gCaptain.com

No this isn’t going to be a post about china’s new submarines…. instead we look at designing ships to be quiet for more relaxing purposes.

Eurodam News, Holland America’s newbuild blog, shares the secret;

When Zuiderdam, the first Vista-class ship, entered service, it quickly became evident that the aft part of the main restaurant had higher-than-usual noise and vibration levels. On all Holland America ships the aft section of the main restaurant is located above the propellers, but on Vista-class ships the main restaurant was located three decks lower and therefore is closer to the propellers.

Fincantieri engaged Danish consulting company Odegaard & Danneskiold-Samsoe to work with the shipyard’s noise and vibration department to develop a solution. They hit on the idea of installing an air-injection system that would create a cushion of air bubbles between the propellers and the hull to absorb some of the noise frequencies that would otherwise be transferred directly to the hull. A similar system had been installed on private yachts before, but the technology had never been tried on a large cruise vessel.

For the rest of the article click HERE.

This article was originally posted in October 2007

Never Sea Land brings us the largest engine ever built:

The Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C turbocharged two-stroke diesel engine is the most powerful and most efficient prime-mover in the world today. The Aioi Works of Japan’s Diesel United, Ltd built the first engines and is where some of these pictures were taken.

It is available in 6 through 14 cylinder versions, all are inline engines. These engines were designed primarily for very large container ships. Ship owners like a single engine/single propeller design and the new generation of larger container ships needed a bigger engine to propel them.

The cylinder bore is just under 38″ and the stroke is just over 98″.

The engine weighs in at 2,300 tons and is capable of delivering 109,000 horsepower.

The largest piston in the world!

More Enormous Piston Rods.

“DU-Sulzer 12RT A96C” translated to “One large MFD”

How it works. [Continue Reading →]

Starting a Wärtsilä 6 L 64… for a truly amazing engine read our post: The Wartsila-Sulzer Super Engine

In the latest criminal proceedings related to Marine Pollution and the use of “Magic Pipes” the Chief Engineer aboard an American-flagged car-carrier ship was convicted of one count of conspiracy and two counts of making false statements. Marine Link has the report:

At trial, it was proven that the M/V Tanabata had a removable bypass pipe or “magic pipe” that was used to discharge oily waste without the use of an oily-water separator, a required pollution control devise. The discharges were, however, falsely recorded as having been processed through the separator in the ship’s oil record book, a required log regularly inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard. An engineer testified that the defendant referred to the bypass pipe as the “illegal pipe.” It was also shown during trial that the pipe was hidden when the ship was in port so that it would not be discovered by the Coast Guard.

Sentencing has been set for Jan. 10, 2008, before Judge William N. Nickerson. Humphries faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.

The M/V Tanabata was operated by Pacific Gulf Marine, Inc. (PGM). PGM pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Jan. 27, 2007, to charges of making illegal discharges of oil-contaminated waste from each of four ships managed by the company. After learning of the investigation, PGM conducted and voluntarily disclosed the results of an internal investigation and cooperated with investigators and prosecutors. PGM was sentenced to pay a $1 million criminal fine and $500,000 in community service payments and to serve three years probation under the terms of an Environmental Compliance Program subject to court approval.

Continue Reading for the full article

Looking for Chief Engineer Jobs.

We are always on the lookout for “green” stories so were pleased when a friend forwarded a link to Skysails, a German based company looking to augment tradition ship propulsion systems with kites.

SkySails tells us:

SkySails is now offering a wind propulsion system based on large towing kites, which, for the first time, meets the requirements of shipping companies.

 

By using the SkySails-System, a ship‘s fuel costs can be reduced by 10- 35% on annual average, depending on wind conditions. Under optimal wind conditions, fuel consumption can temporarily be reduced by up to 50%. Even on a small, 87 metre cargo ship, savings of up to 280,000 euros can be made annually.

They are not the only company trying to harness the power of wind to propel ship, San Francisco base KiteShip.com a maker of kites for sailboats, is also trying expand into the commercial shipping industry.

“KiteShip is also working on marine applications as diverse as towing oil rigs and other large marine structures, diverting icebergs from oil platforms in high latitudes and in autonomous robot towing of relatively safe cargo such as bagged water,liquid fructose and the like.”

Both companies have tested the technology with (according to them) success. gCaptain will be bringing you more on this story in the future, so stay tuned.

Note: We have updated this post in a comprehensive look at Green Ship Propulsion

Here’s a video showing how the system works;

 

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