50 million common-rail systems produced at Bosch

In January this year, Bosch celebrated the anniversary of 50 million common-rail systems produced for diesel engines. Series production for this technology started in 1997 and it has modernised the diesel engine, significantly reducing its impact on the environment. The common-rail system has provided the diesel with improved performance, higher torque and overall has increased the smoothness of the engine.

“In conjunction with turbo-charging, the common-rail injection system paved the way to the break through of the diesel engine”, said Dr. Ulrich Dohle, President of the Bosch Diesel Systems division. “Since the introduction of emissions legislation in 1990, we have also been able to reduce fuel consumption by 30 percent and pollutant emissions by more than 95 percent”.

The term ‘common-rail’ describes a high-pressure accumulator, or rail, from which the fuel is injected into the cylinders via the injectors connected to it. The first customers, Alfa Romeo with the 156 JTD and Mercedes-Benz with the 220 CDI, began marketing models featuring Bosch common-rail systems at the end of 1997.

By 2001, three million Bosch common-rail systems were in use, and by 2002 the figure had already risen to 10 million systems. The proportion of diesel cars in Western Europe increased from 20 to over 50 percent between 1997 and 2007.

Today, all well-known international manufacturers rely on Bosch common-rail systems. To meet this demand, the company produces the respective common-rail system components at 15 locations in Europe, Asia and America.

Lower emissions – less fuel consumption
Compared with gasoline engines, the diesel’s major selling points are the reduced fuel consumption – more than 30 percent, and the 25 percent lower CO2 emissions. Moreover, when the Euro 5 emissions standard becomes effective in September 2009, the NOx figures for diesel will be roughly 95 percent lower than when emissions standards were introduced. The same applies to particulate emissions, which have been reduced by 97 percent over the same period.

According to Dr. Dohle, by further developing the common-rail technology Bosch will contribute substantially to the reduction of fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions, and will make the diesel engine even more economical and less harmful to the environment.