Alpha Adaptive Cylinder-oil Control Alpha ACC

Introduction
The Alpha Lubricator System, Fig. 1, available for all MAN B&W MC/MC-C two-stroke engines, has an algorithm controlling cylinder oil dosage proportional to the sulphur content in the fuel. This algorithm is referred to as Alpha Adaptive Cylinder-oil Control (Alpha ACC). To explore the potential savings with Alpha ACC, a large scale testing programme is in progress on MAN B&W MC/MC-C type engines in service for a number of owners. The aim of the testing programme is to determine the level of savings in cylinder oil consumption when taking advantage of the electronically controlled Alpha Lubricator System. An added benefit is that such savings in cylinder oil consumption will reduce the environmental impact from operating vessels with the Alpha Lubricator System. Also more uniform and optimal cylinder liner wear rates can be expected.

The testing programme involves large bore engines for both container vessels (K-MC/MC-C) and for VLCC propulsion (S-MC/MC-C), as well as small and medium bore MC/MC-C engines. In the following, the very promising preliminary results from the testing programme will be described and evaluated.

Working Principle
The principle of the Alpha ACC appears from Fig. 2. The cylinder oil amount is controlled such that it is proportional to the amount of sulphur entering the cylinder with the fuel. The following two criteria determine the control:
The cylinder oil dosage shall be pro-

Cylinder oil amount

portional to the sulphur percentage in the fuel

The cylinder oil dosage shall be pro-

portional to the engine load (i.e. the amount of fuel entering the cylinders). The implementation of the above two criteria will lead to an optimal cylinder oil dosage, proportional to the amount of sulphur entering the cylinders. The above principle is founded on the observation that the main part of the cylinder liner wear is of a corrosive nature, and the amount of neutralizing alkalinic components needed in the cylinder should therefore be proportional to the amount of sulphur (generating sulphurous acids) entering the cylinders. A minimum cylinder oil dosage is set in order to account for other duties of the cylinder oil (securing sufficient oil film, detergency, etc.). Fig. 3 shows control of cylinder oil dosage proportional to the sulphur percentage in the fuel. A minimum dosage

Sulphur amount

Fig. 2: Cylinder oil amount proportional to sulphur amount entering the cylinders (the basic principle of Alpha ACC)

Cylinder oil dosage (g/bhph) 1.25 1 0.75 0.5 0.25 0 0 1 2 4 5 6 Sulphur %

Fig. 1: Alpha Lubricator fitted on a 12K98MC-C main diesel engine

Fig. 3: Cylinder oil dosage proportional to sulphur percentage in the fuel

of 0.5 g/bhph is indicated. This minimum value is preliminary and, given the efficient lubrication achievable with the Alpha Lubricator System, we expect to be able to further reduce this minimum value in the future. The control according to Fig. 3 is based on a standard TBN 70-80 cylinder oil. For operation in long periods with fuels with a sulphur content below 1%, we recommend changing to a cylinder oil with a lower TBN (i.e. TBN 40-50 cylinder oils). The environmental impact is clearly demonstrated: Owners who wish to operate on green fuel (low-sulphur fuel) will, at the same time, have the possibility to operate with green cylinder lubrication. Fig. 4 describes the control of the cylinder oil dosage proportional to the engine load, together with rpm-proportional and mep-proportional lubrication. At part load, load-proportional cylinder oil dosage will provide large cost savings and also reduce the environmental impact from excessive lubrication. Below

25% load, the load-proportional lubrication is stopped, and rpm-proportional lubrication takes over, as seen in Fig. 4. The above described Alpha ACC is implemented with the so-called Sulphur Algorithm, see Fig. 5, in the Alpha Lubricator System. In the present version of the Alpha Lubricator System, the crew onboard the vessel inputs the so-called HMI-setting based on the sulphur percentage of the fuel used and a conversion table, see Fig. 5. This is done by one input on the HMI-panel of the Alpha Lubricator System each time the fuel specification is changed.

