It is widely acknowledged that Kohler has become unstoppable by now, especially on account of the many new products that have been added to the range of Kohler KDI engines. But Kohler is not sticking to designing and manufacturing diesel engines for off-road applications that offer the exceptional performance demanded by the main OEMs: the latest milestone it has reached is Stage V certification for KDI engines in the 19-56 kW power range.
Thanks to the exciting partnership with one of the agencies accredited to the European Union for the certification of internal combustion engines, the first half of 2018 was devoted to undertaking thorough tests and analysis on the Kohler range of diesel engines with the aim of verifying their compliance with all the requisites indicated by the legislator.
The new standard – REGULATION (EU) 2016/1628 on requirements relating to gaseous and particulate pollutant emission limits and type-approval for internal combustion engines for non-road mobile machinery – introduces the particulate particle count (PN) and applies to all diesel engines above 19 kW for off-road applications. Consequently, the only possible solution is to adopt a diesel particulate filter (DPF), representing a huge challenge for all manufacturers and a major opportunity for Kohler. Kohler recognized this opportunity immediately, developing aftertreatment solutions that are ideal for machine manufacturers and for the end user.
The certification of the range of diesel engines is confirmation of the announcement made by Vincenzo Perrone, President of Diesel Engines, during a press conference at Agritechnica 2017: “The challenge for engine manufacturers has been to develop a flexible solution capable of responding to the many different needs on the market. At Kohler, we took up and won the challenge thanks to the competitive edge of the Kohler KDI range of engines: as a result, we are proud to present the KOHLER Flex range of solutions for filtering emissions that was designed by Kohler so that any KDI engine configuration can be compliant with all the standards and regulations on emissions anywhere in the world.”
Therefore, Kohler is confident that the production line of Stage V certified engines will start on January 1, 2019, as announced, perfectly in line with European Union directives and answering the needs of manufacturers of off-road applications.
The systems used by Kohler for post-treatment operations represent current state-of-the-art technology available on the market. Thanks to the all-in-one configuration, manufacturers will be able to make best use of small footprints during the installation due to the very compact design of Kohler systems. At the same time, the end user will be able to enjoy the strategy developed by Kohler for the regeneration stage that will be totally transparent and will not have any impact on productivity and the efficiency of the machine, giving the entire machine the benefit of the hallmark of Kohler engines: their unstoppability.
Stage V certification was not only obtained by the KDI range of engines, but the entire range of Kohler diesel engines up to 56 kW, which will be on display at the Kohler stand at EIMA 2018, from November 7-11, 2018 at Bologna exhibition center.
