I got to thinking (I Know Dangerous) but why not what the trains do. I think a very good electric motor mounted to the Drive train and powered by a generator on a smaller diesel engine. more power less diesel.

Id buy one, how about you guys.

Or am I barking up a bad tree.

 

You would need the front seat area for the generator alone.

 

This is a series hybrid, just like the Volt.

I like the idea too, but my guess is the extra batteries required along with the emissions package requirements would be tough on a diesel. The modern diesel probably wouldn't respond well to constant starts / unstarts in town as the engine wouldn't stay warm and a cold diesel has delayed ignition timing and that causes extra fuel burning with higher soot generation. All bad for a modern diesel.

I think it would be a good idea if implemented correctly.

 

No I wouldnt want one. maybe nuclear for those tuff passing situations

 

I don't even understand how a gasoline engine wouldn't have failures.
I drove a hybrid Toyota car Sunday for the first time and the engine doesn't run long enough to heat up much.
I had never driven a hybrid before so didn't put much thought into it.
Gasoline engines obviously heat up more quickly but I get them up to operating temp as much as possible, too.

 

I'd be interested in it provided I can still tow a house and it doesn't cost 50% more than a regular powerstroke.

 

Yeah, now there's an idea after my own heart. I spent 34 years running trains for the BNSF RR. Actually on the new engines the generators aren't as big as you might think. They are quite efficient and make a lot of amps. Amps to the traction motors is the whole secret. That's why it doesn't matter which direction an engine is pointed, they will run just as fast pointed forward or backward. It after all is just an electric motor.

 

This has been screwing with my head for years as well. Diesel electric drives an awful lot of things, scale it down and I am definitely into it.

For those of you that know these things:

How big is a 500HP electric motor?
How much torque is needed to power a generator that would make enough kVA to power the motor?

And, savage, we could tow 5 houses with electric drive. But we couldn't stop them.

 

Run the motor in reverse as a generator to charge up some super capacitors for more start up power In addition to brakes, of course.

Has anyone seen the commercials for a rail company that talks about fuel mileage in their ad "we can transport a ton of freight xxx miles on a gallon of fuel". I believe when I first "tuned in" to those commercials xxx = 420. Then at some point I heard xxx = "over 400". Then just recently I heard xxx = "over 500".

It would be an interesting adaptation to road services, but then again there is the "stupid consumer" syndrome - can you make it idiot proof? If someone shorts a car battery with a screw driver it won't be as big of a deal (unless the battery exploded, but how common is it?) as if someone gets tangled in the HV off the alternator in a D/E setup.

 

Actually the dynamic brakes on the new engines are awesome. When you go from power to dynamic braking the traction motors are reconfigured,electrically, to become generators. This provides an unbelievable retarding force. The energy created by these, now generators, is heat which is dissipated in the dynamic braking grids(the huge toaster looking grates on the top edge behind the cab). You can literly stand a train on its nose from 70 to almost a dead stop with this system. It is our primary braking effort on any train. The air brakes are always a secondary braking effort. Large quarry trucks use this very system to provide forward drive and braking effort.

Jim

 

It works for submarines....why not trucks?

 

And, as far as the capacitor idea. You need to understand that a diesel electric by design has enormous starting effort. In other words, a diesel electric will start almost any load but falls off at higher speed. By design a steam engine is just reverse of that. A steam engine has a difficult time starting a heavy load but has almost unlimited top speed. In other words a steam engine has a low starting effort.

This is why you have to be careful when operating a freight train at heavy drawbar weights. Get it wrong and you will exceed the drawbar capacity. That is called a "break-in-two". Get it right and you start the train. The difference between these scenarios is the difference between a good engineer and a poor one.

This very situation is what forces very heavy trains in to multiple consist train configurations. That is placing multiple engine consists thru the train. One consist on head in, one in middle and one on rear. We call this RCE. Share the "starting effort" thru out the train, not just the head in.

A very efficient diesel electric truck is being done now, just not on a small scale.


Jim

 

The cotton gin around here had a diesel/electric little forklift. It ran great... NOBRAKES! This was a long time ago and I guess the brakes were just shot.

 

I can't believe nobody has brought up the fact that the diesel engine sound that we all love so much will be severely reduced.

 

Man, now I want to hear more about trains! I never knew the reason why engines were placed in different places on a train!