Since then the vessel has been operating with cylinder oil dosage control according to Figs. 3 and 4 (the Sulphur Algorithm). The results from the first five months of operation is seen in Fig. 6. The uppermost part of Fig. 6 shows the load variation and the sulphur content in the fuel. Both the load variation and the variation in sulphur content are typical for this kind of vessel. The middle diagram in Fig. 6 shows the total amount of sulphur entering the cylinders with the fuel. On the lower part of Fig. 6, four curves are shown for comparison:
Typical feed rate (mechanical lubricator),

1.2 g/bhph, rpm-proportional control

Economic and Environmental Advantages

In order to illustrate the advantages of Alpha ACC, we have chosen, as an example, a vessel from the fleet involved in the testing programme. The vessel is a 6,800 teu container ship equipped with a 12K90MC engine. The Alpha ACC was implemented on this vessel in early December 2001.
0 Engine speed 0 Fuel index 0 Oil pressure

Basic feed rate (mechanical lubricator),

0.9 g/bhph, rpm-proportional control

Basic feed rate (Alpha Lubricator System),

0.8 g/bhph, mep-proportional control

Alpha ACC (Sulphur Algorithm),

0.25 g/bhph/S%.

Part load dosage (% of full load dosage) 100 Typical case: 74,640 bhp x 24h, x 1.2g/bhph x 0.91 = 1956 kg/24h Alpha ACC: 74,640 bhp x 24h x 0.75g/bhph x 0.75 = 1008 kg/24h

100%

Sulphur Svovl % % % 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 5

100%

80

100%

60

rpm % bar

deg

40

Example,12K90MC: Load (%): 75 S %: 3.0

min

Oil pressure low Index failure Mark/trig failure Feedback failure Common alarm

20 Load (%) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

LAMPTEST

ESC

ENTER

R rpm proportional (%) Mmep proportional (%) Load proportional (%)

PUMP 1 PUMP 2 PRELUB

Specific dosage g/bhph 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.53 0.55 0.58 0.60 0.63 0.65 0.68 0.70 0.73 0.75 0.78 0.80 0.83 0.85 0.88 0.90 0.93 0.95 0.98 1.00 1.03 1.05 1.08 1.10 1.13 1.15 1.18 1.20 1.23 1.25

HMI setting 77 77 77 77 77 77 77 77 77 77 77 81 85 88 92 96 100 104 108 112 115 119 123 127 131 135 138 142 146 150 154 158 162 165 169 173 177 181 185 188 192

Fig. 4: Load-dependency of cylinder oil dosage. Alpha ACC uses load-proportional cylinder oil dosage 2

Fig. 5: The Sulphur Algorithm in the Alpha Lubricator System

Load (%) 100 80 60 40 Sulphur (kg/24h) 5,000 3,000 1,000 Daily consumption (litre/24h) 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500
0

Load

Sulphur

Sulphur % 3,1 2,7 2,3 1,9 1,5

From detailed wear-study of 12K90MC engine equipped with mechanical lubricator Liner wear (mm)

film
1.6 1.2 Oil 0.8 0.4 0 0 1,000

in
0.48 0.48 0.21

0.04

0.06

0.00

0.00 mm/1000h

0.13

3,000

5,000

7,000

9,000 11,000 Running hours

1 2 3 4

Liner wear (mm/1000h)* 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 1,000 3,000 5,000 7,000 9,000 11,000 Running hours

24/04-02 25/12-01 03/02-02 15/03-02 04/04-02 05/12-01 14/01-02 23/02-02

1- Typical feed-rate (mechanical lubricator), 1.2 g/bhph, rpm-control 2 - Basic feed-rate (mechanical lubricator), 0.9 g/bhph, rpm-control 3 - Basic feed-rate (Alpha lubricator system), 0.8 g/bhph, mep-control 4 - Alpha ACC: 0.25 g/bhph/S%.

*: Judgement made based on Fe-content in drain oil samples

Fig. 6: Typical operating profile for a large container vessel equipped with 12K90MC

Fig. 8: Detailed wear study on a 12K90MC equipped with mechanical lubricators

Yearly cylinder oil expense (USD) 700,000 600,000 500,000 400,000 300,000 200,000 100,000 0 Alpha ACC Typical feed-rate Basic feed-rate Basic feed-rate (mechanical (Alpha lubricator) (Alpha lubricator) (mechanical lubricator) lubricator) 0.8 g/bhph, 0.25 g/bhph/S%, 0.9 g/bhph, 1.2 g/bhph, mep-control rpm-control rpm-control Cylinder oil price: 1 USD/kg Yearly operating hours: 7,100

