Page 46 - TBN-2013-1

No fleet owner would deny that diesel consumption, the repair of fuel injectors and pumps and traffic summonses as a result of black smoke emission have been major costs for their operation. Only those who have conducted an analysis of their operational costs over a span of 3 to 5 years can quantify the cost specifically. High fuel consumption, repair of fuel injectors and pumps and repair of the engine and turbo charger are some of the areas that have a chain effect towards higher costs of operation.
Below are the contributing factors to high fuel consumption:
1 Contaminated diesel fuel
The rate of wear and tear of the fuel injectors depends on the contamination level of the diesel fuel. Malaysian diesel by its standard is of a lower quality range but contamina- tion in the diesel is the main concern. Even though many companies have their fleet in full operation yet registered very low profit without realising the damaging effect to their vehicle fuel injectors and negative impact to the environ- ment caused by contaminated diesel fuel.
Contaminated diesel fuel will cause premature wear and tear to the fuel injectors. If left ignored, operators will stand to lose more and more as the fuel injectors gradu- ally wear off to a critical state. Fuel injectors are elec- tronically controlled to allow the right amount of fuel to the combustion chambers for optimum combustion. But the fuel injectors will be worn out gradually over a period of time ranging from a travelling distance of 50,000km to100,000 km. The repair cost of a Conventional Diesel System is not cheap today but the repair cost for Com- mon Rail System is even higher.
A worn out fuel injector cannot function properly as it al- lows additional amounts of fuel to enter into the combus- tion chamber. This is termed as “over-feeding”, which will increase in proportion to the extent of the wear. The over- feeding of the diesel fuel is one of the most damaging aspects to any fleet owner and the additional cost of die- sel fuel can range between 5% to 15%. A company with a fleet of 100 trucks with a loading of 10 metric tons and travelling at an average distant of 500km per day over 300 days a year can lose between RM600, 000.00 to RM2, 000,000.00 a year on fuel cost. Other than the higher fuel cost, the black smoke emission can only contribute more harm to the environment and such offenders will further risk traffic offences.
2 Poor Quality Diesel Filters
Many fleet owners would assume that the OEM diesel fil- ters in their vehicles are of high quality since it is “branded”
44 truck & bus news › 2013/1
Microclean 柴油过滤器与 MA-120引擎油过滤器
他们营运的主要成本。然而，唯有那些进行过3至5年 没
有车队营运者会否认说，因为黑烟排放而导致柴油油 耗量、燃油喷射器和泵的修理及交通传票的增加，是
的营运成本分析的业者，能够量化这个特定的成本。高油耗、燃 油喷射器、泵、引擎与涡轮的修理，是带来较高营运成本连锁反 应的其中几个因素。
以下是带来高油耗的因素:
1 柴油污染
燃油喷射器的磨损与柴油的污染程度息息相关。大马的柴油品 质较低，污染是主要的问题。尽管许多公司的车队全面运作， 但利润却非常低，他们并不知道车子的燃油喷射器遭受损坏所 带来的影响和柴油污染会对环境造成冲击。
柴油污染将使燃油喷射器提早磨耗。如果不去理会，那么营运 者就会面对越来越大的损失，因为燃油喷射器将会逐渐损坏到 非常严重的情况。燃油喷射器是电子控制的，以便让正确的燃 油量进入燃油室，取得最佳的燃烧。然而，燃油喷射器在过了 一段时间之后将逐渐地耗损。今天，传统柴油系统的修理成本 不便宜，共轨系统的修理成本则更高。
一个磨耗的喷射器无法正常的操作，因为它会让过多的燃油进入 燃烧室。这就是所谓的“供给过多燃油量”(over-feeding)， 与磨损增加的情况成正比。柴油的供给过多对车队车主最具破坏 性，导致柴油成本增加5-15%。一家拥有100辆卡车，装载量为10 吨，每年运作超过300天，每日的平均旅程是500公里的卡车公 司一年的燃油成本损失介于600，000令吉至2，000，000令吉之 间。除了较高的燃油成本，黑烟的排放会破坏环境，而且违法。
2 品质低劣的柴油过滤器
许多的车队车主会假设他们车子的原配柴油过滤器是高品质的， 因为这些过滤器毕竟在一定的程度上是名牌产品。然而大部分 OEM车子的柴油过滤器拥有相当高，介于35至50微米的评级。如此 高的微米评级，使它无法防止燃油喷射器的磨耗，特别是共轨系 统。那些会导致燃油喷射器磨损的颗粒介于5至15微米之间。更糟 糕的是，车队车主往往为了想要降低运作成本而购买较便宜的柴 油，而且丝毫没有意识到它所带来的损害会比预期的来得昂贵。
由于大马柴油的燃油污染程度，在各个地区都不同，品质好的柴 油过滤器将防止燃油喷射器的过早磨损，提供更干净的燃油，进 入燃烧室。这将加强柴油的燃烧效率，降低黑烟排放和较低的燃 油消耗量。因此，采用品质好的柴油过滤器远胜过滤器的成本。
选择品质好的柴油过滤器，应该是每一台柴油引擎车子或设备车 主最优先考虑的。尽管品质良好的柴油无法改善柴油的品质或性 质，但它却可以消除大量的颗粒和水分，带来极致的燃烧。