M AN B&W B&W moves moves towards towards Intelligent Cylinder Lubrication
On-line On-line cylinder cylinder process process monitoring monitoring - via via feedback signals signals of lubricant usage usage and fuel sulphur content to MAN B&W's electronic Alpha Lubricator system - ensures considerable cylinder oil savings along along with controllabl controllable e wea wearr rates, rates, scuffscuffing control control and and longer longer interva intervals ls between between engine overhauls.
2 April 2002
Opera Operation tional alcondi condition tions s beyond beyond the thenor normal mal are unavoidable, unavoidable, and many shipowners simply over-lubricate their engines under the fals false e assu assumpti mption on tha thatt the they y will will thu thus s alalways wa ys be on the the safe safe side side.. Ho Howe weve ver, r, ove overlubrication is not only expensive - it may even be counterproductive in promoting scuffing scuffing through excessive excessive carbon deposits and/or " bore-polished" bore-polished" running running sur-
S l e u F
A wear study has proved proved t hat the optimal basic setting of cylinder lubricators should should be proportion proportional al to the engine load and the fuel sulphur content. Feed rate control proportional to engine engine load is alre already ady one of two standard options of the Alpha Lubricator (the other is to control lubrication in proportion to the mean effective effective pressure). Lubrica Lubricator tor control control in rela relation tion to the fue fuell oil sulphur content may either be carried ried out automaticall automatically, y, using a fee feeddforwa forward rd signa signall from from thefuel thefuel inle inlett line line,, or manually, based on the sulphur content from the bunker receipt or fuel oil analysis analysis d ata.
BN Fuel pump
faces faces.. In add additi ition, on, exce excess ssiv ive e lube lube oil oil adds adds to the amount of visible smoke.
e b u L
Alpha lube
Basic dosage (g/bhph)
a h U p C l A M
MPX r s t s e u e c p o r m P o c
FE FE FE BN
Scav. box drain oil
The Intelligen Intelligentt Cylinder Cylinder Lubrication concept
Sulphur (%)
Lubricating oil basic dosage based on fuel sulphur content
High BN
Low BN 1 r e d n i l y C
2 r e d n i l y C
3 r e d n i l y C
4 r e d n i l y C
Mixing unit The mixing of lubricating oil with different BN values.
The properties of cylinder oil scraped from the cylinder liner wall reflect the chemical environment in the cylinder as well as the physical condition of rings and liner; and there is a direct relation lationshi ship p between between someof the keyparameters in the scrape-down oil and the actual actual cylinde cylinderr condition condition.. A lubrica lubrica-tion algori algorithm thm - based based on scrape-down scrape-down oil analysis data, cylinder oil dosage, engine load and cylinder wear rate can thus be created. created. Automatic optimisation of lube oil dosage and and cylinder cylinder lubrication lubrication efficien efficiency cy becomes a reality by on-line monitoring of the scrape scrape-down -down oilcompositio oilcomposition n from from each cylinder, with the system feeding the resu results lts into into a computer computer,, togethe togetherr with the above algorithm, and sending signals to each Alpha Lubricator.
A reduct reductio ion n in the feed feed rate rate can can reduce reduce the BN alkalinity throughput, thereby limiting limiting the amount amount of neu neutrali tralisati sation on agent age nt supplied supplied to t he cylinder cylinder (but only to the minimal feed rate necessary for lubrication). On-line control of the BN at a fixed fixed fee feed d rate rate will will thus provide provide furfurther optimising optimising possibili possibilities ties through through the mixing of lube oils of d ifferent ifferent BNs in an Inte Intellig lligent ent Cylinder Cylinder Lubrication concept, the first stage of which started serv service ice testing testing Decembe Decemberr 2001 exploiting new MAN B&W Diesel system patents.
MAN B&W Diesel A/S Information Dept. Copenhagen
Corrosive wear control can be based on either either feed rate rate control or control of the cylinde cylinderr lubeoil base base number number (BN). BN).
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