KOLLAM: Local prodigy Suneir Emam has successfully developed a test strategy to prove that the longevity of Mercedes-Benz engines can be increased from 240,000 to over 600,000 km.
He has also patented it through Dortmund University with the contract of Continental, the company where he did his research in Germany.
Industry circles say the innovation could revolutionise the way we look at the duration of an automotive engine’s life.
A student who did his B.Com in computer applications from Fatima Mata College here hails from Mundakkal. He opted to become a management expert and joined IIM Calcutta.
Opportunity knocked at his door when he participated in the DAAD exchange at the University of Dortmund in Germany to continue a fellow programme (PhD) in techno finance SAP for SAP AG.
Mr Emam, who is now 31, had secured the Mr Kerala title in the Plus-70 category back in 2004-05. He is also a six sigma certified black belt holder and a cartoonist.
After a year in Germany working with SAP, he got an opportunity to be part of a Continental for Daimler (Mercedes-Benz) project and write a master thesis.
“The task was to prove that the lifetime of Daimler engines can be increased from 240,000 to approximately or above 600,000 km,” he said.
The project also gave him an option to consider it as his PhD thesis and the first six months were very tough.
“I moved from Dortmund to Frankfurt and was reading round-the-clock, studying at the library, and couldn't even sleep properly because it was so determining,” he remembers his days with the project.
“But in the end, all the hard work was worth it.” Continental, which made machine parts for Daimler for Mercedes-Benz, was sure that their product can run up to more than 600,000 km but they lacked a test mechanism to prove it based on LV 124 standards in Germany.
The major issue was that it was impossible to replicate such a long lifetime. He considered the acceleration factors to reduce the time of the test.
To prove he tested the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation system), the emission reduction technique for diesel engines. When EGR fails, the whole engine breaks down.
His biggest challenge was to combine pressure and temperature at the same time in one test. So he converted pressure to force and added temperature using the hot gun to the component and sprayed soot (dirt, grease and mix of carbon) to reflect the same effect in the real engine.
“I was successful in making the test more efficient due to the fact that more noise factors (pressure, temperature, soot etc.) were included,” he explains.
The biggest advantage that he finds in his innovation is the possibility of identifying and isolating noises which are most likely to cause failures.
