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ENGINES IN SERVICE
Facts and Information on Diesel Engine Operation
Dear Reader,
Together with Messrs. VULKAN, a
renowned manufacturer of flexible
couplings, we have compiled some
important items for the main article
of the 6th issue of our magazine
ENGINES IN SERVICE.
These should be observed by the
engine staff during operation.
As the available space is limited, it
was unfortunately not possible to go
deeper into the underlying theory.
But you can obtain the originally
intended article from VULKAN
Hamburg or Caterpillar Kiel.
Also for the safety topic - overspeed
- we had to limit ourselves to some
general information. If you have
questions about the system installed
on board or the entire safety
equipment, we will be pleased to
assist.
You can imagine that in the
meantime we have received quite a
few responses to the topics of our
magazine from board, which is quite
encouraging for us.
Individual questions have been
answered directly. Some interesting
items will be treated in the next
issue in January 2002.
Furthermore, we will continue the
list of operating media with
lubricating oils for MDO or gasoil
operation.
No. 6, October 2001
This engine is one of a set
of three powering a pusher
tug deployed on the river
Rhine.
The engines on such ships
are in the top group when it
comes to the annual
number of operating hours.
But nevertheless the crew
still has enough time to
maintain the condition the
engines had upon shipment
by polishing their cylinder
heads. This is a sure sign of
the reliability of the
propulsion plant.
In this issue:
Safety 2
Engine Overspeed
Operating Media 3
List of Lubrication Oils for
Heavy Fuel Operation
Safety Valves Exchange 4
Fuel Viscosity before 4
Engine
The Rubber Coupling 5
Preview and Imprint 8
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ENGINES IN SERVICE
Overspeed
Safety

The engines are adjusted in such a way that an overspeed stop will occur at 118 %
rated speed for propulsion engines and at 115 % rated speed for generator drives.

The design of each engine provides a sufficient safety margin even at these speeds.

By means of regular checks it must be ensured that the emergency stop

equipment is working correctly
correctly.. In doing so what has to be borne in mind?

Each engine has two systems that are independent of each other
other.

These systems must not be tested simultaneously

simultaneously.

The older engines are equipped with mechanical systems, whilst on newer engines
there is more and more electronics.

But even for these the general rule is that an engine can only brought to a
0 standstill if all injection pumps are at zero fuel rack position.
0
The mechanical components required to this end must be easily moving and they
must not show any wear.

When carrying out the regular checks of the safety equipment the existing
simulation possibilities should be used as far as possible.
Zero fuel rack position
depending on the pump What is to be observed when an engine is in danger of turning at overspeed and
type cannot be stopped any more with normal means?

Do not reduce load under any circumstances (e.g. by opening the clutch or the
generator circuit breaker.)
breaker.)

Increase the engine load if possible (e.g. by increasing propeller pitch or

electric load.)

Did you know that you

can order from us even What is to be observed if an overspeed has occurred nevertheless?
operating and
maintenance In any case all moving parts of the engine are to be inspected.
instructions and spare
parts catalogues for If you have any questions in connection with your findings, please contact your
older engines? responsible agency.
Please absolutely
indicate the engine No.
in your enquiries.

2
No. 6, October 2001

Lubricating oil for heavy fuel operation

The development of our engines is not least based on the changes that have Operating media
occurred on the fuel market. But this also means that new lubricating oil products
are continually brought onto the market.

Our customers can certainly rely on the good advisory services provided by their Filtration
lubricating oil suppliers. But especially for customers possessing older engines we
would like to publish our current list of lubricating oil brands for heavy fuel Did you know that a
operation. mesh size of 34 µ
(absolute) provides an
If you have any questions in this respect, please contact your responsible agency. effective filtration grade
of 15-20 µ?
List of brands of lubricating oil for Operation with distillate fuel
The viscosity class SAE 40 is specified for all MaK engines. These values refer to
Lubr
Lubr.. oil company Lubr
Lubr.. oil brand I II an oil viscosity of 50-80
AGIP CLADIUM 300 X cSt and a filtration
CLADIUM 400 X efficiency of 90%
BP ENERGOL IC-HFX 304 X
ENERGOL IC-HFX 404 X
CALTEX DELO 3000 MARINE X
DELO 3400 MARINE X
CASTROL TLX 304 X
TLX 404 X
CHEVRON DELO 3000 MARINE OIL X
DELO 3400 MARINE OIL X
ELF AURELIA 4030 X
AURELIA XT 4040 X
ESSO EXXMAR 30 TP X
EXXMAR 40 TP X Filter mesh close-ups.
EXXMAR 30 TP PLUS X
EXXMAR 40 TP PLUS X

FINA STELLANO S 430 X

STELLANO S 440 X

MOBIL MOBILGARD 430 X

MOBILGARD 440 X

SHELL ARGINA T X
ARGINA X X

TEXACO TARO 30 DP X
TARO 40 XL X

TOTAL HMA SUPER X 430 X

HMA SUPER X 440 X

I Proven in use
II Permitted for controlled use. When these lubricating oils are
used, Caterpillar must beinformed because at the moment
there is insufficient experience available in
Caterpillar engines. Otherwise the warranty cover is invalid.

3
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ENGINES IN SERVICE
Relief valves

We are pleased to pass on the experience and operating results of our customers,
General especially when these can increase the reliability of the engine plant. Therefore, we
would like to give you three recommendations regarding the relief valves in the
cylinder head, which are concurrent with our own insights.

1. If a relief valve has blown off once, it should be replaced. This applies the
more if it blew off for a longer time.

2. In any case a relief valve should be replaced after 5 years.

3. An overhaul does not pay in either case, because even conscientious work
will not ensure the required condition as new.

