Bob LeBlanc, Jacobs Vehicle Systems test development truck driver and warranty manager, sat in the driver’s seat of a 2018 International LT625 6x4 as he shut down the truck.
What came next is typical of heavy-duty trucks around the globe: shaking and rattling inside the cab as the diesel engine comes to a dramatic stop.
LeBlanc started the truck back up, and it rattled back to life, quickly demonstrating not only why current heavy-duty trucks are not good candidates for fuel-saving start-stop technology, but also why drivers find it difficult to sleep as a truck starts and stops periodically to charge up batteries for HVAC and other personal comforts.
Four out of six cylinders (green circles stacked on the left) are shown firing at idle with Jacobs Cylinder Deactivation. Dynamic Skip Fire software from Tula Technologies helps determine optimum times for cylinder deactivation.Commercial Carrier Journal
“With the system activated you're going to feel a very smooth, wind down of the engine, and there'll be no shaking of the cab," he said, "and then on startup, you're going to hear a small whine as the engine starts with no compression, therefore presenting less load on the starter, less load on the batteries and so on."
[Related: Engine brakes are changing to keep current with new engine designs]
