Caterpillar diesel ACERT

[metman]

Cat has numerous diesel engines that have the ACERT designation.
Can anybody tell me what the acronym ACERT stands for?

for example:
Cat C15 ACERT used in their AD30 Underground Articulated Truck (actually 15.2L)
Cat C7 ACERT used in their 120K Motor Grader (actually 7.2L)
Cat C7.1 ACERT used in their 120M2 Motor Grader (actually 7.01L -- yes 7.01L not 7.1L)

An example of another type of engine used in their 416E Backhoe/Loader is C4.4 DITA (Direct Injection Turbocharged Aftercooled) (actually 4.4L)

I have good contacts with our local Cat dealer and with Cat headquarters in Peroria, Illinois and so far they cannot tell me what this acronym stands for.

This is in relation to underground diesel emissions for different countries. For instance; the C7 ACERT & C4.4 DITA engines comply with EPA Tier 3 standards whereas the C7.1 ACERT complies with EPA Tier 4 Interim/EU Stage IIIB. These tier level ratings are being phased in by EPA and; this Janurary, Tier 4 final was phased in. The earlier tier rated engines can be used above or below ground depending on the application, country, state, province, and regulations if it is built within the phase-in date window. These engines can be tuned or programmed electronically for different power and torque ratings depending upon which machine they are used. OK yeah -- too much info. Sorry but this is just the tip of the iceburg and every few days there is some new twist to get wrapped around my head.

Design for RELIABILITY, manufacturability, and maintainability

 

[MikeHalloran]

I'm guessing
Advanced
{Caterpillar | Comprehensive | Compression ignition }
Emissions
Reduction
Technology

... but you need to find a Marketing person to get the official line.
The acronym is not new; it had been in use for a while before Cat gave up on OTR trucking.

The C4.4 is really a Perkins engine, so there's no Cat technology under the paint.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[MiketheEngineer]

Call them and ask them

 

[DRWeig]

I was told by our Cat dealer a few years ago that it's Advanced Combustion Emissions Reduction Technology. Makes sense, but he's a dealer not a Caterpillar marketer. Their literature states something like "Advanced Combustion Technology allows our engines to meet strict new emissions standards around the world..."

I don't think they view it as an acronym. They trademarked it without explanation.

Best to you,

Goober Dave

Haven't see the forum policies? Do so now: Forum Policies

 

[ivymike]

it's not an acronym. it's a trademark representing a combination of performance enhancing, emissions reducing technologies used in Cat engines.

http://www.cat.com/technology/acert-technology

 

[DRWeig]

Speaking of trademarks, this one seems to be working, eh? It's got a discussion going in front of the 1,000,000+ eng-tips.com members, many of whom will wind up looking into a bunch of Caterpillar literature.

Best to you,

Goober Dave

Haven't see the forum policies? Do so now: Forum Policies

 

[ivymike]

...and as someone with some marketing experience, I can say that acronyms are problematic for trademark protection because they can be construed as being made of generic words or merely descriptive terminology for all to
use.

 

[metman]

You are correct DRWeig.
This is official from the Cat Emissions Certification and Regulatory Division

ACERT = Advanced Combustion Emissions Reduction Technology
It's a marketing term for the emissions technology.

MiketheEngineer (Structural)
"Call them and ask them"
Mike the E, did you not read the following line from the OP? I did call them and emailed.

"I have good contacts with our local Cat dealer and with Cat headquarters in Peroria, Illinois and so far they cannot tell me what this acronym stands for."

Therefore I went directly to the source, i.e. Cat Emissions Certification and Regulatory Division because I guessed it had to do with emissions.

ivymike (Mechanical)
"it's not an acronym. it's a trademark representing a combination of performance enhancing, emissions reducing technologies used in Cat engines."

ivymike, It bugs me when people call an abbreviation an acronym which this very certainly meets the definition of an acronym but ir also meets the intersting and well stated definition that you have given for this specific trademark which it is (has TM as a superscript).

MikeHalloran
"The C4.4 is really a Perkins engine, so there's no Cat technology under the paint."

