AirDog® Fuel Systems 101: What do Fuel Air Separation Systems Do?
Few diesel engine components improve fuel efficiency, power, and acceleration while reducing engine wear and tear and exhaust emissions. As the world’s first and only system to effectively remove air from diesel fuel and keep water and other contaminants from entering the engine, the AirDog® Heavy Duty Diesel Fuel Systems provides a combination of benefits that makes them the fuel system of choice for leading truckers.
If you do not yet have an AirDog® fuel system on your truck, this article will explain how our systems work and the benefits they provide to those who drive, maintain, or own heavy-duty trucks.
The Challenge of Entrained Air
As a truck rolls down the road, hitting bumps and making turns, the diesel fuel in the tank sloshes around, mixing air bubbles into the fuel. Contrary to popular belief, those air bubbles don’t float up and out of the fuel quickly enough to prevent them from entering the fuel line and onto the engine. Besides air, moisture also enters the fuel due to improperly sealed storage tanks or through condensation in the fuel tank as the outside air warms and cools. Both situations present problems because diesel engines do not burn fuel with entrained air as efficiently as pure diesel fuel, and the problem becomes worse when the fuel contains moisture.
Knowing that air and moisture in diesel fuel affect fuel system efficiency, consider how the typical fuel filter functions. By design, most fuel filters perform one job: they trap solid contaminants in the fuel before they enter the engine. While trapping solids is critical, it is insufficient because standard fuel filters do not remove air and moisture, and performing those steps makes AirDog® systems different.
While the AirDog® fuel system provides more benefits than a typical fuel filter, it remains simple in concept. The first step involves passing the fuel through a water separator to eliminate moisture and large particulates from the fuel. From there, the fuel enters the AirDog® Fuel Preporator, the world’s first patented system that removes air from the fuel. After separating the air and fuel, the AirDog® fuel system sends the air with a trickle of fuel back to the fuel tank. The remaining air-free diesel fuel then flows to the engine at a regulated positive pressure, which provides another advantage of AirDog® fuel systems.
Ordinarily, the fuel pump pulls fuel through a primary filter, which has been a longstanding problem because fuel pumps are inefficient under suction. AirDog® fuel systems include integrated fuel pumps to push the fuel through the filter, preventing air or vapor from reentering the fuel. Pushing air-free fuel also prevents the engine’s fuel pump from cavitating and producing vapors that might enter the fuel, solving a problem commonly experienced when driving at higher elevations.
Benefits of the AirDog® Fuel System
Incorporating an AirDog® fuel system into your vehicle can make a big difference in your operation, so let’s focus on the three most important benefits.
Enhanced Fuel Mileage:
A notable advantage of AirDog® fuel systems is improved fuel efficiency. The system ensures optimal combustion by providing the engine with clean, air-free fuel, resulting in better mileage and fewer trips to the pump. Typically, trucks using AirDog® fuel systems are several tenths of a mile per gallon more efficient than comparable units with standard fuel filters. Those savings add up quickly, with many users recouping the cost of the AirDog® fuel system within months of installation, depending on their miles driven and conditions.
Optimizing fuel combustion also results in lower emissions, which provides environmental benefits and reduces wear and tear on truck emission systems while lengthening maintenance cycles and reducing parts and labor costs.
Optimized Performance:
Air-free fuel promotes proper cooling and lubrication, improving overall engine performance. This translates into better throttle response, smoother acceleration, improved power delivery, and reduced wear and tear. Drivers experience a smoother ride and have less need to downshift as trucks better hold their gears. Not only does this benefit the bottom line directly, but it also makes for happier drivers, who are the lifeblood of the fleet.
Extended Injector Life:
Another benefit of air separation is that injectors stay cooler and are better lubricated, promoting longevity. Without an AirDog® fuel system, the presence of air and vapor in the injector delays the pressure buildup and injection, resulting in retarded injection timing. In addition, the air bubbles are not evenly distributed in the fuel, so the amount of entrained air entering the injector varies from injection to injection. In addition, higher amounts of air retards the injection timing, which results in low torque or power output, increased fuel consumption, increased exhaust emissions, rough idle/wet cylinder, and poor throttle response. AirDog® fuel systems solve these problems by eliminating entrained air from the fuel.
Made in the U.S.A. with A Four-Year Warranty:
To complete the package, AirDog® products are proudly manufactured in the U.S.A. and come with a four-year limited warranty, which is four times longer than the typical engine whose performance and life the AirDog® fuel system enhances. That makes the AirDog® fuel system the complete package.
Choosing An AirDog® System
AirDog® fuel systems solve problems that have troubled diesel engines since they first hit the road. AirDog® is the world’s first patented and only system that effectively removes air from diesel fuel and keeps water and other contaminants from entering the engine. By ensuring the engine combusts only pure diesel fuel, AirDog®-equipped engines consume less fuel, perform better, and last longer, making for a startlingly attractive combination of benefits. Whether you are speccing new or want to enhance an existing engine, you will not find a harder working and more loyal friend than an AirDog® fuel system.
