11.3.

1 Diesel engines
Describe working principle of two stroke and four stroke internal combustion engines

- Compare and contrast

- Two stroke and Four stroke internal combustion engines
- Explain
- Causes of Scavenge fires and remedial actions
- Causes of Crankcase explosions
- Super charging (constant pressure and pulse type)
Describe preparation of Diesel Engine for Standby mode, Procedure for starting and reversing

State number of starts is limited by capacity of starting air reservoir

Draw a block diagram of Fuel oil system from bunker tank to injection, Lubricating oil system
and Cooling water system

QP
1. Differentiate between 2 stroke & 4 stroke engines (10)
2. With respect to marine diesel engines explain with suitable sketches
the following: (5*3)
(i) Scavenging and different types of scavenging
(ii) Scavenge fire & reasons for the same
(iii) Prevention of scavenge fire
Sketch and describe a fuel oil system of a diesel engine. (10)
3.Sketch and describe a fuel oil system of a M/E with mixing column.
(20)
State the purpose of mixing column in the system. (5)
4. Draw a simple sketch of a unit of 2 stroke main engine and label the
various parts (15) Describe the warming procedure of a large steam
turbine giving reasons for the same (10)
5. Describe how a 2 stroke main engine is prepared for maneuvering
after 3 days of port stay (15) Explain SOLAS requirements for UMS
operation (10)
6. (a) What are the differences between 4 stroke and 2 stroke engines(10
marks)
(b) What is meant by the term internal combustion engine? (5 marks)
(c) What is scavenging and mention the different types adapted? (10
marks)
7. (a) Explain the differences between 4 & 2 stroke engines (b) Explain
and describe the cooling water system of M/E.
8. (a) Sketch M/E fuel oil system with mixing column (b) what is the
purpose of mixing column.
9. (a)What is barred range with respect to direct coupled diesel engines
and why is it important? (10) (b) With a blow diagram describe the
sequences of operation of starting a direct coupled diesel engine remotely
(10)
10. Explain the procedure in E/R for 2 hours notice for arrival port (12)
(b) Explain the procedure in E/R on 2 hours notice for departure (13)
11. Explain with a sketch how the waste heat from engine is used for
producing fresh water on board a ship (15) (b) Describe some methods of
making this water potable for drinking?(10)
12. (a) Explain the principle operation of 2 stroke engine (10) (b) Sketch
and explain the valve timing diagram of 2 stroke engine (10) (c) Why is
such a engine preferable for main propulsion engine? (5)
• A stopped engine needs to be cranked to attain minimum firing speed to compress
the air to self igniting point of fuel. It is achieved by sending air at 24 bar pressure
inside a cylinder where the piston is past TDC position. Starting air has to be supplied
to several cylinders in the correct sequence known as firing order. A 6 cylinder engine
has a firing order of 1-5-3-6-2-4-1. So after # 2 cylinder air will go to #4 and then to #1
and so on. For this purpose an air starting system is provided with an air distributor,
cylinder head mounted starting air valve etc. The distributor is driven by cam shaft.

Main propulsion machinery

Main propulsion machinery
MS system has 2 MSW pumps to circulate SW for cooling M/E LO, M/E JCW, M/E Piston
cooling water (if provided) and M/E air coolers. Most modern ships have the engine pistons
cooled by LO so there is no piston water system as such. SW is first sent to LO as LO
temperature is around 45°C. JCW temperature is around 78°C

M/E FO system: Bunker oil is received and stored in DBT and kept heated up using steam to
maintain its viscosity. A gear type is used to transfer the FO to the settling tank. Water and
other sludge like unwanted impurities get settled down to the bottom from where they can
be periodically drained out. Centrifugal separators are fed with oil from settling tank
through steam heaters and purified clean oil is collected in the FO service tank. FO settling
and service tanks are also kept heated up to maintain the fluidity of FO.

Main engine is usually started on diesel oil from cold condition as DO have getter
combustion quality than FO. Once the engine is warmed it can be run on FO. Similarly
before stopping the engine it is run on DO to flush through the FO so as to enable easy
starting the next time. To change over the tank from HFO to DO and vice versa, a three way
change over cock is used.

