Truck Parts and Service

January 2013

Truck Parts and Service | Heavy Duty Trucking, Aftermarket, Service Info

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By Lucas Deal, Associate Editor lucasdeal@randallreilly.com Cover Story Training your technicians for natural gas service Two men investigate a natural gas tank during a National Alternative Fuels Training Council session. The NAFTC offers a ���ve-day technician training course on natural gas service. T he most important step in training your employees to work with natural gas trucks is making sure they understand the fuel itself. Natural gas is an organically occurring mixture of gases consisting primarily of methane. It is most commonly found as an engine fuel in the form of compressed natural gas (CNG). According to Nadine Haupt, director ��� alternative fuels at Navistar, CNG is stored in thick-walled cylindrical tanks at 3,000 psi to 3,600 psi. 20 T R U C K PA R T S & S E R V I C E | It has a slight odor but is lighter than air, which Haupt says allows it to quickly dissolve into the atmosphere if leaked. Lique���ed natural gas (LNG) is cryogenic fuel created by cooling natural gas to minus 250 F. Due to its extreme temperature, it has no scent, Haupt says, and can be susceptible to bleeding off if not constantly kept at its correct temperature. If leaked from a cylindrical tank, LNG will warm into a gas and dissolve into the atmosphere. January 2013 Both fuels can be used in heavy-duty natural gas engines, says Bill Davis, assistant director ��� operations at the National Alternative Fuels Training Council. According to Davis, a natural gas truck operates by transporting fuel from its onboard tanks to a pressure regulator. The regulator then increases or reduces pressure to the fuel depending on what is needed inside the engine, then releases the gas through a fuel line to the engine. ���Once the fuel passes the regulator, it

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