New high-economy engines for panamax containerships and large tankers

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New high-economy engines for panamax containerships and large tankers

Aeberli, Kaspar

The new Wärtsilä family of 820 mm bore marine low-speed engines arose from a need to provide more modern engines in this size range to provide shipowners and shipbuilders with the benefits of recent developments in operating economy, manufacturing, electronically-controlled common-rail systems, etc., as well as increased unit power outputs.The paper presents the four new 820 mm bore low-speed marine engine types introduced by Wärtsilä Corporation for a wide range of applications in panamax containerships and large tankers, such as VLCCs (Very Large Crude Oil Carriers)and ULCCs (Ultra Large Crude Oil Carriers), as well as in very large ore carriers. They are proving to be highly successful in the market. When the second engine passed its factory acceptance test in June 2008, orders booked by Wärtsilä's licensed engine builders amounted to 129 engines with an aggregate power of 4,415 MW (6.0 million bhp).The engines have been designed according to the platform concept with two different strokes to suit the respective ship applications but sharing as many components as possible to give economies of scale in manufacture, storage and logistics. With a piston stroke of 2646 mm, the -C versions suit panamax container ships, vith powers between 21,720 and 54,240 kW, while the -T versions of 3375 mm stroke are ideally suited for VLCCs, ULCCs and VLOCs (Very Large Ore Carriers), with powers of 21,720 to 40,680 kW.The paper focuses on the RT-flex82C and RT-flex82T engines which incorporate the latest electronically-controlled common-rail systems. They are also built in RTA versions with mechanically-controlled camshaft systems.