As the latest step in Wärtsilä’s strategy


of broadening the group’s presence and production in the Chinese shipbuilding market,


the joint venture with Jiangsu


CuiXing is expected to start engine manufacture in early 2013. A new 210mm-bore, medium-speed


engine being developed by Shanghai Marine Diesel Research Institute(SMDERI), part of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), promises the early availability of an efficient prime mover suited to the future emission-compliant requirements of coastal and inland ships and fishing vessels in China. The engine also lends itself to auxiliary applications in large and internationally trading vessels. Te nascent CS21 type is expected to have


an output of around 220kW per cylinder, and will initially be released as an in-line series, in six- to nine-cylinder versions, covering the power range up to nearly 2000kW. Suitable for operation on both heavy fuels and distillate, the technicians have ensured IMO Tier II compliance as regards NOx emissions, and have the objective of building-in the potential for economical upgrading to IMO Tier III standard. Te CS21’s design features include an electronically controlled, common rail fuel injection system, compact dimensions, front end timing gear and modular cylinder units, which can be extracted as a single assembly with the piston and connecting rod.


Company


The associated CSIC Diesel Power is


expected to nominate


several licensees to produce the engine in comparatively large volumes. It is anticipated that the CS21 will form the basis for future developments, including larger-bore engines and a dual-fuel variant.


Ploughing funds into R&D Te competitive impulse for high levels of expenditure on research and development (R&D) by engine designers and makers has rarely been greater, ultimately driven by the intensifying economic and legislative challenges confronting ship owners and operators. With its attendant costs of resourcing, in terms of qualified personnel, equipment and facilities, technological research and product development must be sustained despite fluctuations in financial returns and market conditions from year to year. A prime example of the plough-back of


earnings into R&D is MAN’s establishment of a new engine emissions test centre at its Augsburg headquarters factory in Germany. Te Clean Exhaust Test Centre, known by its German acronym CentAur, will help the group complement the future development of its engine products with the requisite emission reduction systems. CentAur’s creation is relevant to the planned entry into force in 2015 of IMO’s Tier III limits, which


will call for NOx emissions in designated regions to be cut by 80% compared to levels prevailing in 2010. CentAur is currently linked to two


four-stroke medium-speed test engines, and started operations last year with a series of tests involving selective catalytic reduction (SCR) plant. Other emission abatement methods to be subsequently examined include exhaust gas recycling (EGR) and particle filtration. Pan-industry col laboration in


what is viewed as pre-competitive marine engine technology research reached a highpoint in the Hercules integrated project,


the second phase


of which was completed in December. The Hercules-Beta(B)


research


consortium, technologically led by MAN and Wärtsilä, has produced a raft of findings and results from more than three years’ studies, which are expected to contribute significantly to advances in both two-stroke low-speed and four-stroke medium-speed engine design and associated systems. EU research funding has covered


around half the budgetary costs of both the Hercules-A and -B phases, focused on the intertwined objectives of drastic exhaust emissions reduction and increased fuel efficiency. Through analytical investigations and prototype- based studies, including shipboard tests, valuable results have been produced under Hercules-B with regard to two-stage turbocharging, much of the work having entailed four-stroke, medium-speed machinery. A milestone was reached in April 2011, when a record peak firing pressure of 300bar was attained with the EVE medium-speed test engine, sited at Aalto University, Finland. The achievement set a new experimental basis for combustion engine performance development and emission reduction, under work conducted by a Finnish team comprising the university, Wärtsilä and piston maker Componenta Corporation. SBI


The C26:33 type, one of the new generation of Rolls-Royce Bergen lean- burn, medium-speed gas engines.


Ship & Boat International March/April 2012 37


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