Problems with Flying-J's CNG pumps may compromise safety

Questar installed new updated CNG pumps at Flying-J Truck Stop in Ogden Utah, sometime in late 2012 or early 2103. Consequently, they removed the aging non-electronic fueling stations from across the street at the Kicks-66.

The Kicks-66 pumps were old and needed minor maintenance occasionally, but the new electronic pumps don't appear to be much better as far as needing frequent maintenance.

In the several months I have been using the Flying-J filling stations, there has been a lot of problems just trying to get the pumps to fill my tank. I have only approximate dates but:

• Sometime in July, the number 4 pump valve knob  broke
   
• Sometime in July, the number 4 pump connection would not work on my CNG fill valve
   
• Several times, the number 2 pump would flash "E 1", I interpret as Error 1 and would not completely 
• fill my tank; just stop filling and flash E 1.
   
• I just noticed that the high pressure line on Pump 2 is wearing through - This is a 3000 PSI line and I don't want to be around when it wears through!

Picture of the "E 1" Error that stops the fill station from completely filling the tank

Picture of damaged high pressure CNG line (the black one sorry)

Here's a close up look at the CNG controller

Or maybe it should be titled "Here's a look inside a Chinese controller". Actually it's not too bad, it hasn't been on the car yet so I can't tell how well it performs in a working situation but from an evaluation standpoint it seems good enough - At this point I would give it 2.5 out of 5 stars; 5 being the best.

The CNG controller case has a two piece case made of cast aluminum containing the PC board

 Although the case isn't all that good, it's sealed with clear silicone in the molded two piece inter-locking U channel and screwed together with four machine screws. Looking at the case, it's obvious that case is good enough but not very high quality. A General Manager I used to work for in product development had a saying "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good enough" - This is certainly the case here - That is, the casting is good enough.

 Rear of the case - The mediocre casting quality

 is evident on the lower case seam shown

Back cover of the controller 

and attachment screws

A close up view of casting quality

It's obvious from this picture that the plastic on the shells for the interconnects have shrunken during cooling due to lack of attention paid to plastic thicknesses - Also note that this also means that there is a marked absence of  glass filling used in most automotive connectors to stabilize the plastic and ensure that it functions well in the automotive temperatures under the hood.

Here is a view of inside the CNG control module - This module uses a Freescale micro-controller. In closer inspection it was reveled that the micro controller is rated to Industrial temperature range (-40 to 105 C) rather than Automotive Temperature (-40 to 125 C) as most under the hood control modules are - Clearly implementing the "good enough" principal. On the right, the "U" channel is visible. This channel is loaded with silicone sealer before placing the inter-locking back plate in place. Although the casting for this unit is mediocre, the application of sealer seems to make a pretty good water-tight seal.

Installation of the Exon CNG kit

DMC / Exon CNG kit installation

Exon CNG kit - Not including the CNG tank

Main Features:
Easy to install and calibrate
Excellent performance & high quality
Waterproof connector
Euro III/IV emission & OBD compatible
ECE Certified ---R67,R110

This kit will be installed and evaluated on a 1992 Honda hatchback to check the installation and the functionality of the kit.

The Components

First some evaluation of the task at hand - Shown below is the car with the spare tire removed, ISO listed / tested CNG tank (more on the tank later).

After a few considerations and some measurements of the tank and the location in the back of the Honda to ensure that the tank would fit, the tank was test fitted by just sitting the tank inside on a metal spacer to check to see where the tank would fit best.

Once that it was certain that the tank would fit in the approximate location in the back, some measurements were taken as a preliminary exercise to get an idea as to how high / low the tank should be mounted. Obviously, the tank should be mounted as low as possible but because the time to install the kit is short, it was decided to install the tank inside as apposed to inverting the spare tire metal and mounting the CNG tank outside. Outside would be better, just not enough time to make it work.

Here are the height measurements sitting on top of a piece of scrap metal.

Test Fitting the CNG Tank

Spare tire and cargo compartment

Measurement between strut towers

Now that some basic measurements have been taken, a rough draft plan is created on engineering paper for reference and to save the measurement numbers.

