SATARA-BASED COOPER Corporation has announced its latest technical collaboration with Ricardo UK for a new line of engines. The new engine family comprises two-, four- and six-cylinder engines. While Ricardo handled overall design, Cooper developed all the components, assembled and also conducted engine tests.

“This CRDI engine entails an electronic engine management system and is designed to work with several applications like automotive engines, power gensets, forklift trucks, earthmoving equipment, dewatering pump sets and agricultural pump sets. It is ahead of current Indian requirements (Euro IV, US EPA Tier IV interim and CPCB Stage 2), said Farookh Cooper, chairman and managing director, Cooper Corporation.

The engines were developed leveraging computer-aided engineering and simulation tools. Performance and emissions were optimised using wave simulation software while FE analysis was used for structural and thermal simulation. Fluid simulation with Ricardo’s Vectis CFD software was used to optimise the combustion system, cooling strategy and EGR mixing and air flow.

The engines meet Bharat IV norms for automotive and can be upgraded to meet even tougher norms. The cast iron cylinder block, bed plate and cylinder head are all manufactured by Cooper Corporation. The B10 life of the engine is 7000h. The vehicle engine life is 250,000km. To enable easy service, all points are on one side. Hydraulic latch adjusters help avoid periodic tappet clearance checks. The oil change period is 500 hours.

Cooper has also developed engines that run on LPG and CNG as well. Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government has conferred 'Mega Project' project status to Cooper Corp’s engine facility at Satara. The plant has a production capacity of 24,000 engines per year.