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German Weisser
Manager Engine Performance
Wärtsilä Switzerland Ltd, Winterthur
Delta Tuning has been introduced in Sulzer RT-flex common-rail engines to provide lower fuel consumption
in the effective operating load range. It is offered as an alternative to the original tuning thereby allowing ship
owners and operators to choose the BSFC (brake specific fuel consumption) curve which best suits their ship’s
operating pattern.
This is made possible by the tremendous flexibility in engine settings provided by the computer-controlled
common-rail systems of Sulzer RT-flex engines.
As the flexibility of the RT-flex common-rail system is concept led to the layout fields which we have used for
explored in Sulzer low-speed engines, a new benefit has some years.
been developed in terms of extending the choice in fuel It gave a choice but there were penalties in reduced
consumption through Delta Tuning. engine power or alternatively a need for ‘more engine’ in
Choice in fuel consumption is not completely new. terms of more cylinders or larger cylinder bore for the
Since about 1980, Sulzer low-speed engines have been same power.
offered at ratings lower than the maximum continuous Now, with the Sulzer RT-flex common-rail engines, we
rating (now designated the R1 point) with benefits in are at the beginning of a new era in engine technology.
lower fuel consumption. There was, of course, also the This is encouraging new ways of thinking thereby leading
benefit of improved propulsive efficiency through the to new concepts.
possibility of reduced propeller rotational speeds. This Whereas traditional camshaft-controlled engines were
∆BSFC, g/kWh
6 RTA engines
RT-flex engines:
4 Fig. 3: The new alternative
Standard tuning
2 BSFC curve for Sulzer
Delta Tuning
RT-flex58T-B engines
0 170 g/kWh given by Delta Tuning
compared with the original
-2
BSFC curves. All curves
-4 shown are for engines
complying with the IMO
-6 NOX regulation.
50% 75% 100% [04#103]
Load
severely restricted by the fixed timing given mechanically of hardware are involved, the development only requires
by the cams, the change to electronically-controlled changes in the RT-flex software to adjust the respective
common-rail systems allows the timing, rate and pressure engine setting parameters.
of fuel injection and the exhaust valve operation to be fully At the first stage of development of RT-flex engines, the
controllable. This flexibility allows patterns of operation main objective has been to obtain the same performance
which cannot be achieved by purely mechanical systems. standards as with the mechanical-camshaft RTA-type
Rather than ‘electronically controlled’, it would be engines, particularly with respect to power, speed, fuel
more accurate to describe Sulzer RT-flex engines as being consumption, exhaust emissions, cylinder pressures, etc.
computer controlled. This is because in the RT-flex It must be pointed out that RTA engines have always
system, engine functions are fully programmable, perhaps been highly competitive in fuel consumption right across
limited only by the designers’ imagination and the laws the load range owing to the use of variable injection
of nature. The challenge is to use this freedom to create timing (VIT) and, in the case of the RTA84T engines
practical benefits for engine users. since 1991, also of variable exhaust valve closing (VEC)
The first tangible benefits of the extreme flexibility which further reduces the part-load BSFC. These benefits
in engine setting possible with the RT-flex computer- have already been carried over to the computer-controlled
controlled common-rail system are the engines’ greatly common-rail systems of the RT-flex engines.
improved performance in smokeless operation at all loads, However, as combustion in the part-load range is better
and its capability of running at very low speeds. Both have in RT-flex engines than with RTA engines, there is a quasi
been reported in previous articles in “Marine News”. natural benefit in fuel consumption for RT-flex engines at
lower loads. This slightly lower BSFC at part load is the
Reduced BSFC
result of the fuel injection pressure being kept higher at
Now the flexibility of the RT-flex system has been those loads with the common-rail injection system.
utilised to reduce fuel consumption in the effective The new step is to introduce a choice of fuel
operating range of most engines. At 75 per cent load, the consumption curve. Two fuel consumption curves are now
fuel saving can be up to 2 g/kWh depending upon the available as standard for RT-flex engines: the original one
engine model and the rating point selected. No changes as outlined above and the new alternative, being a lower