Argonne National Laboratory maintains an advanced locomotive engine research facility through a Strategic Partnership Project with Electro-Motive Diesel Inc. (EMD), a wholly owned subsidiary of Progress Rail Services Corporation (a Caterpillar (CAT) company). Argonne has a long-standing association with EMD to conduct a wide variety of engine development, after-treatment technologies, lubricant, and fuels-related research.

The locomotive research facility provides cutting-edge capabilities to enable development of locomotive engine technology that meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency emission standards, while providing EMD with better fuel economy and high engine performance. The facility is equipped with single-cylinder EMD-710 two-stroke and EMD-1010 four-stroke engine test-beds as well as a high-speed laser spray imaging and injector performance laboratory to support a wide spectrum of scientific research and development.

Both single-cylinder engines use the actual locomotive power assemblies for excellent correlation with their multi-cylinder versions. Researchers optimize the latest technologies for multi-cylinder applications and test them on these single-cylinder engines. Using Argonne’s unique suite of tools and expertise, EMD can evaluate key parameters and develop unique solutions to locomotive diesel engine hardware problems, fuel efficiency, gaseous and particulate emissions and lubrication for different applications.