of integrating air springs with 45mm axle dampers; it will be highlighted at IAA. This offers weight reduction on the front suspension and improves overall ride comfort, said Tenneco.
Significance: Tenneco already has a plant in Kunshan area for XNOx™ Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology for commercial vehicle applications. The company explains that XNOx™ air assisted SCR is a system which features a compact and integrated tank, controller and pump assembly and is developed for the China market. The system meets Euro five and China National Stage V regulations and provides an economical alternative to airless SCR. In China, Tenneco's customers include Weichai, FAW, China National Heavy Truck Company (CNHTC), Dalian Diesel, JND, Shanghai Diesel Engine Co. and YuChai.
The company's latest product innovations are in line with the forthcoming Euro six emission norms which focus on pollutants and tighter certification cycles. To attain this, improved system-oriented approach to aftertreatment is required. The company says that its aftertreatment components, including its diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC), diesel particulate filter (DPF) technologies and proprietary liquid urea SCR system, XNOx™, with advanced spray quality, help optimise SCR conversion efficiency.