An engine-based accelerated aging platform is built around the use of a compression-ignition engine for generation of heat and flow. You are not required to use the same engine as the target application that is being aged. You may use any compression-ignition engine as a bench aging engine, and the engine may be modified as needed to support meeting the aging procedure requirements. You may use the same bench aging engine for deterioration factor determination from multiple engine families. The engine must be capable of reaching the combination of temperature, flow, NOX, and oil consumption targets required. We recommend using an engine platform larger than the target application for a given aftertreatment system to provide more flexibility to achieve the target conditions and oil consumption rates. You may modify the bench aging engine controls in any manner necessary to help reach aging conditions. You may bypass some of the bench aging engine exhaust around the aftertreatment system being aged to reach targets, but you must account for this in all calculations and monitoring to ensure that the correct amount of oil and sulfur are reaching the aftertreatment system. If you bypass some of the engine exhaust around the aftertreatment system, you must directly measure exhaust flow rate through the aftertreatment system. You may dilute bench aging engine exhaust prior to introduction to the aftertreatment system, but you must account for this in all calculations and monitoring to ensure that the correct engine conditions and the correct amount of oil and sulfur are reaching the aftertreatment system. Your engine-based aging stand must incorporate the following capabilities:

(a) Use good engineering judgment to incorporate a means of controlling temperature independent of the engine. An example of such a temperature control would be an air-to-air heat exchanger. The temperature control system must be designed to prevent condensation in the exhaust upstream of the aftertreatment system. This independent temperature control is necessary to provide the flexibility required to reach temperature, flow, oil consumption targets, and NOX targets.

(b) Use good engineering judgment to modify the engine to increase oil consumption rates to levels required for accelerated aging. These increased oil consumption levels must be sufficient to reach the bulk pathway exposure targets determined in § 1065.1139(h). A combination of engine modifications and careful operating mode selection will be used to reach the final bulk pathway oil exposure target on a cycle average. You must modify the engine in a fashion that will increase oil consumption in a manner such that the oil consumption is still generally representative of oil passing the piston rings into the cylinder. Use good engineering judgment to break in the modified engine to stabilize oil consumption rates. We recommend the following methods of modification (in order of preference):

(1) Install the second compression ring inverted (upside down) on one or more of the cylinders of the bench aging engine. This is most effective on rings that feature a sloped design to promote oil control when normally installed.

(2) If the approach in paragraph (b)(1) of this section is insufficient to reach the targets, modify the oil control rings in one or more cylinders to reduce the spring tension on the oil control ring. It should be noted that this is likely to be an iterative process until the correct modification has been determined.

(3) If the approach in paragraph (b)(2) of this section is insufficient to reach the targets, modify the oil control rings in one or more cylinders to create small notches or gaps (usually no more than 2 per cylinder) in the top portion of the oil control rings that contact the cylinder liner (care must be taken to avoid compromising the structural integrity of the ring itself).

(c) We recommend that the engine-aging stand include a constant volume oil system with a sufficiently large oil reservoir to avoid oil “top-offs” between oil change intervals.

(d) If the engine-aging stand will be used for aging of systems that perform infrequent regenerations, the aging stand must incorporate a means of increasing temperature representative of the target application. For example, if the target application increases temperature for regeneration by introducing fuel into the exhaust upstream of an oxidation catalyst, the aging stand must incorporate a similar method of introducing fuel into the exhaust.

(e) If the engine-aging stand will be used for aging systems that incorporate SCR-based NOX reduction, the aging stand must incorporate a representative means of introducing DEF at the appropriate location(s).

(f) Use good engineering judgment to incorporate a means of monitoring oil consumption on a periodic basis. You may use a periodic drain and weigh approach to quantify oil consumption. We recommend that you incorporate a method of continuous oil consumption monitoring, but you must validate that method with periodic draining and weighing of the engine oil. You must validate that the aging stand reaches oil consumption targets prior to the start of aging. You must verify oil consumption during aging prior to each emission testing point, and at each oil change interval. Validate or verify oil consumption over a running period of at least 72 hours to obtain a valid measurement. If you do not include the constant volume oil system recommended in paragraph (c) of this section, you must account for all oil additions.

(g) Use good engin eering judgment to establish an oil change interval that allows you to maintain relatively stable oil consumption rates over the aging process. Note that this interval may be shorter than the normal recommended interval for the engine due to the modifications that have been made.

(h) If the engine-aging stand will be used for aging of systems that incorporate a diesel particulate filter (DPF), we recommend you perform secondary tracking of oil exposure by using clean (soot free) DPF weights to track ash loading and compare this mass of ash to the amount predicted using the measured oil consumption mass and the oil ash concentration. The mass of ash found by DPF weight should fall within (55 to 70)% of the of mass predicted from oil consumption measurements.

(i) Incorporate a means of introducing lubricating oil into the engine fuel to enable the volatile pathway of oil exposure. You must introduce sufficient oil to reach the volatile pathway oil exposure targets determined in paragraph (h) of this section. You must measure the rate of volatile pathway oil introduction on a continuous basis.

(j) If you perform sulfur acceleration by increasing the sulfur level of the engine fuel, you must meet the target sulfur level within ±5 ppmw. Verify the sulfur level of the fuel prior to starting aging, or whenever a new batch of aging fuel is acquired.

(k) If you use gaseous SO2 for sulfur acceleration, you must incorporate a means to introduce the gaseous SO2 upstream of the aftertreatment system. Use good engineering judgment to ensure that gaseous SO2 is well mixed prior to entering the aftertreatment system. You must monitor the rate of gaseous SO2 introduction on a continuous basis.

[79 FR 23820, Apr. 28, 2014, as amended at 89 FR 29831, Apr. 22, 2024]