Off-Highway applications such as locomotives, mining trucks, inland waterway carriers, ferries, OSVs/PSVs or tug-boats are operated several thousand hours each year and require robust and cost efficient internal combustion engines. Today most of these applications are powered by diesel engines. But tightened emission regulations and limited oil reserves lead to more complex engines and higher costs. This leads to the question: are compressed (CNG) or liquefied (LNG) natural gas an alternative to diesel fuel? Looking at availability, infrastructure, costs and engine-outemissions good arguments can be found to switch from Diesel to Gas in the future. The motivation is clear but the hurdles are high: availability of gas equipment (fuelling equipment, storage-tanks, engines), operational experience with gas (fuelling, servicing) or clear regulations. Within this paper one part of a future towards gas will be introduced: a high-speed gas engine based on a well proven MTU's series 4000 Diesel engine. It will be explained why an Otto-Gas engine is the most promising concept for marine applications in particular. Design details on the engine and gas supply system will be presented and explained. Results will show that gas engines can perform like diesel engines by lowering the emissions and costs. Although the path is long, gas engines will meet the challenging requirements of industrial applications once they are introduced to the market. Within the scope of the present paper a S4000 gas engine for mobile applications like marine commercial was introduced. It was shown that the Otto-Gas concept meets best requirements with regard to low complexity, low emissions, high efficiency and a dynamic engine performance known from diesel engines. The paper further focused on the design of the gas-injection system. The gas is injected by a multipoint injection system. The design meets the very tough safety requirements drafted by the IMO. It was shown by using CFD simulations and single cylinder test results that the air/fuel mixing plays an important role to obtain a robust combustion process.
An alternative to diesel engines: gas fuelled engines for off-highway applications
2013
16 Seiten, 12 Bilder, 2 Tabellen
Conference paper
Storage medium
English
An alternative to diesel engines: gas fuelled engines for off-highway applications
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