This is an important step to ensure that the fabrication stays on track with the design idea. Nothing is worse than starting off with a general idea and not staying with idea and / or changing plans part way through.

Rough draft of plans for mounting CNG tank

A Letter to Checker / O'Reilly auto parts to inform them of a problem obtaining information on their crate engines gets no response from corporate blunder heads:

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Hello,

I just wanted to let you know of a lost sales opportunity for Checker / O'Reilly Auto parts. Clear back last year maybe June time frame, I asked one of your sales associates for recommendations on crate engines from Checker / O'Reilly Auto parts. I told him (Mike – I don't know his last name) that I was looking to purchase a crate engine for my 1988 Chevy K-1500. I asked him for his recommendations and he wasn't sure about options even though we looked in the Checker / O'Reilly parts catalog, so I asked him if he could talk to the manager and have him email me some recommendations since his manager was busy and he didn't have access to email..

A Month or two later after no email from his manager, I asked Mike again to have his manager email me some recommendations for Checker / O'Reilly Auto parts crate engines. One reason I wanted to investigate Checker / O'Reilly Auto parts crate engines is that 1) I have been a loyal customer for going on 20 years 2) your main distribution center is at 145 Washington Blvd. in Ogden, Utah and I am about 5 miles away so if there is a problem I can talk to someone or get additional assistance unlike a mail order company where I have to ship things back if I have a problem.

So, the idea of this email is to let you know that I just received a 383 crate engine from Jegs – This is not just a replacement engine but an upgrade from a 350 to 383 approximately a 2 x price difference. Jegs provided recommendations, assistance and quick delivery. Unfortunately for both parties Checker / O'Reilly Auto parts were a no-show when I asked for assistance.

In this instance if Checker / O'Reilly Auto parts wants to do better in the future, they need to empower their sales associates the ability to service customers; including giving them access to email and knowledge of crate engine options – In this case 350 to 383 engine replacements.

Sincerely,

Tracy Johns

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The Populous should wake up

In response to Clifford's letter to the Ogden Standard Examiner Editor

There are plenty of conspiracy theories that would suggest subversion by government agencies or the Petroleum agency but the bottom line is that the populous is in collective denial about our way of life and the petroleum we use. I am not sadistic enough not to enjoy the benefits of our modern life just not naive enough to believe that it will last forever nor that we shouldn't do something about it. We have the choice to educate ourselves and pick the fuel that we want to use. But it starts with us.

First, we as a society are in collective denial about how much petroleum there is in the ground. If you ask most people about how much petroleum we have most say that we have enough for so many generations. They may even site new discoveries. However; according to scientists, that's not the case. Most people haven't heard about Dr. M. King Hubbert, but his studies have been largely ignored and most haven't heard of Professor Emeritus Al Bartlett's, nor his famous “Arithmetic, Population, and Energy” lecture and why would we do research if we believe our lifestyle will last forever?

The second part of the equation is that most public officials chart a careful path around the facts surrounding petroleum and would much rather talk about taxes or environmental issues – If our elected officials were doing their job, they would help bring about change by educating the populous but the fact of the matter is that they would be perceived as dooms day messengers; if they bring up the demise of petroleum, they probably wouldn't get the campaign funding from the big corporations, that means they will get sent to the side-lines like Jimmy Carter. Remember the solar collectors that President Carter put on the White House and President Reagan removed?

The bottom line is that we are completely passive about the future of energy and believe what we see on PBS from the big oil companies that they are developing alternate energies for the future but according to opensecrets.org, the American Petroleum Institute spent more than 7 Million dollars in lobbying moneys – And I'm pretty sure it wasn't for alternate fuels or new batteries technologies – And to be fair, they don't have any moral responsibility to yell “wolf”.

The bottom line is that we don't have an energy source as dense as petroleum to replace petroleum and most people don't want to give up the convenience they enjoy anyway. Every other energy source we have available has less energy density and therefore isn't as desirable as petroleum. Let's face it, our society is already setup for dispensing petroleum products and if you put it to a vote do you think the populous would foot the bill for changing to let's say lithium borohydride, hydrogen or electricity or another alternate fuel with less energy density or a substance that we can't readily use? If an official were to be elected that talked bad about the petroleum industry he / she would be out of office before you could say decatherm.

