An engine distinguished almost 12 years ago with a silver medal at the
Ternium Expoagro Award for Agroindustrial Innovation
was gaining business recognition at a global level and today it is considered one of the most evolved internal combustion models at a global level.
It is an opposed-piston engine driven by lawyer
Carlos Juni
and developed by mechanic
José Luis Alonso
(whose initials gave the prototype its name, JLA).
The JLA engine has 30% fewer moving parts: gears, crankshafts, connecting rods and pistons.
Among its
outstanding features
, it eliminates 30% of the moving parts, including the entire valve system, including the camshaft and springs.
In addition, it increases compression and makes it easier to reach ignition temperature.
The fundamental advantage of opposed piston engines is the
improved power-to-weight ratio,
which makes them ideal for installation in heavy vehicles, from military armored vehicles to agricultural machinery.
This innovative technology provides a 50% increase in power density and 13% more fuel efficiency compared to engines of similar use.
It really is
a smart choice, which has been progressively validated
.
The Ternium Expoagro Award was the
international springboard,
because based on the strategic partnership of the Argentine mega-exhibition with Agritechnica, the world's largest agricultural machinery fair, which takes place every two years in Hannover, Germany, a
great opportunity arose for JLA ENGINE design transcends the world
.
In the last 10 years, different government agencies in the United States
have promoted about ten development programs for different applications of the opposed piston engine for about US$200 million
.
The results of published studies speak of energy efficiency values of the order of 20 to 30% -depending on the application- when compared to traditional motors of the same size.
The program that today calls for the greatest expectation is the
US$87 M
awarded last year by the United States Army to Cummins, a leader in diesel engines, for the production of 750/1000 and 1500 HP engines.
This could happen as of next year, as reported through SAE Intl.
How did the development come about?
However,
the "connection" of a lawyer with the development of an innovative engine is not random
.
When going through Juni's history, what may seem casual prima facie has eloquent borders of causality... Carlos Juni, the alma mater of this innovative industrial model, assumes
he always felt "attracted to irons"
.
He was director of SMET SAIC, a Belgian company dedicated to the construction of "turnkey" industrial plants and when he presided over it, the
largest soybean oil extraction plants in the world
were built .
In 2011, one that produced 20,000 tons/day and in 2006, another of 12,000 tons/day.
Alma mater.
Carlos Juni, a lawyer with a passion for irons.
At the same time, Juni was assembling as a hobby a 1948 Studebaker truck that he had in Uruguay, with a diesel engine that a French customer had given him.
It was 2007, and since I had been working in the aforementioned engineering company for 15 years, dedicated to the design and manufacture of large industrial plants for the extraction of vegetable oils, I was
familiar with the existence of computer simulation tools applied to industrial design processes.
So he asked for references on someone who could do the adaptation of the engine to the truck.
This is how he arrived at the workshop of José Luis Alonso, an expert Uruguayan mechanic, who set about the task.
Within a few weeks the work was finished.
When Juni returned to the workshop, Alonso showed them how he had solved the adaptation.
"He tells me -he remembers- that he wants to show me something else and opens the trunk of a red Chevrolet Impala convertible... they were drawings of an internal combustion engine and opposed pistons,
an unprecedented architecture, with features of extremely high efficiency
and that he sought to develop" .
Juni 's
intuition - a mixture of experience and lucidity
- suggested that it was necessary to deepen what was presented and she decided to study the invention in its configuration and features, as well as to evaluate the background.
To do this, he summoned qualified experts who could give their opinion on the solidity of the innovation.
That work took him several months, but after conducting an international patent search and many meetings with engine experts, he concluded that it made sense to move forward.
The issue of Climate Change was already a matter of concern
and a motor that had the ability to achieve 30% energy efficiency was a technology that deserved to be explored.
Juni
presented the idea to a group of friendly entrepreneurs, with rural training.
He designed an action plan to computer simulate what a 2-liter version of the engine could be and, if the results were attractive, verify them in the manufacture of a prototype oriented towards some agricultural application.
The project interested and he began to work on how to carry it out.
Researching on engine simulation -among many international publications- he found previous works by expert teams in engine engineering from
CIMEC–CONICET
.
She met with them and they agreed to carry out from the simulation of the 0d1d study -which provides the dimensions of the motor and expected performance- to its dynamic, thermal and structural behavior.
It was a whole
process rich in exchanges, which consolidated a work team
.
And it evidenced Alonso's technical solvency and expert knowledge of his invention: he skillfully resolved all the situations that the computer simulation systems were throwing up, even during the 6 months it took to simulate the casting of the block, which resulted in a piece cast iron only
The meeting of talents achieved and the
great support of expert die makers, die makers and foundries who embraced the idea with iron passion
, made it possible for them to build the sophisticated block of the prototype in Argentina.
