One hundred years ago, MV Selandia displacing 7,000 t, entered service in 1912 and was the lead class of five ships with the other four sister ships built at various shipyards in Europe. They all had twin Burmeister & Wain four stroke crosshead engines type DM 8150-X giving a service speed of 11 kn. On the Selandia’s acceptance trials she reached a speed of 12.2 kn. The engine was an in-line eight cylinder with bore of 530 mm and stroke of 730 mm and the bmep of 6.4 bar produced 920 kW at 140 rpm. There were two 186 kW auxiliary diesel engines each with four cylinders. Each was driving a 220 V DC generator providing on board electrical power. Electric motors were used to start the main engines by turning the 6.5 ft (2 m) diameter flywheels. [More]

MAN Diesel & Turbo together with Germanischer Lloyd have published a study analyzing the problem of the best way for container ships to meet the present and future exhaust emission regulations. The four technologies investigated in the study are: exhaust gas cleaning by scrubber, scrubber plus Waste Heat Recovery (WHR), LNG as a fuel and LNG with WHR. In the study, circumstances were considered for five sizes of container ship. The smallest is a feeder of 2,500 TEU going up to the largest of 18,000 TEU. For each ship size the speed, engine power, round trip distance and percentage of distance spent in Emission Control Areas is estimated proportionally. The study concludes that LNG offers lower emissions and given the right circumstances, less fuel cost. [More]

MAN Diesel and Turbo said last week it will up-rate its popular four-stroke diesel GenSet L23/30H by almost 10% of current values (any more than that and the design would have to be submitted to classification societies for ‘Type Approval’ thus increasing costs and taking more time). Introducing the upgrade, MAN adds a footnote lauding this particular engine, the classic 23/30 model first introduced by subsidiary Holeby fifty or so years ago, as one of its ‘original workhorses’, mentioning too an increase in orders for the new version of this, the Mk.2 engine . On the understanding that a workhorse is something that does a large amount of dull or routine work faithfully —  providing a ship’s electrical power seems to fit  —   then the title is well-earned by the GenSet. What made it so popular? Genset Turbocharger Detail: Photo courtesy of MAN Electricity Generator Workhorse in the MakingUnsurprisingly it was the saving ... [More]

An MAN Diesel L27/38 propulsion package is specified for the new Danish trawler Cattleya, scheduled for delivery by Karstensens Shipyard, Denmark, in October 2012 . The new ship has an LOA of 228 ft (69.6 m) and a gross tonnage of 1,750. The propulsion system is designed to provide a maximum speed of 16 kn and to have a bollard pull of 68 tons. A 9L27/38 diesel engine rated at 3MW at 800 rpm powers a 13.8 ft (4.2 m) diameter CP propeller running in a nozzle. The design of the propeller takes into account most importantly, the vessel’s predicted operational power/speed/duration profiles. In addition, there is a bow mounted, retractable, electric powered 800 kW azimuth thruster. [More]

Increasing efficiency of modern turbochargers means that there is a portion of unused exhaust energy available. MAN Diesel & TurboTurbo Compound System Power Turbine and Generator (TCS-PTG) makes use of that excess exhaust energy. The system diverts excess exhaust, up to 13 per cent of exhaust gas flow, from the exhaust gas receiver to a power turbine that is inserted parallel to the turbochargers. The turbo performance and main engine output is not affected by the use of the PTG which can extract up to five per cent of additional power with a maximum of 4,700 kW, depending on the size of the main engine. The power turbine drives a generator via a reduction gearbox that produces electrical energy at 50 or 60 Hz . MAN Diesel & Turbo recommend the TCS-PTG system for marine applications with main engines above 20 MW and where the electrical power requirement in more than ten per cent of main engine power. [More]

Canadian shipping company Seaspan announced earlier this month, the signing of a contract for seven 10.000 TEU container ships, with an option for another 18 vessels, to be built by the Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group. This is the largest container vessel contract ever entered into in China. New features were developed by an international collaboration with Seaspan, the classification society DNV, MARIC and the shipyard group. Cargo capacity is increased by 10 per cent with an estimated fuel consumption reduction of 20 per cent. The ships are able to operate with a minimum amount of ballast water and emissions are reduced by approximately 20 per cent. [More]

Earlier this year, MAN Diesel & Turbo announced its plans for a program of ME-GI testing during 2011 at the company’s Diesel Research Centre in Copenhagen Denmark. The 4T50ME-X R&D research engine has been rebuilt as a 4T50ME-GI specification engine, to carry out ME-GI dual fuel testing on LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) and HDO.fuels. Operation on dual fuel requires the injection of both pilot fuel and gas fuel into the combustion chamber. Comparison of emission levels shows that there are benefits in the full range when using LPG as fuel: a 17 per cent reduction in CO2, 12 per cent reduction in NOx,, a 92 per cent reduction in SOx and a 37 per cent reduction in particulates. [More]

A testing programme with factory personnel commenced in January 20111 on a 6S46MC-C8 engine built by licensee Hitachi Zosen: the purpose was to commission the engine control system and optimize the integration of the SCR equipment. The engine develops about 7 MW at a speed of up to 129 rpm. The SCR removes NOx from the exhaust using urea as an activator. Further reduction of emissions in the exhaust system are achieved using Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) techniques. On completion of the tests, MAN Diesel & Turbo claimed a world first as the engine met all emission requirements laid down in the IMO Tier 3 regulations effective 2016. [More]

The HERCULES Project is a large scale cooperative project on marine engine R&D concerning sustainable and safe energy production from marine engines. It is supported by the European Commission and the Swiss Federal Government. Comprising a consortium of 43 partners, it is led by the major engine maker groups MAN Diesel & Turbo and Wärtsilä. The research program started up in 2004 covering the broad remit topics of higher efficiency, reduced emissions and increase reliability. So successful was the project that it was decided to continue the research program now known as Hercules-A with a new four year Hercules-B program to run in the period 2008 to 2011. It has been decided to continue the research cooperation by commissioning a part three program to be known as Hercules-C, planned to run over a three year period 2012 to 2015. [More]

After successful field tests conducted by Hapag-Lloyd and MAN Diesel & Turbo, Germanischer Lloyd (GL) classification society have issued type approval for the AMOT XTS-W+ Bearing Condition Monitor. The XTS-W+ system uses proximity sensors to measure the position deviation of, the crosshead bearing, crankpin bearing and main bearing. There are obvious savings of costly repairs by predicting if and when a repair is required. In addition, classification societies do not require mandatory open-up inspections which sometimes forms the source of other failures. [More]