Sadly, getting off petroleum probably isn't as sexy as it sounds and remember there is currently no silver bullet - Technology (inventors) can help but more than that, we need the collective to do it. First off we have to be smart in the short term. How much petroleum does it take to build a new car (about 0.27 gallons per pound – www.thetruthaboutcars.com)? Does it make sense to buy vs drive the car you already have. Remember, we already have cars that rival the economy of hybrids (Civic VX) and in most cases have chosen to ignore them in favor of bigger vehicles. We can make it along way to getting off petroleum by simply driving a smaller car. Also, read the governments web page on how to drive - don't be a jerk when driving and realize that if you are impatient and pass someone out of haste, you are wasting an enormous amount of a precious non-renewable resource just because you can. Don't believe that “green” will save the world. It's just our collective “feel-good” phrase to allow us to continue to waste resources. Think about converting your existing car to natural gas – it's still non-renewable but it is a transition technology and can be used until we have a more clear transition path.

NGV's are interesting but still out weighed by Petrolium

During the height of the petroleum spike in 2008, a lot of people became aware of alternative fuels, especially since many of them were less expensive than the artificially inflated price of petroleum and gasoline in particular. Shortly after prices of gasoline came down and stabilized, I went to fill up my 99 Honda conversion to CNG an quickly noticed a 50 cent per gallon increase. I didn't even bother to fill up my Honda - I quickly re-calculated the cost / benefit and decided to remove the CNG kit from the Honda.


Here is what I found on Questar's website
(http://www.questargas.com/FuelingSystems/NGV/ngv.php)

The article starts out with "With growing public concern over high gasoline prices, dependence on foreign-oil imports, global warming and air quality, Questar Gas is focused on providing safe, clean-burning natural gas for vehicles."

CNG News

CNG to increase 50 cents per gallon July 7, 2010
On Jan. 1, the U.S. Senate allowed to expire a long-standing 50-cent-per-gallon tax credit for those who dispense natural gas for vehicles. Questar Gas continued its practice of passing along the credit to NGV drivers for the past six months assuming Congress would extend it. This now appears unlikely. The 50-cent-per-gallon credit will be removed July 7, 2010 and the per-gallon pump price will increase accordingly. We apologize for this price increase.

We apologize for the increase??? That's nice, but somehow, the US Senate was convinced that they needed to add back the 50 cent per gallon tax on to CNG used for transportation. With all of the arm waving and begging for people to cut-back on driving because of air pollution, we just made the situation worse. So, I wonder, who or what entity would entice the US Senate to replace the tax on CNG? Or, who would gain by making CNG vehicles less cost effective? I have only one candidate for that.

After the gasoline price drop

Bringing the AltFuel Blog up to date is the conversation I had with Joshua of Logan Utah yesterday while filling up my Civic with CNG. Josh is the owner and manager behind the www.123cng.com company which uses and re-sells the Bugatti kit.

Just a little background: In talking with Mr. Gordon of Technicarb, Mr. Gordon who has been in the automotive industry for many years indicated that traditionally Toyota vehicles are not easily tuned using CNG. Keeping this in mind, got me talking to Josh during the filling of his Toyota Tundra truck. The main point of the post is that he was making progress in his business of selling and installing kits. He said that since the price drop, he hasn't had any inquiries about installations.

Josh has gone back to his property management business as his main source of income. During the conversation we speculated at the future of the CNG business. While in South Jordan one day in January 2009, I spoke with Chris of CNGConcepts and indicated to Josh that according to Chris, CleanCities is putting money (I suspect millions of dollars but don't know the exact amount) into CNG infrastructure.

To add to the confusion of the future of alternate fuels and the "Green Car" concept like the Hybrids that are being touted, I spoke with Mr. Gale Banks of Banks Engineering who indicated that his contacts indicate that Hybrids "are not moving". There isn't a concise conclusion to the issue other than as prices "normalize" for gasoline, obviously there is a lot less emphasis on alternate fuels.

Vogas Software

The Vogas tuning software is a little bit overwhelming at first but after a few experiences with the software I came to the understanding that the software is very straight forward.

