INTELLIGENT ENGINE

Today the world needs engines that can cope up with the stringent emission norms and higher
demands for

1. Robust

2. Reliable

3. Smart engines with low operational cost.

To achieve the above possibilities, a whole new generation of engine is being developed with a
comprehensive use of electronics, hardware and software in large 2 stroke low speed cross head
engines known as “Intelligent Engines”.

The intelligent engine concept widens the reliability of traditional engines to facilitate new
applications and concepts. The initial cost of such engine is quite high but the operational cost is
lower than other engine used with proper operating procedure and trained crew.

The first intelligent engine in the maritime world was delivered in October-1998 and was introduced
in a chemical carrier M/T Bow Cecil.
Basic Concept of Intelligent Engine

– A central electronic control system is incorporated which is the brain of the system and
which monitors and evaluate the general condition to keep the operating parameter within limits
and maintain the performance of the engine at the higher side.

– Central control system operates Engine control unit (ECU) and cylinder control unit (CCU).

– ECU controls the overall protection and efficient performance of the whole engine. CCU
controls the each cylinder of the engine for safe and efficient working.

– This control system saves the engine from damage due to overloading, malfunctioning,
maladjustment and lack of maintenance.

– To comply with the emission norms, system is incorporated with catalytic clean up system
and fuel economy modes which can be selected from bridge.

– A reversing and crash mode option is provided in the bridge, controlled through the main
central electronic control which sends signal to the engine when in operational mode.

– The central system consists of a program in which the protection system can be override in
case of emergency.

– The intelligent engine provides flexibility in operation by replacing mechanical cam shaft for
fuel pump and exhaust valve with common rail system and computer controlled system.

Main goals

The basic aim for developing intelligent engine is to reduce the operational cost of the propulsion
plant, to have high fluctuation in operation and to cope up with the stringent emission norms
imposed by regulating authorities under IMO . Apart from this, the following points to be
considered for intelligent engines:

1) Reliability of engine increases

– The central monitoring system keeps an eye on the fluctuation of load and distribute
equally to all the cylinders.

– It consists of overload protection system which will give alarm and trip’s the engine, ruling
out the possibilities of overload and thermal stresses.

– Any other abnormality is displayed with an early warning and alarm system so that the
problem can be tackled before it hampers the operational aspects of the engine.

– This system increases the emission control flexibility.

2) Fuel and lube oil consumption cost reduces

The load operating efficiency increases as compared to normal engines which increases the
life of the engine and maintenance schedule can be delayed which cut shorts the operational cost.
– The performance is fuel optimized. Fuel oil, lube oil and other lubricants consumption
drastically decreases which reduces the operational cost.

– The engine and its performance is maintained “as new” for its lifetime.

– The cylinder lubrication is one of the most expensive lubrication oil used in marine
operation. The consumption is controlled with the help of mechatronic (incorporated with
mechanical and electronic controlled enhanced system) cylinder lubrication with advanced dosage
of oil.

3) Follow up of stringent air pollution emission norms.

– Now almost all the countries are following the stringent norms for emission from the ship’s
propulsion plant. The intelligent engine gives the flexibility to cope up with different norms for
different controlled bodies by enhancing the emission performance characteristics.

– To reduce the emission of harmful substance like Nox and Sox, catalytic controller and fuel
control and consumption modes are incorporated in the control system.

These are the latest RT-Flex and ME series of camshaft less electronically controlled engines.

An intelligent engine is one which will monitor its own condition according to its feed back and
pre-set settings and adjust the key parameters of the engine’s performance , under various
conditions without manual intervention.

The improved control reduces operational costs , exhaust emissions , fuel consumption and time
between o’hauls.

The flexibility is provided by electronic control of fuel injection , exhaust valve actuation , starting
air and cylinder lubrication.

Using a common rail reduces the hydraulic power requirements and allows fuel and hydraulic
pumps to be arranged in a neat set up driven off the crankshaft.

The WECS 9000 control system electronically driven Lanchester Balancer (ELBA), etc.

Starting air distribution to different cylinders is controlled by individual solenoid valves controlling
the starting air valves, rather than the conventional mechanically driven start distributor.

There is no need for the camshaft drive , since all functions are operated by hydraulic pressure
(fuel oil or servo oil) under electronic control. This allows net reduction in engine weight ,
simplifies engine erection work and removes some physical constraints for future engine design.
INTELLIGENT ENGINE

Both MAN DIESEL and Sulzer demonstrated camshaft less operation with their research engines,
applying electronically controlled fuel injection and exhaust valve actuation systems.

Engine performance data will be constantly monitored and compared with defined value, if
deviation is noted, corrected action will be automatically taken to restore the situation to normal.

A further step would incorporate not only engine optimizing functions but management
responsibilities such as maintenance planning and spare parts control.

So to meet the operational flexibility target , it is necessary to be able to change the timing of the
fuel injection and exhaust vale system while the engine is running. Since with cam driven engines
would involve a substantial mechanical complexity , which would undermine engine reliability.

Hence a concept of camshaft less engine is dictated.

