Overall arrangement

Description of the salient parts

Modern engines designed for increasing power to weight ratios are reliant on not only stronger materials
but also on careful design. Each component design must not only be optimised for its own purpose, but
also in some cases, to provide strength to the overall structure.
An example of this is how the bedplate and A-frame combine to create a strong rigid box able
to resist the forces of combustion and maintain essential alignment for the crankshaft and over moving
parts.
The entablature not only supports the cylinder liner and head it also creates areas for cooling
water and scavenging air.
abrication techni!ues are extensively used simplifying castings and speeding assembly times
by reducing the number of fastening."n order to obtain ideal strength transfer between components the
fastenings must have intermit contact with the surfaces of the components and hence fitted bolts are
used.
#ylinder blocks must be cast, due to the difficulties in casting large components generally
single cylinder blocks are created $oined to each other and to a common fabricated A-frame%bedplate box.
Bedplate
The bedplate acts as the main strength member, maintains correct alignment and supports the weight of
the components. it must be capable of withstanding the fluctuating forces created during operation and
transmit them to the ships structure.
"n addition it may also collect lubricating oil.
"n slow speed engine design, it consists of a deep longitudinal box section with stiffening in
the form of members and webs.
Transverse members are fitted between each throw of the crankshaft. These support the main
bearing saddles and Tie -rod connection. They are attached to the structure by substantial butt welds.
To reduce the engine height the sump of the bedplate may be sunken allowing it to fitted into
a recess in the ships structure.
&late and weld preparation is re!uired with welds of the double butt type if possible. 'egular
internal inspection of the parts especially the transverse girder is re!uired for fatigue cracking. Tie bolts
should be checked for tighteness.
Box girders-A box girder is stronger and more rigid then " or ( section girder of the same c.s.a.
rom the simple beam bending e!uation we have)
M %" * s %y * E%'
M*+ending moment
I*,nd moment of area of the cross section
s *-tress
y*distance from the axis of bending to the outer face
E* modulus of elasticity
R-radius of curvature of the bending.
This can be arranged into
s = (M/I) . y
"t can be seen that for the same bending moment on a symmetrical shape of same si.e, the
stress is reduced on the increasing ,nd moment of area. The second moment of area increase with
moving of material away from the axis of bending towards the extremes of the section.
+ecause of this the commonest way of construction a fabricated bedplate is by creating two
box section girders and tie them using transverse girders.
The advent of the small bore slow speed has seen the use of single side bedplates. A box
section is then created by using a box section crankcase structure rather than the more traditional A-
frame.This has the advantages of reducing width as well as weight and increasing the amount of
fabrication so reducing assembly times.
/ue to the weight penalty, the use of cast iron is generally limited to smaller units where
fabrication becomes impractical. (owever, cast iron has internal resilience allowing it to dampen down
vibrations, this has led to its usage on some medium speed installations, especially passenger carriers,
where noise and vibration suppression is important. .
The most highly loaded pat of a bedplate is the transverse girder. #lassification societies
re!uire that residual stress is removed after construction.
The transverse girder acts as a simple beam with the forces of combustion acting on the
piston passing down through the bearing. The forces acting on the head are passed through the Tie rods.
"t can be seen that to reduce the bending moment the tie rods have to be brought closer to
the crankshaft. The limit to this is the securing arrangement re!uired for the main bearing keep. 0ne
method is to use two instead of one bolts which can be made of smaller diameter. -ul.er use an
alternative and very successful method in the form of $acking bolts. These $ack against the bottom of the
A-frame.
.
Superlong stokes
The increasing stroke to bore ratio has led to several problems not least of which is cylinder lubrication,
thermal gradients over stroke, starting etc. " addition there is a necessity to dampen rotational vibrations
over the engine height by means of hydraulic stays attached to the ships structure. These reduce the
movement of the engine without allowing excessive vibration to be transmitted to the hull.
Camshaftless engines
The camshaftless two stroke crosshead engine has two main advantages)
irstly it simplifies engine design in particular negating the need for chain or gear driven camshafts. This
allows a net reduction in weight, simplifies engine erection and removes some physical constraints for
future engine design.
-econdly, it allows for finite control of parameters such as fuel delivery volume and timing, and exhaust
valve opening and closing times.
Traditionally fuel, exhaust valve opening, starting air and cylinder lube oil delivery are all
controlled by camshaft lobe design. "t is possible now to control these using high reliability solenoid
valves. This method is used on the sul.er 'T-flex engine
uel control
uel is delivered to a common rail by a high efficiency fuel pump operated by a multilobe cam
driven off the main engine crankshaft.
A control unit activates electric solenoid valves to deliver fuel to the appropriate cylinder
in$ectors.
This allows control of fuel volume, fuel delivery progression 1 that is the shape of fuel
delivery- e.g slow than fast2 and precise timing. "t means that fuel ignition !uality and condition at
delivery can be taken into account.
Exhaust valves
Exhaust valves are operated in the normal way via hydraulic pushrods. (owever hydraulic oil delivery is
not by individual pump but by common rail supplied by a high capacity, high pressure servo pump. The
engine management control unit operates the exhaust valves by energising the appropriate solenoid
valve. 0ther starting air valves and cylinder lube oil are all similarly controlled by the engine management
control unit via solenoid valves
Modern developments
The modern trend has followed the smaler and lighter rule with an ever increaseing power to weight ratio.
"n addition to this simplified maintenance and production proceddures have been incorporated.
"ntelligent engines without camshafts are being introduced enabling increased efficiency with
reduced fuel !uality. "ntelligent engines also allow for increased efficiency when running at part load.
Liners
Modern requirements for the design and contruction of a cylinder liner include;
Material with sufficient hard phase and ductility
Smooth surface finish
ull honing of running surface
!ore cooling of liner and components surrounding com"ustion chanm"er# the insertion of
insulating tu"es into the "ore cooling holes of liners is sometimes necessary to pre$ent
undercooling and allow a standard liner to "e used with different ratings.
%ritical profiling of liner wall thic&ness to sta"ilise temperatures and pre$ent corosion attac&
Multi#le$el cylinder lu"rication with $aria"le speed (load dependant) pumps
'fficient water remo$al from sca$enge air
(istons
(igh topland 1 the 3st piston ring is positioned will below the upper surface of the piston2 with asociated
reduced ring heat load has given better ring pack performance by improving working conditions for the
cylinder lube oil. The disadvantage of this system is that a coke build up can occur aboth the piston which
leads to 4bore polishing4. This polishing reduces the ability of the cylinder lube oil to 4key4 into the liner
therefore increased cylinder lube oil consumption%increased liner wear can result. To combat this piston
cleaning rings are incorporated into the liner. These slightly reduce the bore removing the depoisits.
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