Smarter boiler monitor launched

The Rivertrace OCD 50M boiler water monitor has been type approved by Germanischer Lloyd since 1998 to monitor oil breakthrough back into ships’ boilers. If coils are perforated for any reason, oil can re-enter the boiler water and, on cooling, block pipes or the boiler itself, causing a potential hazard and/or damage to equipment.

Boiler water composition requires regular monitoring to ensure that boiler pipework and heat exchangers do not become corroded or perforated. Rivertrace Engineeering (RTE) reckons to have supplied around 300 OCD 50M but, last year, the supplier identified a market requirement to monitor a range of other parameters, and not just oil content.

RTE has developed the Smart 50M which, as well as monitoring oil content can also monitor critical parameters such as PH levels, conductivity and levels of dissolved oxygen.

Chris Redstone, RTE Technical Services Manager said: “It became clear that there was a need for better accuracy and better solids discrimination. In monitoring parameters such as PH levels and dissolved oxygen levels, and limiting them, we can limit rust, for example. Again, we monitor conductivity to ensure that the boiler water viscosity, or rheology, is correct. Boiler water rheology is normally benign but as the function of most boilers is to heat water which then passes through heat exchangers, a damaged heat exchanger can allow oil to enter the boiler water, causing potentially catastrophic damage to the boiler.”

The new Smart 50M augments RTE’s smart bilge monitor and smart ODME products, which use the same infrared light scatter technology to monitor continuously in real time. By using the Smart 50M, the operator could easily adjust chemical dosing to the correct levels, thereby extending the operational life of the boiler and reducing the frequency of repairs and re-tubing, said Redstone. “If the tubes in a ship’s boiler split, they can cost up to $1 million to fix,” he said.

RTE intends the Smart 50M will come to replace its existing OCD 50M over time, with the initial launch of the new model set for SMM 2010, in Hamburg. The Smart 50M can be retrofitted and is appropriate for any ship with a boiler.

Other applications for the Smart 50M are main engine jacket cooling water monitoring.