Ford Engineers Lauded for Super-Clean Breakthrough
31 March 1998
Inventor of the Year Competition Recognizes Ford Engineers for Super-Clean Breakthrough
WASHINGTON, March 31 -- Four Ford engineers have been named
Distinguished Inventors by Intellectual Property Owners at its annual Inventor
of the Year competition.
Ford's Jeff Hepburn, Bob McCabe, Bela Povinger and Ray Willey will be
recognized tonight by Sen. Orrin Hatch in a ceremony at the Hart Building. The
Ford team developed an ultra-efficient catalyst system and engine control
strategy that enables natural gas versions of Ford's F-250 pickup and
Econoline van to be among the cleanest internal combustion-power trucks
available in the U.S. These trucks are the first vehicles in the world to be
certified to California's Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (SULEV) standards.
The vehicles emit 85 percent fewer smog-forming emissions than the stringent
standards required in California for 1998.
The extremely low levels of emissions emitted by these vehicles results
from combining the clean-burning characteristics of natural gas with a Ford-
patented advanced catalyst system and unique engine control strategy.
"The patented emission control system features a small exhaust gas
'conditioning' catalyst that works in tandem with the electronic engine
controls to decrease pollutants to levels no one ever has attained," said
McCabe, a senior staff technical specialist at the Ford Research Laboratory In
Dearborn, Mich.
The innovation is an outgrowth of studies at the Ford Research Laboratory
which showed that in comparison to gasoline, clean-burning alternative fuels
such as methanol and natural gas produce higher concentrations of hydrogen
molecules in the exhaust gases. Although the hydrogen eventually reacts with
oxygen downstream in the catalytic converter to form harmless water, it first
"tricks" the exhaust gas oxygen sensor, causing both the sensor and the
converter to work at less than maximum efficiency.
The key to Ford's invention, according to Hepburn, staff technical
specialist, was to recognize that "a small conditioning catalyst placed before
the oxygen sensor reacts with the hydrogen before it reaches the sensor,
allowing optimum performance of both the sensor and the catalytic converter."
"Not only are these trucks cleaner than others in their class, but the
extremely high efficiency of the emission control system eliminates the need
for recirculating the exhaust gas and this leads to improved driveability and
performance," said Willey.
The natural gas-powered trucks are not only super clean in terms of
ground-level pollution, they also help address global climate concerns.
Natural gas-powered vehicles emit 20 percent less carbon dioxide than is
produced by the equivalent gasoline-powered vehicles.
Ford is a leading innovator in automotive technology, with more than 5,000
active patents. In 1996 alone, the U.S. Patent Office granted 387 U.S.
patents to Ford, more than any other auto manufacturer in the world.
SOURCE Ford