Mixing column: when changing over from DO to hot FO and vice versa, the engine
components like fuel pump and injectors have to be gradually heated up or cooled down.
Otherwise unequal expansion in the working components may lead to seizure of them. To
prevent this, a mixing column is used where there is a gradual change over of temperature
is taking place. Remember if you change over from FO to DO within a short period, the
volatile components of DO may get vaporized causing a vapor lock to take place.

Viscotherm: Correct viscosity of the oil enables proper atomization. So it is imperative to

maintain the viscosity before the fuel pumps and injectors. Various grades of fuel may have
different viscosities. So depending on the oil quality we need to vary the heating
requirements. It is done by using a viscotherm which has a control over the steam valve to
the FO heater.
M/E warming up and starting procedure:

• Warming up: cold engines may not be able to increase the air to very high
temperature for the combustion process.

• Cold engines may have starting problems. Starting problem is not only causes a loss
of fuel but also air pollution.

• Hence cold engine are warmed up for several hours by circulating warm JCW through
the engine components like cylinder and cylinder head.

• JCW may be heated using steam or electrical heaters.

• Generally 2 hours notice is given to prepare the main engine.

• On getting 2 hours notice, additional A/E to be started and taken on load as more
pumps will be started.

• DO purifier is started to maintain level in the respective service tank.

• FO purifier is started to maintain level in the service tank.

• Water and sediments are drained from the service tanks.

• Fill up starting air bottle and drain the water from it.
• Maintain water level in the jacket cooling water tank.

• Maintain correct oil level in the L.O. sump and other parts like governor, turbo
charger.

• LO purifier is run to warm up and circulate heated LO in the engine.

• Check the flow of oil to all the parts by the return line.

• All control equipment to be checked for their correct functioning.

• Propeller clearance is taken from bridge.

• Keep indicator cocks open and turning gear engaged, turn the engine few revolutions
to check free turning of all moving parts.

• After disengaging the turning gear, engine is blown through with compressed air to
remove any water/oil from the cylinder space.

• After closing the indicator cocks the engine is tried out on fuel in both directions if it
is reversible.

• Once all the parameters are normal engine readiness is reported to bridge as in stand
by mode.

• It indicates the engine is ready for use in short notice.

• It takes about 30 minutes to start a cold engine.

• Once telegraph order is received, running direction handle to be kept in the desired
direction to move the cam shaft accordingly.

• Starting handle to be moved to start position allowing starting air into the cylinders.

• Once the engine picks up the RPM, control lever to be moved to RUN position to
allow fuel injection.

• Starting air gets cut off while fuel is being admitted.

• For reversing the engine, the timing for exhaust valve and fuel pump are changed by
the reversing device.

• It can be achieved by having a different set of cams and bringing them into position.

• Or it can be done by the same cams and rotating them through some angle to a new
position.

• For reversing while manoeuvring:

 • After getting the telegraph order, bring the control lever to STOP position, the fuel
gets cut off and the engine RPM gets reduced.

• Change over the cam shaft to the new position.

• All the cams come to the new desired angle of opening the valves or operating the
fuel pumps.

• Admit the air in the new direction and change over to RUN position.

• Emergency manoeuvring: when remote control is defective, engine can be operated

from local or emergency manoeuvring platform located at a lower level closer to the
engine.

• Auxiliary blower: Turbochargers are not effective when the engine is run at slow
speeds and while manoeuvrings.

• In those periods the engines need to be supplied with charged air using electric
driven auxiliary blowers.

• When the engines are running at full ahead (RFA) i.e. after manoeuvring is completed
auxiliary blower may be switched off.

• Engine room personal to ensure that

• Turning gear is disengaged

• Starting air is open.

• Cooling water, LO, FO and air tanks are topped up and ready in all respects.

• Engine tried out on air & fuel.

• Then control can be changed over to bridge.

• Bridge OOW will be able to run, operate & if required to stop the main engine as per
the requirement.

• Bridge maneuvering system is such that the OOW operates the engine just like a
telegraph order.

• M/E RPM is maintained by governor for varying sea load.

Scavenge fire

Scavenge fire: fire can take place with burning substance, heat and oxygen.
Scavenge air trunking is supplied with fresh air by the turbocharger. And when the engine is
running all the components of the engine gets heated up, but this heat is not sufficient to
ignite the L.O. or F.O. So a fire can only take place if there is a substance to catch fire and
that too heated to a level where it can catch fire.

