ABB monitoring

ABB will this month unveil a system for continuous monitoring of the performance of large diesel engines, based on measuring cylinder pressure and flywheel angle for each engine cycle. The Cylmate system features a pressure transducer on each cylinder and an angle transducer at the flywheel, which uses weak magnetic fields for high measurement accuracy and repeatability independent of temperature, measuring distance and rotation speed. All measured data within each engine working cycle is fed into a mathematical model of the particular engine to compute the TDC correction angle and piston position for each cylinder. The cylinder pressure process is evaluated and checked against alarm conditions, and evaluated data and events are communicated via Ethernet LAN and I/O signal interface. The system will be available in stand-alone or integrated versions for single-or multi-engine arrangements. ABB claims that the quality of the data is sufficient to ensure significant benefits from improved reliability and lower running costs.