INTRODUCTION
The title of the project is “The Efficiency of Locomotive Catalytic Converters” and it was done on 5 December 2015. This project was sponsored by the GE Locomotives to proposed a solution to improve its locomotive engine to Tier 3 or Tier 4. My team and I decided to install a catalytic converter in the locomotive engine. So, this document presents the technical report of the proposed solution for the problem.
ARTIFACT
DESCRIPTION
Locomotives carrying 165,000-tons of freight or minerals pass through the city every day. The engines of the locomotives emit NOx gas that creates smog over the city and the residents are complaining about the amount of smog generated by the locomotives. The team believe that we should upgrade the locomotives by including a catalytic converter. A catalytic converter is a device that uses a catalyst to convert harmful gases such as nitrogen oxides into harmless compounds. It acts as a filter by eliminating the emissions from the engine and filtering out the clean air. The catalytic converter will reduce the NOx emissions and will also be cost effective for railroad companies in the short run. It will also be much more feasible for railroads to switch to a catalytic converter rather than completely change the tier of the locomotives while saving a substantial amount of money. The locomotive catalytic converter will satisfy all stakeholders especially those that will pay for the product.
REFLECTION
This was my first time doing the technical report as an undergraduate student. Thus, this is a good exposure for me to write a proposal report and I learned a lot through the project. We started by analyzing the stakeholders and we then use the information to proceed to the concept generation, concept scoring, and concept selection. After doing a lengthy research on catalytic converters and other alternative methods of reducing emissions, we have come to the conclusion that a catalytic converter is the best available solution to the existing problem. Overall, this project really helps me to develop my technical writing skill.