The heart of the supplemental CNG software is the translation table. Shown here.

One of the best things about the Vogas kit is the ability to use varying percentages of each fuel.
The table shown takes the incoming gasoline injector pulse and multiplies the pulse width by the amount shown. By using an EGT probe, you can ensure that the Natural Gas (NG) applied is not too much. Unlike gasoline engines, running too rich on NG, can heat up the engine to a point beyond the breaking point.

The engine gets too hot and can be damaged. Too much gasoline on the other hand, will tend to cool the engine. Just the opposite effect that the NG has on the engine. The other part of the Vogas software allows one to enter the ratio of NG to gasoline.

This allows what is called by the manual "Split Fuel". A percentage of both can be added or an exclusive amount of a single fuel. I am told that the software allows use of fuel beyond 100%, that is, 100% gasoline plus an additional percentage of NG.

Here is the picture of the split fuel table. Just enter the percentage of NG that you want to use and the software does the rest. For example, entering 80% gives 80% NG and 20% gasoline.

The pictures below show other parts of the software. The first picture below shows the overview screen. This screen shows RPM per cylinder, input from the MAP sensor, what fuel is being used currently, compensation, temperature and gas pressures.

In order to connect the computer - In this case a laptop to the Vogas system, first you must plug in the CAN to USB transceiver into the Vogas harness. Next plug the USB into the transceiver. Once plugged into the USB port of your computer, the software will establish a connection to the transceiver.

Then it will download the current fuel map or table so that you can edit it in the software. A couple of the screens that aren't shown is the setup and testing of the injectors which can be manually triggered via the PC software.

Once connection is established the screen shows all of the pertinent information of the NG gasoline and engine systems. This information can be used to adjust the tuning of the system and once modified; the tables are downloaded to the target Vogas ECU.

A handy item to have available is a dynamometer. When I helped my friend set up his system, we did the load testing on the Edge Products dynamometer. We were able to place a static load on the truck with the dyno and then adjust the fueling to accommodate the best mix or best type of fuel for the load applied.

Although this took several hours because we had to adjust, download, test the system was very able to be adapted to the vehicle and after the tuning session, the truck in this case ran great.
One more noteworthy screen is the change-over screen. Changing from one fuel to the other can be a major headache. Sometimes cutting off one fuel and starting the other fuel works -
Most times there needs to be a slow change over for this to happen.

Other parameters that can effect change over is engine temperature RPM, and percentages of each fuel.
As you can see from the picture, the Civic change over is moderately slow. NG is slowly increased as gasoline is decreasing. This for me was a major time-sync. Getting the car to change over smoothly without stumbling. The Civic test bed still occasionally lowers the RPM as it transitions but for the most part, it changes pretty well.

Inside the Vogas Propane Kit and conversion to CNG

The CNG conversion that I installed on my 1999 Honda Civic was in reality a propane kit from Voltran, a company in Turkey.

Here's a look inside the kit:

The kit consists of a controller, user interface containing level display, propane regulator (vaporizer), wiring harness, manifold, natural gas injectors, a fuel control link (USB to CAN), nuts, bolts, hose clamps, hose and mounting hardware.

One thing that this kit didn't come with is the Bellgas regulator. Since this kit will be used to convert the Civic to compressed natural gas (CNG), a step down regulator needs to be used. This will take the pressure from 3000 PSI to between 120 and 150 PSI. Because the CNG is a gas the vaporizer is not necessary but provides a solenoid valve to shut off the flow of CNG to the manifold. Here is a picture of the vaporizer.




I opened the controller to find out the level of integration and the approximate computer power required for operation of the kit.

To the left is a picture of the injectors, manifold and intake manifold nipples.


Research into the connector to the controller reveled a water tight connection to the wiring harness and a water resistant case. The PC board
is conformal coated to resist moisture. (under the picture of the wiring harness)


Here's a schematic of the wiring harness. Notice that the gasoline injector wires need to be cut in order to hook up the Vogas control unit for sensing when the injectors fire (referred to as benzine injectors).



Below is a picture of how the PC board fits into the plastic case.

The board in the picture is laid side-ways so that the connector is visible and how it mounts into the case.




