Diesel gas - is it worth it?
Cars with internal combustion engines, equipped with LPG gas installation – factory or after modification in the workshop, are an indispensable image of our Polish roads. However, diesels are different. All kinds of gas installations in diesel units are still a kind of novelty. And as is often the case in such situations, the unknown is perceived with great distrust. In the case of HBO in diesel engines, the latter is not at all unjustified.
Single fuel and dual fuel
There is a fundamental difference between the HBO installation system installed on cars with gasoline engines and its diesel counterpart. What is it about? In the first case, the transition to gas supply means a complete replacement of the fuel supply, i.e., the combustion of gas with air instead of gasoline (the latter is used only to start the engine). On the other hand, diesel engines cannot completely replace diesel fuel. For this reason, the modification consists in converting a diesel engine into a so-called. dual-fuel engine, assuming that a reduced dose of diesel fuel is supplied to the combustion chamber, which is supplemented with LPG.
Enrichment…
Diesel engines use two methods of gas supply. However, in both cases, the modification consists in adding an additional power supply system to the engine compartment, which consists of a gearbox, injectors, filters, sensors, a controller, cables and, of course, a gas tank. In specialized workshops dealing with LPG diesel installations, the most common method is to enrich the intake air with gas. This saves up to 35 percent. diesel fuel, due to the additional injection of LPG. In measurable numbers, this type of gas installation should save 10%. fuel costs.
... or dedication?
Another, more complicated way to fill a diesel engine with gas is to inject a minimal amount of diesel fuel into the cylinder and then run it on liquefied gas. How does it work in practice? Oil injection only initiates the ignition of the engine throughout its entire rev range, while the rest of the energy needed to run the engine comes from the gas that supplies it. The method presented above is similar to that used in gasoline engines, but requires more serious changes in the entire vehicle power system, incl. reprogramming the on-board computer and assembling the so-called. fuel injection limiter. In addition, as experts emphasize, this method also requires the correct calibration of the engine, which in many cases means the need for testing on a dynamometer.
Easy, but is it always profitable?
Therefore, both gas supply methods used in diesel engines require the use (albeit in different quantities) of two energy sources: diesel fuel and LPG. Therefore, there can be no talk of savings as a result of installing a gas installation in gasoline units, where the cost of conversion is recouped relatively quickly. Therefore, despite the fact that assembling (or actually adding) an LPG installation is possible on almost every diesel engine, the economic justification for this type of modification must be thoroughly rethought. According to experts, a diesel LPG installation is beneficial only in the case of cars that consume large amounts of fuel and which additionally cover long daily distances. Therefore, they recommend its use rather in commercial vehicles operated primarily by carriers, such as buses or trucks. In their cases, reimbursement of installation costs for the LPG installation is reimbursed after a mileage of 100 km. km per year.
