Diesel Pickup Trucks

Driver hurt, diesel pump totaled in La Mirada crash

No one else was hurt in the collision that was reported shortly after 9 a.m. at the Arco station, 15700 Valley View Ave.

A Nissan Frontier was heading north on Valley View when the driver apparently tried to go around another truck, lost control and struck a diesel pump at the gas station, sheriff's Sgt. Steve Mills said.

Mills said the man was taken to a local hospital for a blood test to check for alcohol.

The driver's name, age and city of residence were not available. He was described only as in his 30s.

Los Angeles County firefighters said the driver sustained minor injuries to his face and was transported to Whittier Hospital Medical Center. His condition was released.

Gas station manager Mike Geyer said the Frontier sheered off one of the diesel dispensers at the north end of their property.

The pickup then hit a 10- to 12-inch steel pillar.

"It wasn't going further than that," Geyer said.

He said there was very little diesel fuel that spilled. When there's a lot of movement such as an earthquake, a valve automatically shuts off the fuel, he added.

"No fire, and the equipment worked as it should," Geyer said.

ruby.gonzales@sgvn.com

562-698-0955, ext.

Electrically Assisted Diesel Particulate Filter Could Save Fuel in ...

GM and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are jointly developing new emissions-cleaning technology that promises better fuel economy for future heavy-duty diesel truck buyers, according to a presentation given during the U.S. Department of Energy's 2011 Merit Review in Washington, D.C.

In 2007, the EPA cracked down on the amount of soot diesel engines could produce, cutting allowable emissions by 90 percent from 2006 levels. In response, truck makers and their powertrain partners created diesel particulate filters to trap soot, a byproduct of diesel’s lean combustion process because not all the fuel is burned.

While cleaning soot from diesel exhaust is great for the environment, it comes with a price. After a while, depending on workload and driving distance, the DPF becomes full and needs to be cleaned out, like a self-cleaning oven. In today's HD pickups, extra diesel fuel is injected into the exhaust stream to boost temperatures in the DPF to more than 1,000 degrees, incinerating the trapped soot. That process can require up to six-tenths of a gallon of diesel – an amount large enough to dent fuel economy and drivers' wallets. It can also take five to 10 minutes, depending on trapped soot levels.

Fuel economy has long been the advantage of diesel over gas engines, returning up to 20 percent to 30 percent better mileage, but DPFs have eaten away at this advantage.

GM and ORNL have created a solution to the mileage problem that could reduce the fuel economy penalty of DPF regeneration by at least 25 percent by 2015 relative a 2008 baseline, according to the presentation.

Instead of using diesel fuel, an electric heater placed at the front of the DPF is used to raise temperatures to the point where the trapped soot is incinerated, at around 1,112-degrees.

So far, an experimental electric heater has been tested on a small-displacement 1.9-liter four-cylinder GM diesel engine, but a project member from ORNL says the solution is scalable to heavy-duty pickups with large-displacement oil burners, like GM's 6.6-liter Duramax V-8.

With the 1.9-liter engine, the electrically assisted DPF has been shown to remove up to 95 percent of soot and cuts regeneration times by 75 percent.

Improved fuel economy using an EA-DPF should also please the EPA, which is getting tough on diesel engines again. Heavy-duty pickups, currently excluded from federal fuel economy standards, will have to meet the first mileage regulations by 2016.

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