Here's a description of the type of processor Vogas is using for their controller:
It seems to be "SAF C164G" but the closest match I found in automotive temp is:

XC164CM

XC164CM - Automotive Controller with CAN
The XC164CM is the only member of the XC164CM Series supporting extended temperature range (Ta: 125°C). The XC164CM Series offers impressive DSP performance and advanced interrupt handling combined with a powerful integrated peripheral set and high performance and reliable on-chip Flash memory.The XC164CM is suited for automotive and general purpose markets and features a dedicated PWM unit for AC and DC motors, TwinCAN and a 10-bit AD Converter.

Really sounds impressive - The core is a C166V2 core - Here is a general description:

General Device Information
The XC164CM derivatives are high-performance members of the Infineon
XC166 Family of full featured single-chip CMOS microcontrollers. These devices extend
the functionality and performance of the C166 Family in terms of instructions (MAC unit),
peripherals, and speed. They combine high CPU performance (up to 40 million
instructions per second) with high peripheral functionality and enhanced IO-capabilities.
They also provide clock generation via PLL and various on-chip memory modules such
as program Flash, program RAM, and data RAM.

The only problem I have is that all of the C164 series I found are 64 pin this one is an 80 pin version.

4 x 2 MB (8MB) of memory: ST 29F4000

Here is the entire board - In the top right, two FET drivers (i believe) and maybe injector drivers in the lower right.

Also an ST high side driver between the memory and the processor ST VN820SP
Pretty simple in hardware - Very adaptable configuration software.

In order to use this kit, a Bellgas regulator was used. The P-39 series regulator takes the high pressure and regulates it down to around 150 psi. The regulator that was purchased has an adjustment screw under the octoganal cap. The default pressure turned out to be around 120 psi.

View a picture of the regulator below. I sell a universal regulator mount from my web page:

http://www.advanced-fuelcontrol.com/


The last item I will cover is the user interface as shown below the regulator - It has a button for gasoline / CNG and an input into the control box will take a pressure senor for displaying a bar graph of tank pressure.


In operation once tuned with the custom software from Vogas, the system runs very well. Only occasionally has there been a problem with the way the system is programmed and the user interface that runs on a PC there is sufficient controls for the compensation for any type of engine.

Probably the biggest detractor for using this kit is that the distributor Fire em Up diesel: www.fireemup.com/ is so hard to work with.

During my tenure at Edge Products, we tried to partner with them as a distributor of the Edge Products propane kit from MSD Ignition the parent company. It took weeks and weeks for them to give me a call back and when they finally did, they weren't very congenial - I guess I talked to Jeff and ended up yelling at him in order for him to understand what I was proposing - Hearing damage from all of the engine work he has done? Maybe.

After that episode, Edge Products also evaluated becoming a dealer for Electrodeil - A company out of Columbia. Not a bad kit but didn't pass the NFPA regulations for 300 bar pressure for components and the tanks were not DOT certified - You can get their kits from Awesome Pool products in Clinton, Utah. http://www.awesomepoolproducts.com/

Edge Products contacted the parent company Electrodiel to try to get their vacuum valves direct, but Edge had to become a dealer - Unfortunately, even though Edge Products had some 2 to 8 million dollars in various inventory items (trying to show that Edge is a pretty big company), Electrodiel wouldn't sign them up and indicated that the pool products company was the preferred dealer - Good for them however Edge Products could have probably moved more of their products.

Apparently the local dealer gets his Voltran products from Fire em up diesel and has also had some undisclosed problems with them as well.

New Business Venture:
Due to the economic slowdown, I was laid off as the Alternate Fuel Manager at Edge Products - Too bad in some respects. Really good in others - So this leaves me with the option to join the workforce as a soldier or create a new career as a general. I opt for the general position. Although still looking for opportunities at the soldier front, in the mean time building eco-projects in order to survive.