The concept is illustrated in the figure whose upper part shows the operational modes, which may
be selected from the bridge control system or by the intelligent engine’s own control system.

The centre part is the brain of the system: The electronic system which analyses the general engine
condition and controls the operation of the engine systems shown in the lower part of the diagram.

To meet the reliability target , it is necessary to have a system which can actively protect the engine
from damage due to overload, lack of maintenance and maladjustments. A condition monitoring
system must be used to evaluate the general condition of the engine, thus maintaining its
performance and keeping its operating parameters within prescribed limits. The condition
monitoring and evaluation system is an on-line system with automatic sampling of all ‘normal’
engine performance data, supplemented by cylinder pressure measurements. The system will report
and actively intervene when performance parameters show unsatisfactory deviations. The cylinder
pressure data delivered by the measuring system are used for various calculations:

➢ The mean indicated pressure is determined as a check on cylinder load distribution as well
as total engine output.
➢ The compression pressure is determined as an indicator of excessive leakage caused by, for
example, a burnt exhaust valve or collapsed piston rings (the former condition is usually
accompanied by an increased exhaust gas temperature in the cylinder in question).
➢ The cylinder wall temperature is monitored as an additional indicator of the piston ring
condition.
➢ The firing pressure is determined for injection timing control and for control of mechanical
loads.
➢ The rate of pressure rise (dp/dt) and rate of heat release are determined for combustion
quality evaluation as a warning in the event of ‘bad fuels’ and to indicate any risk of piston
ring problems in the event of high dp/dt values.
The cylinder condition monitoring system is intended to detect faults such as blow-by past the
piston rings, cylinder liner scuffing and abnormal combustion. The detection of severe anomalies by
the integrated systems triggers a changeover to a special operating mode for the engine, the ‘engine
protection mode’. The control system will contain data for optimum operation in a number of
different modes, such as ‘fuel economy mode’, ‘emission controlled mode’, ‘reversing/ crash stop
mode’ and various engine protection modes. The load limiter system (load diagram compliance
system) aims to prevent any overloading of the engine in conditions such as heavy weather, fouled
hull, shallow water, too heavy propeller layout or excessive shaft alternator output. This function will
appear as a natural part of future governor specifications.

The fuel injection system is operated without a conventional camshaft, using high pressure hydraulic
oil from an engine-driven pump as a power source and an electronically controlled servo system to
drive the injection pump plunger. The general concept of the InFI (intelligent fuel injection) system
and the InVA (intelligent valve actuation) system for operating the exhaust valves is shown in Figure
Both systems, when operated in the electronic mode, receive the electronic signals to the control
units. In the event of failure of the electronic control system the engine is controlled by a mechanical
input supplied by a diminutive camshaft giving full redundancy.
MAN Diesel’s 4T50MX research engine

Unlike a conventional, cam-driven pump the InFI pump has a variable stroke and will only pressurize
the amount of fuel to be injected at the relevant load. In the electronic mode (that is, operating
without a camshaft) the system can perform as a single injection system as well as a pre-injection
system with a high degree of freedom to modulate the process in terms of injection rate, timing,
duration, pressure, single/double injection, cam profile and so on.

Several optimized injection patterns can be stored in the computer and chosen by the control
system in order to operate the engine with optimum injection characteristics at several loads: from
dead slow to overload as well as for starting, astern running and crash stop. Changeover from one to
another of the stored injection characteristics is effected from one injection to the next. The system
is able to adjust the injection amount and injection timing for each cylinder individually in order to
achieve the same load (mean indicated pressure) and the same firing pressure (Pmax) in all
cylinders; or, in protection mode, to reduce the load and Pmax on a given single cylinder if the need
arises.

The exhaust valve system (InVA) is driven on the same principles as the fuel injection system,
exploiting the same high pressure hydraulic oil supply and a similar facility for mechanical
redundancy. The need for controlling exhaust valve operation is basically limited to timing the
opening and closing of the valve. The control system is thus simpler than that for fuel injection.
Cylinder lubrication is controllable from the condition evaluation system so that the lubricating oil
amount can be adjusted to match the engine load. Dosage is increased in line with load changes and
if the need is indicated by the cylinder condition monitoring system (in the event of liner scuffing
and ring blow-by, for example). Such systems are already available for existing engines.

The turbocharging system control will incorporate control of the scavenge air pressure if a
turbocharger with variable turbine nozzle geometry is used, and control of bypass valves,
turbocompound system valves and turbocharger cut-off valves if such valves are incorporated in the
system. Valves for any selective catalytic reduction (SCR) exhaust gas cleaning system installed will
also be controlled.

Operating modes may be selected from the bridge control system or by the system’s own control
system. The former case applies to the fuel economy modes and the emission-controlled modes
(some of which may incorporate the use of an SCR system). The optimum reversing/crash stop
modes are selected by the system itself when the bridge control system requests the engine to carry
out the corresponding operation. Engine protection mode, in contrast, will be selected by the
condition monitoring and evaluation system independently of actual operating modes (when this is
not considered to threaten ship safety).

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