Burning substance may be fuel oil, carbon or lubricating oil. Fuel oil may come from
defective fuel valves i.e. faulty fuel injector timing or defective dripping of fuel injectors.
Lubricating oil is usually cylinder oil as our M/E is cross head type with separate cylinder
lubricators. Excessive supply of cylinder oil will get scraped down by the piston rings and get
accumulated in the scavenge space. If this accumulated oil is not drained periodically, it will
get heated by the hot gases of the cylinder and will get carbonized.

If the cylinder lubrication is insufficient it will lead to wearing down of piston rings and
cylinder liner.

In case of defective worn out or broken piston rings or worn out cylinder liner the hot gases
may leak past between the piston tings and cylinder liner and will heat up the oil
accumulated in the scavenge space. When the circumstances are suitable i.e. with heated
oil in the flammable range with oxygen rich fresh air, it will catch fire what we call as
scavenge space fire.

So reasons for scavenge fire:

1. Excessively worn out cylinder liner.

2. Worn out or broken piston rings.
3. Excessive or insufficient supply of cylinder LO
4. Defective fuel valves
5. Incorrect fuel injection timing
6. Inadequacy of draining the scavenge spaces (watch keeping personal not carrying out
proper watch keeping routines)
7. Dirty scavenge spaces

In case of scavenge fire, how will we come to know it?

1. Marked increase in scavenge air temperature

2. Corresponding rise in the cylinder temperature
3. Surging of the turbo charger.
4. Discoloration of the scavenge trunking in the vicinity of fire.
5. Burning smell of painted scavenge trunking.
6. Engine performance reduces because of the fire causing a back pressure in the
scavenge area.
7. Scavenge space drains will give smoke when opened.
What are the actions to be taken in case of scavenge fire?

In case of small fire:

1. Reduce the speed of the engine to dead slow at the earliest possible time from
navigation point of view.
2. Increase the cylinder oil feed rate for the particular cylinder.
3. Lift off the cam follower of the defective unit if fuel valve is the culprit.
4. Keep the scavenge space drain valve closed so that the fire doesn’t spread to engine
room.
5. Monitor the scavenge space and exhaust gas temperature for the particular unit
especially.
6. Usually the fire will starve to death once the combustible material is burnt out.
7. Keep monitoring the scavenge space temperature for any re-ignition.
8. Once the scavenge space is cooled down to normal condition, you can increase the
engine speed slowly.

In case of large fire:

1. Stop the engine immediately; engage the turning gear.

2. Extinguish the fire using the fixed fire fighting system provided in the trunking. It may
be steam or CO2
3. In case fixed fire fighting system is not available, use boundary cooling to avoid the
spread of fire.
4. Once the fire is extinguished, allow the scavenge space to get cooled down.
5. Carry out internal inspection to see the extent of damage or possible root cause of
fire and carry out necessary actions to rectify the defect. (Renewal of piston rings or
overhauling of fuel injector etc.)

Actions to be taken to avoid scavenge space fire:

1. Periodical overhauling of fuel injectors.

2. Periodical draining of scavenge space trunking.
3. Periodical calibration of cylinder liner, to measure the rate of cylinder liner.
4. Correct setting of cylinder lubrication feed rate.
5. Routine cleaning of scavenge space and ports.

Crank case explosion

An explosion is rapid combustion i.e. very fast burning of the substance inside a closed
container.
As usual for a fire to take place, three things that are required are: burning substance
heated to suitable temperature with sufficient amount of oxygen i.e. within the flammable
limits.

Crank case is the closed space. L.O. mist is the burning substance. Air is already present
inside the crank case. So only the requirement is heat to initiate a fire, which we call it as
“hot spot”.

As LO inside the crank case is splashed around because of the moving parts like crank shaft
etc., that oil is broken into very small size in the range of several microns. But these oil
particles can’t catch fire even when they come in contact with a naked flame as the surface
area is small for the given volume i.e. surface area/ volume ratio is low.

We need to understand the burning mechanism. Oil when heated produces oil vapour.
When this vapour is heated it gets heated to self ignition temperature i.e. it gets into
combustible condition without any source of ignition or flame.

So when the oil particles come in contact with a hot space, they get vaporised and then
heated to a higher level of self ignition.

