Nine Cummins employees received Dr Julius P Perr Innovation Awards, which celebrate and recognise employees who embody the innovative spirit of the late Dr Perr, a long-time technological leader at Cummins.The team behind Cummins’ QuickCheck product line was honoured for its role in developing an affordable, portable handheld computer-based system to collect, display and analyse data from a diesel engine.The development of QuickCheck began in 2000, when the method for collecting this type of information was a laptop computer with multiple cable connections and an add-on data link adapter to translate the data into a PC-readable format. As an alternative, the team selected a Palm PDA (personal digital assistant) as the platform for QuickCheck because of its wide availability, ease of use, low cost and portability. The team went on to create hardware and software that worked with off-the-shelf Palm PDAs. The data collected from the engines with QuickCheck is helpful in diagnosing failures, tracking vehicle usage, scheduling maintenance and correcting problems before the actual failure occurs. Once the QuickCheck adapter and appropriate interface cable are plugged into the vehicle data collection port, engine data can be viewed in real time or saved for downloading onto a personal computer at a later time. Cummins said more than 17,000 QuickCheck units had been sold as of mid-2008. Also recognised with a Perr award was the team of Paul Miller and Chuan He. The duo invented an equivalence ratio-based system for controlling transient fuelling in an internal combustion engine. This invention, also known as oxygen/fuel control, met the goal of creating a fundamentally and physically sound basis for transient particulate matter (PM) emission control, while facilitating robust nitrogen oxides and PM emission compliance with exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) technology. EGR technology is at the heart of emissions control for many of Cummins’ diesel engines used in on-highway applications. “These inventions have played a significant role in satisfying our customers’ needs and meeting the stringent emissions requirements,” said Cummins vice-president John Wall.“This type of ingenuity paves the way for future inventions that will ensure Cummins’ place as an industry leader in technology. This is what we call ‘Innovation You Can Depend On’.”Perr joined Cummins in 1958 and contributed to fuel systems and engine design. Cummins said Perr had been named as the inventor or co-inventor on 80 US patents.
