Atlas Copco unveils Tier 4A compliant portable compressor
22 April 2010
Atlas Copco Portable Air has used Bauma to highlight the implications of engine emission regulations on portable compressors and to unveil a prototype Tier 4A/Stage III B compliant XRHS 366 compressor.
The tighter emission regulations for engines between 130 and 560 kW come into force from January 2011 and Atlas Copco said the technology required would add between 35 and 45% to the cost of its affected products.
John Hort, vice president marketing at Atlas Copco Airpower, told IRN that the new regulations would have an enormous impact on rental buyers; "We really want to get this on the agenda of our biggest customers. It's a big change for them."
Atlas Copco Portable Air said it had evaluated the two existing technologies that can meet the new limits - Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) and Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) combined with particulate filter (DPF) - and had chosen Caterpillar's EGR/DPF solution for its products.
Guy Laps, vice president engineering at Atlas Copco Portable Air, said; "With this solution we ensure that off-road customers do not need to refill with diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) or AdBlue. A load factor study, done on a representative population in the field, allowed us to come, together with CAT, to the conclusion that EGR/DPF is the best technology for our portable compressor applications."
Atlas Copco showed an XRHS 366 compressor with a new CAT C9.3 ACERT engine at Bauma.
In addition to the pricing impact, the new emission regulations will make it more difficult for rental companies to move compressors between regions because the new units will need to use high quality diesel fuels that are not available in all markets.
The changes will have an impact on the use compressor market, since the regulations will not affect existing units in the field. Some rental companies will be tempted to extend the lives of their existing units and there is likely to be a rise in demand for used units. Mr Hort said "our buy-back programmes will become more important."
