By KAREN BINDER
Illinois Correspondent

DU QUOIN, Ill. — Altorfer CAT was at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds last week showcasing its Finnish manufactured Challenger MT 600C Series.

What’s so innovative about the Challenger tractors are its diesel engines, the first in the country to comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Tier 4 regulations. These laws outline low air emissions standards for off-road diesel engines by 2014.

The laws prompt design change in off-road diesel engines by integrating engine and fuel controls as a system to gain the greatest emission reductions, such as those already in production for highway trucks and buses.

The result, according to the EPA, will be a 90 percent drop in exhaust emissions. The tractors are powered by AGCO Sisu Power 8.4CTA, six-cylinder turbocharged diesel engines with Electronic Engine Management 3, the AGCO company’s brand name for its new emissions technology that they denote as e3. The Challenger’s e3 technology is based on what is generically called selective catalytic reduction (SCR) clean air technology.

“The SISU Power engine was not heard of in the United States until the Challenger series was introduced,” said Altorfer representative William Davenport.

“That doesn’t mean that AGCO doesn’t have plenty of experience. They make 50,000 of these engines a year.”

Key to selective catalytic reduction is use of Diesel Exhaust Fluid, which enters the exhaust stream of a diesel engine as a vapor and combines within the SCR catalyst with hot exhaust and breaks down into nitrogen and water.

Besides “near zero” emissions, Davenport said the SISU engine delivers up to 12 percent improved fuel efficiency. This is not the only new technology the Challenger series has to offer. Davenport pointed out the series features a continuously variable transmission, allowing for setting of any speed without being tied to a gear, and a new chassis to handle more weight and improve cab suspension and comfort.

Also new is cab design, ranging from 360-degree visibility, 28 percent more room and a new console allowing the operator to input memory functions for up to eight implements, so hydraulic settings, engine and ground speed presets can be quickly and easily recalled.

The console’s display also accepts an SD memory card or a USB drive to record such variables such as engine RPM, ground speed, wheel slip and fuel consumption, all of which can be geo-referenced when a GPS receiver is used.

“This is the first time for many people who have stopped to visit with us, to see much of this technology. There’s certainly a lot to see and learn. That’s why we’ve got the display trailer to help us,” said Garry Norton of Altorfer CAT in Zeigler, Ill.