The Wärtsilä low-speed marine engine programme is being developed to meet a diverse mix of requirements. Shipowners require highly reliable engines that are economical to run. Shipbuilders need engines that provide an ideal match to ships' propulsion requirements while having an economical first cost. Yet the same engine must also meet regulatory demands for low exhaust emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO(x)), sulphur oxides (SO(x)), etc. Soon carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will be in the focus, to meet the challenge of global warming. The paper reviews the latest developments in the low-speed engine programme to satisfy all these requirements. Among the larger engines we have introduced the RT-flex82C and RT-flex82T engines which take advantage of the platform concept, sharing components to give economies of scale in manufacture, storage and logistics. RT-flex82C and RT-flex82T engines were subjected to thorough testing in 2008 and 2009. Test results and the first service experience are presented in the paper. The programme is also being extended to lower powers with the RT-flex35 which is introduced in the paper. The paper describes the new features of this new engine type, such as a simplified common-rail concept to suit its small size. In addition to the new engines being added to the programme, certain existing engine types are being upgraded by increasing their BMEP (brake mean effective pressure) up to 21 bar. The increased cylinder powers are allowing greater flexibility in the matching of engines to ship propulsion requirements. Flexibility is a key attribute of the electronically controlled RT-flex common-rail engines. The commonrail system is already bringing benefits in areas such as fuel consumption, emissions control, engine setting, waste heat recovery potential and vibration control. The paper shows how the electronicallycontrolled common-rail system has clear advantages in emissions control, particularly with respect to the latest IMO Tier II regulations for NOx emissions. The RT-flex engines will meet the Tier II regulations with a smaller fuel consumption penalty than other engines. Work is also progressing on meeting the next IMO Tier III NOx limits, possibly without recourse to catalytic reactors. Investigations for compliance with IMO Tiers II and III, as well as other research tasks, are being carried out on the new RTX-4 research engine. The paper reports on these tests and special features of this engine.
The Wärtsilä low-speed engine programme for today's and future requirements
2010
16 Seiten, 22 Bilder, 4 Tabellen, 4 Quellen
Conference paper
Storage medium
English
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