Odfjell engineers express confidence in ME engine

Norwegian shipowner Odfjell is optimistic that the world?s first electronically controlled two-stroke diesel engine, installed onboard its 37,545 dwt chemical tanker Bow Cecil, is potentially an attractive and practical proposition. The ship?s crew, and in particular the engineers, have so far expressed their complete confidence in the mechanical electric (ME) engine management system and, apart from some minor initial teething problems, they say the ME has lived up to expectations. Odfjell says that it is too early to assess the impact on fuel economy or maintenance costs, but it entertains the hope that these benefits will be attractive enough to persuade it to install the ME engine in one of its current newbuildings. The 1998 built vessel was fitted with a standard 10,450kW MAN B&W 6L60MC engine but prepared for retrofitting with electronic control elements. Last year, Odfjell agreed to run trials of the computerised engine monitoring system. It had it installed onboard Bow Cecil in November 2000. The initial period of the trials involved switching between electronic and camshaft drive but, since March this year, the engine has been operating continuously in the electronic mode with the original camshaft deactivated. The ship?s chief engineer, Per Arild Bjorgen, told The Motor Ship that the engine has been running successfully on a variety of heavy fuel oils bunkered at various ports around the world. Even allowing for the varied quality of bunker fuels, it was found easy to tune the engine to meet the differing ignition properties thus optimising combustion performance, he said. The ME system is fitted on the engine?s upper gallery in parallel with the camshaft, facilitating full changeover from a conventional mechanical system to electric mode, or vice versa, within three hours. Class approval was obtained from DNV to run the engine in full electronic mode using a microprocessor-based system of fuel injection and valve actuation. The engine has recently completed 4,000 hours of shipboard trials. According to MAN B&W, the tests have proved highly satisfactory. The engine trial is set to continue for another 6,000 hours, but the engine manufacturer is already confident enough in the success of the tests that it has recently cleared the ME concept for sale as an alternative in its programme of MC/MC-C engines. It says the benefits of the ME engines are several including multiple low emission modes, increased engine reliability and environmental performance. Although initially marketed for 600mm-bore sizes upwards, MAN B&W confirms the ME technology can be applied to smaller bore sizes. Concordia Maritime?s pair of V-Max crude carriers delivered this year has twin 7S60MC-C engines incorporating certain elements that would facilitate a switchover to electronic mode. n