Replacing the prime engine in a seafaring vessel to meet modern emissions laws can be a major challenge. Clearances inside a ship’s hull are cramped in the best of circumstances and almost unbearably tight in the worst, so replacing an outdated engine can seem near impossible. However, Peterson marine customers using Cat 3500 series engines have an additional option: they can purchase an Emissions Upgrade Group (EUG) parts kit and have Peterson Power Systems install it for them... Without removing their old engines!
Marine Engine PSSR Randy Richter describes the benefits of EUG kits: “Putting a new engine in an old ship requires major changes to the ship’s hull,” Randy says. “Caterpillar knew its customers weren’t thrilled about this, so their engineers analyzed certain popular engines to determine which parts they could swap to lower the engine’s emissions output without changing the core.” Eventually, Caterpillar came up with EUG kits: each one includes an upgraded turbocharger, ECM, nozzles, cylinder packs... Everything needed to make an older engine run as clean as a new one.
“When all the new components are installed, the old engine meets today’s requirements. The customer doesn’t have to take his vessel out of the water, get the hull cut, and have the old engine removed to fit an engine with a different footprint than the one it replaces,” Randy explains.
Caterpillar makes EUG kits for several engine models, and they’ve been verified by the Air Resource Board (ARB), meaning that the State recognizes them as emissions reducers and considers a post-EUG engine to be Tier compliant.
Peterson recently finished the first EUG overhauls in North America to be completed without direct supervision from Caterpillar. “Cat engineers have been working with dealers pretty closely on these overhauls for the past year or two,” Randy said, “but we’re now at the point where they trust us to do everything correctly and we can offer this valuable service to our customers—they’ve been waiting for this service for a while now and are excited to overhaul their engines.”
To learn more about Peterson Power’s marine service capabilities, visit: http://goo.gl/cdQo1
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Peterson Power a Complete Emissions Solution Provider
Adhering to California Air Resources Board (CARB) regulations can be
complicated, especially when different regulations apply to different
types of equipment. But from standby power generators to off-road
tractors, businesses are required to implement approved emissions
solutions on the majority of their diesel engines.
Peterson Power Systems is available not only to help customers understand current CARB requirements, we can also deliver an emissions solution that's right for your equipment, even if it means building it from scratch. Peterson engineers recently designed, built and installed a customized diesel particulate filter (DPF) for a customer with a standby power generation system.
The DPF was constructed on a skid, then delivered to the customer via truck. This allowed a team to perform minimal installation work on site.
For pictures of the installation, visit our Pinterest board at http://pinterest.com/petersoncat/power-systems/
For information on emissions solutions for stationary engines, dial 800.963.6446 and ask our receptionist to direct your call.
Peterson Power Systems is available not only to help customers understand current CARB requirements, we can also deliver an emissions solution that's right for your equipment, even if it means building it from scratch. Peterson engineers recently designed, built and installed a customized diesel particulate filter (DPF) for a customer with a standby power generation system.
The DPF was constructed on a skid, then delivered to the customer via truck. This allowed a team to perform minimal installation work on site.
For pictures of the installation, visit our Pinterest board at http://pinterest.com/petersoncat/power-systems/
For information on emissions solutions for stationary engines, dial 800.963.6446 and ask our receptionist to direct your call.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Peterson Will Host CA Air Resource Board Training Courses on April 17.
Understanding CA emissions regulations for stationary engines can be a challenge, and some facilities managers and other industry professionals have difficulty determining the emissions solution that is right for their equipment.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) offers courses intended to clarify these rules and regulations so that facilities can select the most appropriate solution. Peterson will be hosting two of these courses on April 17.
The below courses offered by CARB will be held on April 17 at:
Peterson University
2700 Teagarden Street
San Leandro, CA 94577
Attendees are asked to register prior to the course at http://www.arb.ca.gov/training/courses.htm or by calling (916) 322-3937.
8:30am - 12pm: Course 304
Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engine (RICE) National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) & Standards of Performance for Stationary Internal Combustion Engines (New Source Performance Standards (NSPS))
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued rules that reduce emissions of criteria and air toxic pollutants from stationary internal combustion engines. These engines are used at facilities such as power plants and chemical and manufacturing plants to generate electricity and power pumps and compressors. They are also used in emergencies to produce electricity and pump water for flood and fire control. This training will include an overview of both RICE NESHAP and NSPS rules.
1:30pm - 5pm: Course 301
Air Toxic Control Measures (ATCM) for Stationary Compression Ignition (Diesel) Engines
This half day course provides information regarding the State of California's Airborne Toxic Control Measure (ATCM) for Stationary Compression Ignition Engines. This ATCM, which applies to stationary diesel engines used in both non-agricultural and agricultural operations, is resulting in a reduction in the emissions of and exposure to diesel PM from stationary diesel engines throughout California.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) offers courses intended to clarify these rules and regulations so that facilities can select the most appropriate solution. Peterson will be hosting two of these courses on April 17.