Mike H., I am curious how you know this because the engine performance curve and data sheet have the Cat registered copyright at the top of the pdf and the Cat brochure for the 416E Backhoe/Loader also uses the Cat(with circled R) next the engine model number. And yet our local Cat dealer assures me that it is a Perkins.
I am in the process of emailing a Legislation Engineer, Emissions Regulations & Conformance person at Perkins to answer this question.

Thanks for all of your comments


Design for RELIABILITY, manufacturability, and maintainability

 

[metman]

ivymike

Looks like we need a lawyer for this one -- eh? TM vs. acronym

Design for RELIABILITY, manufacturability, and maintainability

 

[ivymike]

so wait a minute, what's wrong with saying that an abbreviation is an acronym, if it's an abbreviation formed from the first letters of a series of words? That's kinda the definition of an acronym, isn't it?

Did you email someone at Cat and get that definition as a response?

 

[MikeHalloran]

I used to be in the marine exhaust business, and then the generator business.

The Stupid Questions Department, my usual fiefdom, has on occasion social engineered its way past an engine manufacturer's Marketing Department in search of verifiable and cross- checkable truth.

The documentation that Cat supplies through its dealers is pretty good, but sometimes it's not enough, and sometimes it's wrong. It got much wrong-er in the transition from DOS to Windows and then to the Web.

Old printed material, and printouts from DOS TMI can be trusted. Newer data for some components has been intermixed, so you may get correct data for some component or engine other than the one you wanted. The TMI Web software makes it all look equally valid, and Cat seems to have no way of independently verifying it, and feels no incentive to do so.

I got one engine's data (as it happens, the C4.4's seawater pump) corrected, maybe, after it had cost me a job, but I think the problem is bigger than Cat wishes to admit, as in mis-indexed arrays of pointers into arrays, stuff like that. I have little hope that the problem will be addressed, because the software guys aren't allowed a way to verify the data, and the "data owners" don't want to hear from software guys or dealers or customers or especially third parties like me who are none of the above, and nobody has the authority to authorize a change in the software to verify the data, or to add an audit trace so that a TMI Web query could be audited for accuracy after a transaction. I.e., the dealer makes an inquiry, TMI Web generates a response, the dealer prints the response and hands it to the customer as gospel, and no record is kept of what was sent in response to the query.






Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[metman]

ivymike asked,
“Did you email someone at Cat and get that definition as a response?”
Yes as noted at:
30 Jan 13 18:28
“Therefore I went directly to the source, i.e. Cat Emissions Certification and Regulatory Division because I guessed it had to do with emissions.”

Sorry for the horrible English on my part. When I said, “…I went directly to the source…” I meant that I had emailed a previous contact with a Cat person in that division and asked permission from our usual go thru person to contact the Emissions guy directly because our usual go thru guy had not answered my question from before although he had answered my DITA question.

Life is too complicated already. Especially after reading Halloran’s saga – whew – you lost a job over a C4.4. I dare not tell you any more details of what I am involved in. This is scary.

However I have no problem helping Caterpillar with their marketing if that is what this is doing but was not my intention as it is strictly verbotten on this web and want to make it crystal clear that I am certainly not criticising anyone or any company.

Ivy,
I suppose I will need to break down and re-read the definition of acronym but thought it was that the acronym spelled a pronounceable word in itself not like as in Hebrew – are there any vowels in Hebrew?

OK I'm wrong again. I hate it when I'm wrong especilly since I like my definition better. Thank you for the correction Ivy!

Definition of ACRONYM
: a word (as NATO, radar, or laser) formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term; also: an abbreviation (as FBI) formed from initial letters : initialism
— ac·ro·nym·ic adjective
— ac·ro·nym·i·cal·ly adverb
See acronym defined for English-language learners »
See acronym defined for kids »
Examples of ACRONYM
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is known by the acronym “NATO.”
Origin of ACRONYM
acr- + -onym
First Known Use: 1943


Design for RELIABILITY, manufacturability, and maintainability