Hot spot:

Hot spot is nothing but the heat source produced as a result of rubbing between two metal
surfaces or friction between two metals parts such as piston rod and gland, cross head
guides, chain and gear drive etc. The hot spot is generally caused by improper maintenance
and insufficient or less clearance. Bearing shells not adequately supplied with LO, or piston
rings in the stuffing box area, chain driven cam shaft etc are some examples of hot spot
inside the crank case.

When the temperature of the surface is more than 300˚C LO coming in contact with the hot
spot, gets vaporized and these vapour rises higher inside the crank case and when comes
in contact with cool area, the vapour gets condensed and form very fine mist of oil particle
of few microns size about 6-10 microns. Now is the dangerous period, the LO particles are
in the correct size (surface area to volume ratio is high) and becomes a white mist when it
comes contact with hot spot.

Primary explosion: The white mist increase in size and density and when it reaches the
lower flammability limit which takes place at about 500˚C, a mild explosion takes place with
detonation velocity of few centimetres per second.

If not detected and when comes in contact with the hot spot they get heated to self ignition
temperature oil vapour starts burning at a rapid rate that the pressure inside the crank case
increases at an alarming level, that the crank case doors gets broken, leading to a
secondary explosion.

Secondary explosion: The primary explosion propagates inside the crank case with
increasing speed and the distance travelled. Theses shock waves have a breaking effect
which breaks down the oil particles further producing more fuel for ignition. The pressure
front is followed by a low pressure area which will suck more air into it from the
surroundings. This allows air to enter crank case from scavenge space thro’ leaky piston rod
or defective crank case door closure.
New supply of air and fuel produced by the front wave when coming into contact with the
hot spot causes another explosion which is extremely severe with detonation velocity
reaching few kilo meters per second. Secondary explosion has caused loss of many lives.
Safety provisions: A small electrical motor driven fan can maintain a negative pressure
inside the crank case by removing the hot gases. It must be fitted with flame trap at the
exhaust side.
Crank case relief valves: They are fitted on the crank case doors to release the pressure
when it is being built up. And mainly they should be non return type to prevent air from the
compartment being drawn into crank case.
Valve disc is made of aluminium alloy to reduce the inertia effect. Oil wetted gauge is used
as an effective trap for the flame. It reduces the flame temperature from 1500 to 250 C in
0.5m the gauge material is generally 0.3mm with 40 & excess clearance area over the valve.

Requirements from regulatory bodies:

1. Any IC engine of cylinder diameter of 200 mm or a crankcase volume of 0.6 m 3 and
above shall be provide with crankcase relief valve of a suitable type with sufficient
relief area.
2. In large engine, cylinder diameter more than 300mm, require one relief valve to be
placed on each crankcase door.
3. In small engine, cylinder diameter not more than 300mm, crankcase door of which
are usually very strong. It may have relief valve or valves at its end.
 4. Its free area should not be smaller than 45cm2 and there shall be minimum of 115cm2
/m3 of the gross crankcase volume.
5. Spring setting for opening pressure is 0.07 bar at an internal pressure and will close
when the pressure has been relieved.
6. The valves should open smartly and close positively and rapidly.
7. The relief valves shall be arranged or provided with means to ensure that discharge
from them is so directed as to minimize the possibility of injury to personnel.
8. Large engines with more than 6 cylinders are recommended to have a diaphragm on
mid length and consideration to be given for to detect overheating for e.g.
temperature probes or thermal cameras and injection of inert gas.
9. A means of detection of oil mist fitted.

Crank case oil mist detector (Obscuration method – set point – 2.5% LEL)
Actions in case of OMD alarm:
Crank case explosion is highly dangerous and most of the modern engines have auto slow
down arrangement in case of OMD alarm.
1. Watch keeping personnel to ensure that the alarm is faulty or real. OMD alarm
indicates the suspicious unit. By inspection on the main bearing LO temperature
faulty alarm may be ruled out.
2. Bridge and C/E to be informed.
3. Slow down the engine if it is not done till.
4. If the bridge requires the engine to be run, E/R to be evacuated to prevent the loss of
life.
5. Stop the engine in the immediate possible time.
 6. Engage the turning gear. Continue running the cooling and LO pumps to cool down
the engine.
7. Under no circumstances should any opening to be made on the engine unless it has
got sufficiently cooled down. ( explosion can’t occur at less than 270˚C)
8. Once cooled down, open the crank case doors and allow ventilation.
9. Inspection may be carried out to locate the hot spot and rectify the fault.