The below courses offered by CARB will be held on April 17 at:
Peterson University
2700 Teagarden Street
San Leandro, CA 94577
Attendees are asked to register prior to the course at http://www.arb.ca.gov/training/courses.htm or by calling (916) 322-3937.
8:30am - 12pm: Course 304
Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engine (RICE) National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) & Standards of Performance for Stationary Internal Combustion Engines (New Source Performance Standards (NSPS))
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued rules that reduce emissions of criteria and air toxic pollutants from stationary internal combustion engines. These engines are used at facilities such as power plants and chemical and manufacturing plants to generate electricity and power pumps and compressors. They are also used in emergencies to produce electricity and pump water for flood and fire control. This training will include an overview of both RICE NESHAP and NSPS rules.
1:30pm - 5pm: Course 301
Air Toxic Control Measures (ATCM) for Stationary Compression Ignition (Diesel) Engines
This half day course provides information regarding the State of California's Airborne Toxic Control Measure (ATCM) for Stationary Compression Ignition Engines. This ATCM, which applies to stationary diesel engines used in both non-agricultural and agricultural operations, is resulting in a reduction in the emissions of and exposure to diesel PM from stationary diesel engines throughout California.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Free Webinar from Diesel Technology Forum
Facilities managers and professionals interested in learning more about the role of emergency power generators in emergency preparedness are invited to attend the following free webinar on March 18:
WEBINAR SERIES
Preserving Public Safety: Role of Backup Generators in Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief and Recovery
Interruptions of electrical power, even of short duration, create situations that imperil public health and safety. Emergency generators must be able to provide reliable, immediate and full strength electric power when there is a failure of the primary power supply system. This free webinar will provide an understanding of the basic issues surrounding the use of emergency backup power systems, technology and fuel choices, operating conditions, and case studies.
Speakers will include representatives from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - Homeland Infrastructure Threat and Risk Analysis Center (HITRAC) and leading product, system and field experts representing Caterpillar and Cummins Power Generation.
When? Monday, March 18 from 11:00-12:30 pm (PST).
Who should attend? Federal, state and local policymakers; elected officials; emergency planners; property managers; business owners; and media.
What will this webinar address?
What technologies are available to provide emergency backup electrical power?
What are the differences between technologies?
What are the limitations on use of each of these technologies?
What lessons have we learned in the recent Superstorm Sandy about backup generators?
Register now - there is no registration fee but space is limited!
WEBINAR SERIES
Preserving Public Safety: Role of Backup Generators in Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief and Recovery
Interruptions of electrical power, even of short duration, create situations that imperil public health and safety. Emergency generators must be able to provide reliable, immediate and full strength electric power when there is a failure of the primary power supply system. This free webinar will provide an understanding of the basic issues surrounding the use of emergency backup power systems, technology and fuel choices, operating conditions, and case studies.
Speakers will include representatives from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - Homeland Infrastructure Threat and Risk Analysis Center (HITRAC) and leading product, system and field experts representing Caterpillar and Cummins Power Generation.
When? Monday, March 18 from 11:00-12:30 pm (PST).
Who should attend? Federal, state and local policymakers; elected officials; emergency planners; property managers; business owners; and media.
What will this webinar address?
What technologies are available to provide emergency backup electrical power?
What are the differences between technologies?
What are the limitations on use of each of these technologies?
What lessons have we learned in the recent Superstorm Sandy about backup generators?
Register now - there is no registration fee but space is limited!
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Profile of a Peterson Cat Ag Customer
When most people think Cat equipment, they think big iron, big jobs, and big diesel engines—all things that are typically associate with the construction industry. But the modern Ag business has no shortage of high-powered gear, and any farmer can tell you that their industry is every bit as stressful and labor-intensive as those of the contractors, loggers, and utilities Peterson Cat also serves. One Peterson customer, Mark, is a grass seed farmer in our Oregon territory, and he provides an excellent example of how complex a modern farm can be.
Mark farms about five thousand acres in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, between Eugene and Albany. He owns some of this land, and he rents the rest. That is a fairly large farm by our standards, but larger operations do exist. Mark is responsible for seeding, growing, and harvesting this acreage, and he uses several pieces of heavy-duty gear from Caterpillar-allied brands to do it: four Lexion combines, a Challenger 900-series high-horsepower articulated tractor, and various seeding and tillage tools and rental tractors. Growing grass seed is a very equipment-driven business.
