September 2009 saw the initial operation of the first high temperature fuel cell to be run on board of a ship.  The operation was launched as part of the FellowSHIP research project (Fuel Cells for Low Emission Ships): a project to test fully integrated on-board fuel cells – both on board of vessels, as well as offshore platforms – and to make them commercially viable.

The Tognum supplied HotModule is scheduled for service on the Norwegian offshore supply vessel “Viking Lady” to first test its suitability for green on-board power generation by means of fuel cells. The HotModule is fully integrated in the existing on-board power generation infrastructure of the vessel, delivering 320 kW of the current power supply requirements, whilst being powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG). [Continue Reading →]

Never Sea Land brings us the largest engine ever built:

The Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C turbocharged two-stroke diesel ship 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 →]

The Russian Ministry of Gas ordered the self- propelled crane vessel “Stanislav Yudin” from the Finnish Wartsilla shipyard in 1982.

The crane fitted on the stern of the vessel was designed by GustoMSC and built by Kone Oy in Finland.

The vessel built by Wärtsilla has a length of approx. 183 m, a width of 36 m and a depth of 13 m. The crane was originally designed with two 800-ton main hooks, which could be operated separately, a 400 ton auxiliary hook and a trolley with a 30 ton hook which could travel along the length of the box girder crane boom. To lift the maximum load of 1,600 tons, the 2 main hooks can be used independently allowing an angle with the vertical of up to 15° or they can be coupled together by a hoisting beam with a 1,600 ton hook.

As the vessel has an active ballast system and a minimum draught was required, the weight of the crane is minimized by omitting the counterweight and by using high tensile steel. [Continue Reading →]

We don’t generally post press releases on the blog here, but we have been so fascinated by some of Wärtsilä’s previous work that we thought this is worth a post.

These are just a few excerpts of the September 23 press release from Wärtsilä:

Wärtsilä has received major orders for its recently established Wärtsilä Ship Design unit. The orders were received from customers in China, India and Germany. The Ship Design unit was set up following the acquisitions of the ship design companies Vik-Sandvik and Schiffko. The most recent acquisition, the Singaporean based Conan Wu & Associates will also be part of the Ship Design unit.

The orders call for Wärtsilä to design a Deepwater Engineering Survey Vessel, a Multi-Purpose Support Vessel, a Diving Support Vessel, and an Emergency Towing Vessel. Each of these contracts comes as a result of successful bids to design sophisticated tonnage.

Now let’s hear about the vessel’s.

The Deepwater Engineering Survey Vessel design is for China Oilfield Services Ltd, and represents a 4300-dwt vessel capable of drilling operating at deep water for geotechnical surveys and geophysical surveys. To date, most of China’s oil exploration has been in relatively shallow waters, but there is now a need to probe deeper. [Continue Reading →]

Excerpt from August 6 Press Release from Wärtsilä:

Wärtsilä-Hyundai Engine Company Ltd., the new joint venture between Wärtsilä and Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea, has received a major order. The order calls for a total of 16 Wärtsilä 50DF-engines for four ships to be built by Samsung Heavy Industries. The contract also includes an option of four more engines for a fifth vessel. The order is recorded in the order book of Wärtsilä-Hyundai Engine Company Ltd.

The engines are to be installed on so called Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSO) vessels ordered by FLEX LNG. The first engine will be delivered in February 2010.

Read the full press release HERE

About the Wärtsilä 50DF:

The new Wärtsilä 50DF applies the sophisticated tri-fuel technology incorporated in the reliable and well-tried Wärtsilä 46 HFO engine. It can be run either on natural gas or on light fuel oil (LFO) or on heavy fuel oil (HFO). The engine can smoothly switch between fuels during engine operation and is designed to give the same output regardless of the fuel.

The engine operates on the lean-burn principle. Lean combustion enables high compression ratio which increases engine efficiency and reduces peak temperatures, and therefore also reduces NOx emissions.

Both the gas admission and pilot fuel injection are electronically controlled. The engine functions are controlled by an advanced automation system that allows optimum running conditions to be set independent of the ambient conditions or fuel.

via www.wartsila.com

Check out these links to previous gCaptian posts on Wärtsilä’s most mind boggling creations:

The Wartsila-Sulzer Super Engine

Starting the Wartsila – Video

A Fuel Cell for Ships

Our friend Jean Pierre de Lutz is building a new boat using green technology and writing about it on his blog. Knowing we are interested in new technology geared toward reducing ship emissions he pointed us to the European Union funded project Wartsila METHAPU. Here are the details:

After nearly one and a half years of research and development, the EU-funded METHAPU (‘Validation of renewable methanol based auxiliary power systems for commercial vessels’) project is about to start trials on a prototype of a methanol-based solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) unit. The protoype will be tried and tested for performance and emissions under real-life conditions onboard a car transport vessel involved in international trade.

According to the independent Norwegian organisation Det Norske Veritas (DNV), one of the five project partners, the world’s fleet of ships is the source of two percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, ten percent to 15 percent of nitrous oxides (NOx) and four percent to six percent of sulphur oxides. DNV specialises in risk management in various areas and operates internationally. ‘Fuel cells represent an interesting possible solution to the problem of reducing local and regional emissions,’ the DNV comments in its report on ‘Fuel cells in ships: safety & reliability’. ‘The technology is, however, still fairly unproven.’

This is what the EUR 2 million METHAPU project, to which the EU contributes EUR 1 million, is set to change: The one-year trial will help to assess the maturity of methanol-based technology and its suitability for daily use in the shipping sector.

You can read the full article HERE.

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