EcoFlo technology is now in production with leading diesel engine companies; Federal-Mogul also to supply pumps for retro-fitting
To keep heavy-duty engines working for longer, Federal-Mogul has developed a diesel fuel lift pump with a brushless electric motor. Called EcoFlo™, the technology is suitable for diesels with 12V or 24V systems and should improve the durability of on- and off-highway engines in the construction, heavy-duty, stationary, marine and agricultural sectors. The company reports that it can also be retrofitted to improve the reliability of vehicles in service.
“By leveraging Federal-Mogul’s diesel engine and electronics expertise, we are developing a new generation of more efficient and durable solutions for commercial vehicles that will result in better productivity and lower operating costs for end users,” says Frank Münchow, director of technology and innovation in Federal-Mogul’s vehicle safety and protection division.
EcoFlo has undergone extensive durability and performance testing with test fleet vehicles clocking up more than one million miles using the brushless fuel pump. Federal-Mogul has tested the pump using a variety of different fuels, including exotic blends such as Western Canadian diesel fuel and Japanese kerosene. In all instances, it out-performed the brushed-motor pump.
Durability field tests also showed that by removing the wearing brushes from the design, the product can last approximately 20 times longer than a conventional pump.
This will improve fleet operators’ service costs and reliability, keeping vehicles on the roads for longer. The pump’s efficient electrically-driven design also reduces the load placed on the engine when compared to conventional belt or gear driven pumps, thereby improving fuel economy and emissions.
Conventional electric pumps have motors with carbon commutators and brushes that suffer wear. The process is accelerated when the pump is subjected to vibrations from the powertrain, something that affects many fuel pumps mounted directly to the engine. Because of this, engine designers using electric motors have traditionally had to tolerate a compromise between packaging and service life. They can increase service life by using damping or by fitting the pump away from the engine in order to minimise vibrations, but this increases packaging size and cost.
Dispensing with the brushes, the EcoFlo pump instead uses electronic commutation to drive the motor. Current flowing through a series of coils generates a magnetic field that repels the rotor causing it to rotate. The result is an efficient and cost-effective motor that makes the fuel lift pump much less susceptible to wear, even when subjected to vibration. This gives engine designers the opportunity to rethink packaging, allowing them to position the more durable pump with greater freedom.
The company expects the industry’s transition to brushless lift pump motors to accelerate in the coming years. The motor is designed so that it can be installed in existing fuel pump packages, providing a drop-in replacement. Federal-Mogul expects many operators to upgrade their current engines in order to reduce servicing costs in the future.
Federal-Mogul already supplies EcoFlo to leading engine and diesel fuel filtration manufacturers and is offering the technology through its aftermarket channels to on-highway diesel trucks.