Liner wear (mm/1000h) 1 Mechanical lubricator, rpm-proportional control 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2
Alpha adaptive control

0 0 1,000 3,000 5,000 7,000 9,000 11,000 Running hours

Fig. 7: Yearly cylinder oil expenses with various cylinder lubrication principles

Fig. 9: Cylinder liner wear, comparison between wear with traditional lubrication and Alpha ACC

6,800 TEU, 12K90MC, Alpha ACC, cylinder liner wear Absolute max wear (mm) 0.50 0.45 Oil film pressure 0.40 areas of the 0.35 0.30 0.25 0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0.00 0 1,000 3,000 5,000 7,000 Running hours 9,000 11,000 in the Cyl 1 Cyl 2 high Cyl 3 Cyl 10 Cyl 11 Cyl 12 0.05 mm/1000h Alpha ACC introduced

Engine type : Layout point: SMCR Load point NCR = 90,0% of SMCR Fuel oil sulphur content Cylinder lubricating oil consumption with mechanical lubricators Cylinder lubricating oil consumption with Alpha lubricators Running hours per year Lubricating oil price Lub. oil consumption with mechanical lubricators Lub. oil consumption with Alpha lubricators Saving in cylinder lub. oil consumption Saving in cylinder lub. oil consumption Saving in USD Exchange rate Price for Alpha lubricator system Price for supervision during installation Price for fitters assistance Total price for Alpha lubricator system Total price for Alpha lubricator system Pay backtime

6S70MC 22,920 bhp 20,628 bhp 3% 1.20 g/bhph 0.75 g/bhph 7,000 hours 100 Cent/litre 186 ton 108 ton 78 ton 84,333 litres 84,333 USD 7.55 DKK/USD 641,400 DKK 89,000 DKK 130,000 DKK 860,400 DKK 113,960 USD 1.35 Years

Fig. 10: Cylinder liner wear before and after introduction of Alpha ACC

As can be seen, very significant savings on the daily consumption of cylinder oil were achieved with the Alpha ACC during the five-month period. These savings will have very significant economic implications, see Fig. 7, with annual savings of 340,000 USD on cylinder oil. In addition, environmental impact in this case goes hand in hand with the economic advantages. Naturally, the above savings on cylinder oil must be obtained while maintaining acceptable cylinder liner wear figures. Previous studies into the nature of cylinder liner wear on a similar 12K90MC engine have shown that the major part of liner wear takes place during short intervals where a low cylinder oil feed rate (due to high load) and a high sulphur percentage are combined. Fig. 8 shows the results registered on a 12K90MC engine with mechanical lubricator (0.65 g/bhph) with rpm-proportional control. These results were revealed through very frequent cylinder liner wear measurements and even more frequent drain oil sample analyses. Naturally, the wear- peaks can be avoided by increasing the cylinder oil dosage. However, such a simple increase will increase the expenses on

Fig. 11: Retrofit of Alpha Lubricator System with Alpha ACC on 6S70MC

cylinder oil dramatically and, furthermore, it will increase the risk of scuffing during periods of operating at part load and/or with low-sulphur fuel (bore polish). With Alpha ACC, such risks are eliminated, and it is expected that cylinder liner wear will become stable and predictable over time and low on average, Fig. 9. The first cylinder wear measurements taken on the 12K90MC equipped with Alpha ACC indicate that liner wear is very low, even with the very low cylinder oil consumption, Fig. 10.

Conclusion
Alpha ACC is currently being tested in a large-scale in-service test on a wide range of different MC/MC-C engines. The preliminary test results are very promising with respect to savings on cylinder oil, impact on, in particular, particle emissions and combustion chamber wear figures. Alpha ACC can be implemented for all MC/MC-C engines equipped with the Alpha Lubricator System. As a retrofit on vessels in service, the Alpha Lubricator System with Alpha ACC will have a payback period of less than two years on most types of MC/MC-C engines. An example is given in Fig.11. MAN B&W Diesel A/S Teglholmsgade 41 DK-2450 Copenhagen SV, Denmark Telephone: +45 33 85 11 00 Telex: 16592 manbw dk Telefax: +45 33 85 10 30 manbw@manbw.dk www.manbw.com

Copyright MAN B&W Diesel A/S Reproduction permitted provided source is given. MAN B&W Diesel A/S Reg. No: 39 66 13 14 September 2002 P.395-02.09