The farming business is cyclical. Mark’s work goes on year-round, and follows a rhythm that predates all other human invention, even in our age of high-tech wonders: If we were to start observing Mark’s operation a few months ago, in October, we’d get to see what can be thought of as the beginning of the planting cycle—planting the seeds for the 2013 crop. Mark seeds his fields in the fall, and when the rain starts—typically late October or early November—he’ll check their drainage. If everything looks good, he’ll give the field a shot of fertilizer and a spray of pesticide and weed control using equipment like AgChem, Spracoupe, or Rogator spraying gear.
Winter on the farm is spent applying additional fertilizer and spraying for pests. Mark must rely on decent weather, since too much rain will make it impossible to fertilize his field. If the water table is more than six inches below the surface, Mark can’t properly apply fertilizer. The ag business has many gambles like this. Farmers must rely on the weather for everything they do, and as everyone knows, you can’t count on the weather to do anything reliably!
Things really heat up on Mark’s farm in spring; he and his crew begin prepping equipment for the busy summer season. In June, when the crop is at the proper point in its growth and pollenization cycle, they begin harvest by cutting their grass crop with a windrower, a self-propelled machine that cuts the grass and leaves it piles in rows (Mark operates eight windrowers). Mark and his team, mostly family, will work day-and-night to mow the crop, which will then spend approximately ten days drying on the ground.
When the cut grass is dry, Mark’s team will harvest the seed—the crop he sells for his living—using Lexion combines, the enormous Cat-powered devices that separate the seed from the chaff (the dried grass stems and leaves). Mark’s team will typically spend about sixty days harvesting; as the combines fills with grass seed, the chaff they discard is accumulated in the field, where is later baled using a Massey Ferguson MF2170 or Challenger LB34B large square baler—these pressed bales of hay will eventually be sold overseas as feed filler for livestock and other feed demands.
When Mark has harvested all of the year’s grass seed, he cleans the crop and processes and bags it for sale; at this point, Mark’s attention returns to his fields, which must be prepped for the next year. The ground work begins immediately after the harvest. Mark uses a high-horsepower tractor—in this case, a Challenger MT955D—to pull an implement called a disc that aerates the soil and drives the remaining chaff into the earth to form mulch. He then switches implements and pulls a finishing tool called a heavy harrow through the soil to break up clods of dirt and further prep the soil. All told, he’ll go over the field five or six times, and by the time he finishes, it’s once again fall and time for the cycle to begin anew.”
The cyclical nature of the ag business makes it a high-stakes gamble: Mark and his team seed his fields months before they know what kind of money they’ll make from the crop. Commodity prices are uncertain; the weather could do just about anything…Mark’s business is highly dependant on a number of factors outside his control. That’s why farmers in general demand quality from their equipment and reliable service—they don’t need any more variables that could go wrong.
Mark farms about five thousand acres in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, between Eugene and Albany. He owns some of this land, and he rents the rest. That is a fairly large farm by our standards, but larger operations do exist. Mark is responsible for seeding, growing, and harvesting this acreage, and he uses several pieces of heavy-duty gear from Caterpillar-allied brands to do it: four Lexion combines, a Challenger 900-series high-horsepower articulated tractor, and various seeding and tillage tools and rental tractors. Growing grass seed is a very equipment-driven business.
The farming business is cyclical. Mark’s work goes on year-round, and follows a rhythm that predates all other human invention, even in our age of high-tech wonders: If we were to start observing Mark’s operation a few months ago, in October, we’d get to see what can be thought of as the beginning of the planting cycle—planting the seeds for the 2013 crop. Mark seeds his fields in the fall, and when the rain starts—typically late October or early November—he’ll check their drainage. If everything looks good, he’ll give the field a shot of fertilizer and a spray of pesticide and weed control using equipment like AgChem, Spracoupe, or Rogator spraying gear.
Winter on the farm is spent applying additional fertilizer and spraying for pests. Mark must rely on decent weather, since too much rain will make it impossible to fertilize his field. If the water table is more than six inches below the surface, Mark can’t properly apply fertilizer. The ag business has many gambles like this. Farmers must rely on the weather for everything they do, and as everyone knows, you can’t count on the weather to do anything reliably!
Things really heat up on Mark’s farm in spring; he and his crew begin prepping equipment for the busy summer season. In June, when the crop is at the proper point in its growth and pollenization cycle, they begin harvest by cutting their grass crop with a windrower, a self-propelled machine that cuts the grass and leaves it piles in rows (Mark operates eight windrowers). Mark and his team, mostly family, will work day-and-night to mow the crop, which will then spend approximately ten days drying on the ground.
When the cut grass is dry, Mark’s team will harvest the seed—the crop he sells for his living—using Lexion combines, the enormous Cat-powered devices that separate the seed from the chaff (the dried grass stems and leaves). Mark’s team will typically spend about sixty days harvesting; as the combines fills with grass seed, the chaff they discard is accumulated in the field, where is later baled using a Massey Ferguson MF2170 or Challenger LB34B large square baler—these pressed bales of hay will eventually be sold overseas as feed filler for livestock and other feed demands.
