HANSA 10-2020

Schiffstechnik | Ship Technology
© OMT Torino
One topic of discussion:
Smart Injectors
Meccaniche Torino described their new
smart injectors, enabling performance
monitoring and condition-based maintenance.
A piezo-electric sensor inside the
smart injector collects time series of control-volume
pressure during each injection,
a thermocouple and a current sensor
record injector temperature and injector
driving current.
An electronic card mounted to the injector
head performs the conditioning
and digitalisation of the acquired signals
and transmits them via a bus driven
by a hub, which also provides CAN
and Ethernet interfaces for the connection
to the control unit for data processing.
The raw data is then processed via
a mix of traditional signal processing
and machine learning techniques, creating
»Value Added Data, VAD«. This
describes the injector performance for
Bert Buchholz from University of Rostock
prepared a special issue of the conference
© Payer
each injection cycle, such as instant control-valve
opening, injection start/end
or opening/closing velocity of the nozzle
needle. VAD are the basis for estimating
Key Performance Indicators for
each injector and the whole injection
system. They are displayed to the engine-room
crew via a web-based dashboard
and transmitted to a cloud-based
storage for further analysis at OMT
headquarters. The actual performance
can be compared with the expected behaviour
of the injector showing anomalies
or long-term deviations.
Exhaust gas
Daniel Peitz from Hug engineering, together
with VTT Finland described a
development project to enable a medium
speed diesel engine to run in compliance
with EU Stage V emission limits, outperforming
US EPA Tier 4 final marine requirements,
leading to an IMO ultra-low
emission vessel notation. A 2 MW Anglo
Belgian Corporation ABC DZC engine
on a testbed is combined with a modular
Hug exhaust gas aftertreatment system
including a diesel particulate filter
with active regeneration and a selective
catalytic reduction system with the possibility
to also include an oxidation catalyst.
Systematic variations of the engine
with this aftertreatment-setup for different
operation modes led to a robust concept
to achieve emissions well below EU
Stage V limits.
Apart from NO x which is a function of
the dosed urea solution, the cycle averaged
emissions, considering ageing and
regeneration factors, are only 10-36% of
the respective threshold values. Compliance
of a medium speed engine with the
stringent EU Stage V emission limits was
shown here for the first time.
Conversion
The three year experience with the »Wes
Amelie«, a 1,036 TEU container feeder
vessel, converted to LNG-operation,
were described by Rainer Runde from
Wessels Reeredei and Christian Hoepfner
from Wessels Marine. An isolated
9% nickel LNG-Tank was placed in void
spaces in the fore-ship. The engines on
board from Caterpillar/MAK and MAN
were converted to LNG operation without
problems. The power of the main engine
was reduced from 9,000 to 7,800KW,
which was still enough to reach the service
speed of 17 kn. Due to the higher energy
content of LNG and other positive factors
the annual fuel cost for the converted ship
turned out to be about 30% less compared
to diesel operation. The ecological effect of
the conversion is considerable: Nox -85%,
Sox -95%, PM -87%, CO2 -33%. The effective
reduction of the greenhouse effect is
however reduced only by 5% due to Methane-slip.
A methane catalyser could help
here, once it is available.
»Dare you…?« (Greta), RGMT 2020 was
all about what the maritime industry can
do and what it must do to reduce its footprint.
Every sector has to do what is possible.
We have to find the rational balance
between minimisation of emissions and
economic consequences.
RGMT 2020 has shown again, mankind
is inventive. Inventiveness and innovation,
however, need freedom. We cannot blindly
phase out fossile fuels, for instance. Possibly
the best solution in the future might
include fossile fuels, probably optimally
combined with other fuels and with effective
aftertreatment. The future is hard to
predict. Not only smart injection, rather
complete smart propulsion systems with
self-learning engines will bring many new
opportunities. We shall see.
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HANSA – International Maritime Journal 10 | 2020
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