So, working at Edge, I installed a couple of CNG conversions for testing - From the experience, realizing that we would need regulator holders, I designed a simple solution for Edge from 1 inch x 1/8 inch steel as you can see in the top picture. After being laid off - I realized a general solution would be better so a friend of mine and I built a production holder from stainless steel - Second Image - Want one? Order them through my web site: http://www.advanced-fuelcontrol.com/#

I recently finished my first beta of the MileageMinder product. You can see a preview at the same web site and order Arkon mounts as well for the MileageMInder and also for the new releases from Edge Products: http://www.advanced-fuelcontrol.com/#

The last post was about a month ago - Since then, the CNG system has performed well. During the past month, the system has been tuned using the Vogas Software; it's pretty good and the software rarely has problems such as lock-ups etc.

One of the problems that was noticed during the last month was that the regulator would get really cold especially when the weather got a little colder than it was in late August and early September. The picture shown is of the regulator after driving about 6 miles in 45 - 50 degree weather with high humidity (after it rained).

What I noticed most was the smell of natural gas. Not until after some research was done I realized that the regulator could get as cold as -70 degrees F. When this happens the seals shrink which allows natural gas to escape.

This problem was remedied by installing hoses to the heater core and branching off to the water jacket that is standard and integrated into the Belgas regulator. This completly solved the problem of the regulator being to cold and allowing natural gas to escape.

The last item that I installed was an EGT probe attached to a modified Edge Products power module. The power module originally intended to be for 1999 1/2 to 2002 Dodge trucks w/ Cummins ISB engine using a VP 44 pump. This is a very useful module since it has two I/O that can be assigned and several A/D inputs. I kept the EGT probe calibration from the original truck use and modified the module to show digital vacuum. In monitoring the vacuum I can drive conservitively and also see the EGT of gasoline fuel VS CNG. This will help me determine if I have a heat problem when adding too much CNG.

These pictures show the addition of the CNG injector wiring to / from the original gasoline injector wires. The part of the kit that was the most uncertain was where to attach to the OEM injectors. My preference would be to have a "stack" connector where one could detach the stock injector wiring and attach the kit to the injector connector so that the wiring harness didn't have to be cut. I chose the next best thing and attached a Tyco 10 pin weather seal connector in between injector wires from the PCM and the injectors themselves. This way if there is a problem with the Vogas kit or injectors, the harness can be detached and a jumper installed so that the gasoline injectors are wired the same as they came from the factory. Shown in the pictures is the Vogas wire harness detachment and the gasoline injector(s) jumper.

It's alive...Alive!

The installation of the CNG kit on the 1999 Honda Civic was successful. After what seems to have been forever, the kit was finished and tested on September 27, 2008 with the help of Jerad Hanson from whom I purchased the Vogas Propane Kit. We set his Chevy Truck up using the dealer software and the dynamometer at Edge Products. After which Jerad was kind enough to give me some pointers for how the wiring setup should be concerning the MAP and vacuum lines on the Vogas kit. In the ajacent picture, you can see the wiring of the Vogas kit is contained in wire armor. The grey armor houses an extension to the temperature sensor connector which is located on the vaporizor.

Electrical Harness Installation

During the past few days I have been working on installing the waring harness and the Control Module. The harness looks very good and capible of lasting for a long time however none of the wires are terminated (other than the injectors) and none of them are labeled either.

This makes for some challenges as far as identification of wires especially since this is my first installation of a kit like this.

Plumbing the Injectors

After a brief consideration about how best to go about plumbing the injectors, I decided to fasten the manifold to the air filter cover. This provides an easy access to the manifold and tubes and also doesn't hinder access to the air filter. In the case that access to the engine is necessary, there is only one nut / bolt holding the manifold to the air filter cover.

Weekend Progress - August 23, 2008

After considering the previous installation used two flexible hoses and was kind of in the way, I reconsidered how to run the flexible high pressure lines. I decided that I could increase the reliability somewhat by removing one of the failure points and reducing the complexity.

The other couple items that I refined were the manual valve installation. This could come in handy for maintenance of the system as well as a potential safety feature as well as the fill valve stabilizer arm.

The last item was the fill-valve holder. Originally the fill valve was attached to the system by the compression fittings and the stainless steel tubing. I built a stabilizer arm that is secured to the car body. This will help to avoid bending the tubing during filling.

Here is the fill-valve holder and manual valve installation. Notice the manual valve also has a securing holder.