In the year 2009, SAE Intl published a book that compiled all the history of opposed piston engines.
There, engine designers are recommended to explore these designs since the trait they have in common is that they are robust, reliable, high-performance, and low-consumption engines.
Although Juni and Alonso's invention was not part of that catalogue, it was a pleasant confirmation that they were working in the right direction.
Towards the end of 2010, the prototype had advanced as far as the equipment to command the programmable fuel injection available in the country allowed.
Only indirect injection ECU (Electronic Control Unit) was available and we had to wait for the new generation ECU for direct injection that Motec (Australia) had already announced would reach the market in the coming months.
The accolade at Expoagro
It was then that the possibility of presenting the prototype to the 2011 edition of the Ternium Expoagro Award for Agroindustrial Innovation arose.
“We were very at stake with time -remembers Juni- because registration closed in a few days.
But we had all the technical reports and a working prototype, so
we plunged into that mission
that was relevant to positioning the engine as an outstanding evolution in the field of internal combustion engines, internationally.
The JLA motor obtained a plant medal in the 2011 edition of the Ternium Expoagro Award for Agroindustrial Innovation.
The JLA Engine Opposed Piston Engine Prototype received the Silver Medal of the Ternium Expoagro 2011 Award and thanks to that distinction it was invited to present itself that same year at Agritechnica, Hanoover, Germany in the Argentine pavilion of agricultural machinery.
There he was a member of the top management of IAV, one of the most important automotive engineering companies in Germany, who invited Juni to come to his
plant in Gifhorn
the next day to present the engine and the manufacturing process of the prototype.
From that point on, other engine designers began to explore Juni's proprietary architecture and adopted it as the basis for successive engine development programs for
both military and commercial Heavy Duty applications.
Efficiency, simplicity and sustainability
The internationally patented opposed-piston engine architecture
dispenses with the cylinder head
found on traditional engines.
It has
30% fewer moving parts, which significantly reduces friction
, improves thermal efficiency and simplifies the mechanical assembly whose only moving parts are: gears, crankshafts, connecting rods and pistons.
All pieces of known and robust behavior that exalt the reliability of the design.
Cross section of the block, where you can see (from left to right, and with different colors) the spark plugs and injectors (red), the scrolls and exhaust ports (pink), the water chambers (blue), the scrolls and ports admission (fuchsia).
In this opposed-piston engine,
the intake and exhaust functions are performed by the block and the pistons
that, in their upward and downward travel, open and close intake and exhaust ports distributed on both sides of the cylinder.
The design of the intake ports is shaped in such a way that it causes a swirl when the air enters the chamber, which
favors the best mixture of air and fuel and results in a more efficient combustion.
Additionally, the entry of air into the combustion chamber and the exit of the exhaust gases occur in the form of a
unidirectional flow
, which allows an optimal sweep of the remaining combustion gases.
In this way, the chamber is in better condition for each new combustion.
Developments and manufacturing agreements
Currently, the patented architecture is being applied in a large number of developments, mainly in
Heavy Duty applications, a segment where electric vehicles still find serious restrictions
to operate due to the weight of the batteries and charging times.
The
patent offices of the US, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, China, Russia and Eurasia, Malaysia, India, Brazil and the European Union have granted grants
(concessions) that ratify the robustness of the innovation awarded in the prototype. presented.
The proliferation and diversity of applications -from Heavy to Light duty- that involve the most relevant players in the industry, confirm the patented architecture as the evolution of the internal combustion engine.
At the big fairs.
After being exhibited at Expoagro, the JLA engine was showcased at Agritechnica, Germany.
JLA Engine is a reality and a
reliable solution to reduce emissions from all transportation sectors that are required by all environmental control offices in the world
.
Satisfaction of the promoters of the Ternium award
Cummins' recognition of the JLA engine, a decade after it was awarded, brings pride and a sense of deep satisfaction to those who endorsed it when it was a fledgling development.
The Ternium Expoagro Award for Agroindustrial Innovation is a
strong stimulus to the Argentine industry that is committed to research and development.
“The Award is a seal of quality with which we seek to promote and stimulate innovation in the agro-industrial sector.
And
the development of JLA perfectly summarizes the spirit
that we set ourselves when we launched the Award together with Expoagro:
innovating is, ultimately, what allows us to differentiate ourselves, grow, win new markets
and introduce improvements in products that mitigate the impact of the activity in the environment”, affirmed
José Del Boca
, commercial vice president of Ternium Argentina.
The contest allows to show the capacity and the talent of the Argentine industrialists, especially of the manufacturers of agricultural machinery with its innovative gene.
“JLA shone at Agritechica and I am sure that it will have
a huge future
in the hands of its leaders.
Ternium and Expoagro are proud to have been part of the beginning of this story”, highlighted Del Boca.
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