The main components of Deere's LE small-engine technology.
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Deere & Co.'s LE small-engine technology prepares the company for new, more stringent exhaust emissions regulations and will be available in selected markets on handheld equipment under the Homelite brand by the end of the year. This was in response to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announcement in early March that it would speed up the phase-in of regulations targeted at further reducing emissions from handheld power equipment such as chain saws, weed trimmers, and leaf blowers. Cleaner products will be required beginning in 2002—one year earlier than originally proposed.
Deere said it contacted officials in Washington in recent months to gain their support for the EPA action since technology developed by Deere and others can achieve the new standards. Last year, Deere announced a breakthrough in two-cycle technology that will reduce emissions on the company's handheld equipment by as much as 70%. The LE engine was developed in response to EPA concerns over small-engine emissions. Deere said that its announcement of the LE engine and the EPA's interest in tougher rules have spurred rapid advancements in emissions-control technology.
"Our product tests are very favorable," said John Jenkins, President of Deere's Consumer and Commercial Equipment Division. "These LE machines run more efficiently, produce about the same amount of heat, and have proven equally safe for the machine operator as any equipment used by consumers for these purposes today.''
Deere has offered to license the LE technology to other manufacturers to help achieve full compliance with the tighter guidelines and at least 10 other companies have created technologies that promise to meet the new EPA rules.
In January, a Deere 125-h, 25-cm3 engine employing the new technology was certified as compliant with Tier II/MY2000 emissions standards by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The CARB two-cycle engine features Deere's newly developed compression-wave injection technology, which preserves the desirable characteristics of the two-cycle engine including simplicity of construction, low cost of manufacturing, ease of maintenance, high-speed operational capability, and high power-to-weight ratios. During 125 hours of testing, the engine showed no degradation in power and required less maintenance than the company's current 25-cm3, two-stroke engine. In addition to lower emissions, the technology employed by Deere will reduce fuel consumption by up to 30%.
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Deere's compression-wave injection technology preserves the desirable characteristics of the two-cycle engine, but reduces equipment emissions by 70% and fuel consumption by up to 30%.
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For more information, visit www.deere.com or circle 72.
SAE Off-Highway Engineering June 2000