When Mark has harvested all of the year’s grass seed, he cleans the crop and processes and bags it for sale; at this point, Mark’s attention returns to his fields, which must be prepped for the next year. The ground work begins immediately after the harvest. Mark uses a high-horsepower tractor—in this case, a Challenger MT955D—to pull an implement called a disc that aerates the soil and drives the remaining chaff into the earth to form mulch. He then switches implements and pulls a finishing tool called a heavy harrow through the soil to break up clods of dirt and further prep the soil. All told, he’ll go over the field five or six times, and by the time he finishes, it’s once again fall and time for the cycle to begin anew.”
The cyclical nature of the ag business makes it a high-stakes gamble: Mark and his team seed his fields months before they know what kind of money they’ll make from the crop. Commodity prices are uncertain; the weather could do just about anything…Mark’s business is highly dependant on a number of factors outside his control. That’s why farmers in general demand quality from their equipment and reliable service—they don’t need any more variables that could go wrong.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Reducing Energy Costs with Cogeneration
As the technology for small-scale, onsite cogeneration plants continues to improve, many companies are finding that combined heat and power (CHP) solutions are a viable option for offsetting high, unpredictable energy costs. When engineered and implemented correctly, a CHP system not only reduces the prices associated with buying energy from a utility, it provides a level of redundancy that can protect a facility from unnecessary downtime.
Cogeneration is the simultaneous production of heat and power from a single fuel source. A company can use the natural gas it would be using to supply its facility’s thermal load and use that gas instead to power a generator set. Waste heat from the generator’s engine jacket and exhaust stream (which would be allowed to dissipate in a traditional power generation system) can be captured and diverted to supply the facility’s thermal load.
By generating a portion of their electricity onsite and capturing waste heat, some facilities can achieve a significant reduction in their power costs with no substantial increase in natural gas consumption.
To read more about cogeneration, take a look at Martin Hopkins’s white paper at http://goo.gl/uZMxL.
Cogeneration is the simultaneous production of heat and power from a single fuel source. A company can use the natural gas it would be using to supply its facility’s thermal load and use that gas instead to power a generator set. Waste heat from the generator’s engine jacket and exhaust stream (which would be allowed to dissipate in a traditional power generation system) can be captured and diverted to supply the facility’s thermal load.
By generating a portion of their electricity onsite and capturing waste heat, some facilities can achieve a significant reduction in their power costs with no substantial increase in natural gas consumption.
To read more about cogeneration, take a look at Martin Hopkins’s white paper at http://goo.gl/uZMxL.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
James Bond Trades Aston Martin for Cat Excavator
Both Cat machine fans and action movie aficionados alike might enjoy an exciting new website: www.catskyfall.com. It was created as a collaboration between Caterpillar and the producers of Skyfall—the latest James Bond film—and contains enough near-misses, reportable incidents, and outright disasters to make any safety supervisor picture mile-high piles of forms and the inevitable lawsuits that would accompany the extreme misuse of Caterpillar equipment depicted in the film if it were to somehow occur in real life.
The centerpiece of the mini-site is a clip from Skyfall in which iconic superspy James Bond (played by Daniel Craig) operates a 320D excavator atop a moving flatcar. As the train travels down the tracks, Bond rolls the excavator over several cars and smashes through the roof of the adjoining passenger railcar. Bond’s ally rides alongside the train and watches his next pulse-pounding move: leaving the cab unattended to walk across the extended boom and stick in order to jump into the car he damaged.
In addition to the action-packed clip form the film, the Caterpillar/Skyfall site is packed with photos. All joking aside, safety on the set was considered THE foremost concern, and numerous pictures of the film and safety crews on the set attest to the difficulty of filming these kind of high-energy scenes. But the results are worth it: we can all agree that Skyfall depicts one of the most exciting—and foolhardy—uses of Cat equipment ever committed to film!
The centerpiece of the mini-site is a clip from Skyfall in which iconic superspy James Bond (played by Daniel Craig) operates a 320D excavator atop a moving flatcar. As the train travels down the tracks, Bond rolls the excavator over several cars and smashes through the roof of the adjoining passenger railcar. Bond’s ally rides alongside the train and watches his next pulse-pounding move: leaving the cab unattended to walk across the extended boom and stick in order to jump into the car he damaged.
In addition to the action-packed clip form the film, the Caterpillar/Skyfall site is packed with photos. All joking aside, safety on the set was considered THE foremost concern, and numerous pictures of the film and safety crews on the set attest to the difficulty of filming these kind of high-energy scenes. But the results are worth it: we can all agree that Skyfall depicts one of the most exciting—and foolhardy—uses of Cat equipment ever committed to film!
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