Fuel viscosity at engine inlet

Many customers are regularly sending us operating data for evaluation.

When evaluating this data with DICARE®, our expert system for engine diagnosis
and maintenance, a note was frequently observed that an excessive temperature
difference between viscosimeter and engine had been measured.

If for example the temperature at viscosimeter was 130 °C resulting in a viscosity of

11 cSt, the viscosity at a temperature at engine inlet of 118 °C was already about 14
cSt.

With this “thick” fuel, the atomization and with that the efficiency of the engine gets
worse. Additionally this also leads to a higher load of the injection components.

In most cases we find this phenomenon on older plants. Enquiries have shown that
the root cause is mostly an insufficient insulation of the fuel pipes.

As a long-term remedy the pipes should be better insulated.

If this is not possible, an immediate action would be to adjust a lower viscosity at

engine inlet. For the example quoted above, this would mean:

Viscosity must be adjusted to 8 cSt. This will result in a temperature of 145 °C at vis-
cosimeter. With a loss of 15° on the way to the engine, the temperature there will
still be 130 °C, so that the required viscosity of 11 cSt at engine inlet is still ensured.

4
No. 6, October 2001

Rubber couplings don’t last forever

Maybe you still recall
the slightly alienated
photo on the last page of
issue No. 5 ?
Traces of oil

Crack

Material peeling

This is the original photo.

At the left-hand side it shows two rows of a coupling, and at the right-hand side

at engaging the propeller

a small section of flywheel and barring gear. The rubber elements are showing
some conspicuous details (marked).

(torsional angle)
Coupling strain
The coupling is an important component, but often leads its life underneath a
guard attracting little attention. Frequently our service engineers are asked for
advice during their stays on board, especially if the condition of an older cou-
pling has to be assessed.
Therefore, we got together with Messrs. Vulkan, a renowned supplier of flexible
couplings, and collected the most important information on this topic.

Where and why are highly flexible couplings used?

Where: 1. Between engine and gearbox

2. Between gearbox and shaft generator PTO/PTI
3. On shipboard and stationary EPG gensets between engine
and generator.

Why: 1. In order to optimize the torsional vibration characteristics

of the plant. Classic applications are plants with medium-
speed diesel engines and gearbox in order to protect the
gearbox.
2. High displacement compensation capability, for example if
an engine is resilient mounted.
3. Silencing, comparable to resilient mounting
4. Backlash-free torque transmission

5
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ENGINES IN SERVICE
Why don’
don’tt they last forever?

This is how an
inspection port for the
coupling should look.
The surfaces of a rotating coupling are in permanent contact with the surrounding
air. This ensures a good ventilation of the coupling, but at the same time brings it in
contact with oxygen and ozone. Along with temperature fluctuations, humidity, and
UV radiation this may lead to changes of the material structure at the surface of the
rubber.

In combination with the different kinds of load, the elements will show traces of use
after a longer operating time.

These appear as:

Sufficiently big 1. Permanent set
Easily accessible

Photo1 Photo 2
A RATO-S segment is checked for permanent set by measuring the dimension „s“
on the outer diameter of the rubber element (photo 1). On a RATO-R element the
dimension „s“ can be determined by measuring the tangential offset of the rubber
at maneuvering
Coupling strain
(torsinal ange)

elements (photo 2). If the permissible values are exceeded by the existing deforma-
tion, the root cause of the excessive permanent set should be eliminated before
mounting new elements.
2. Surface cracks:

The „AGEING PROCESS“ leads to a surface hardening of the rubber and thus to a
decreased flexibility of the surface. Due to the deformation of the flexible part
cracks may occur during operation, which are permissible up to a limited length/
depth/surface. Before reaching the limit values these cracks can be removed by
grinding with a belt grinder.

Still permissible crack After rework by grinding

Photo 3 Photo 4
6
No. 6, October 2001

If the cracks in the segment surfaces cannot be removed by grinding any more,
these are to be marked at their ends and their further development can just be
watched until the limit values are reached (photo 5).

Monitoring of the
coupling by means of
the Monitoring and
Diagnostic System.

Based on the brochure „Assessment Criteria for RATO-S/R Couplings“ you can For more information
assess the flexible elements and rework them as required. This brochure is avail- please contact VULKAN.
able from VULKAN on request.

In many cases the highly flexible rubbercoupling may serve as an indicator for

at govonor instability
irregularities in the plant.

(torsional angle(
Coupling strain
Some examples:
Propeller touching ground
Engine breakdown
Generator short circuit
Incorrect synchronization or emergency shutdown
malfunction or disturbance in the control circuits ( speed govornor / engine or load
control system of the CP propeller).

After any such event the coupling must be checked over and above regular
inspections.

Further increased coupling load may also result from:

Fast propeller pitch setting
Too short clutching/declutching times of multi-disk clutches
Frequent switching on and off
Navigation in ice

How to achieve a long service life?

To protect the surfaces of the flexible parts from oil, fuel, and chemicals
To ensure good ventilation
To inspect the flexible elements annually (inspection port provided?)
To check the alignment within the scope of the engine inspection intervals,
especially with resiliently mounted engines.

Should you have any further questions, please contact your Caterpillar agency or an
agency of Messrs. VULKAN. For addresses and contacts please refer to the documen-
tation supplied together with the coupling.

7
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ENGINES IN SERVICE
Our next issue will be published in January 2002.
Preview:
It will be No. 7.
The main topic will be:
The cylinder liner inside and outside.
You can visit us on
the web at
www.mak-global.com
This publication serves a product-
support of MaK engines for the
operation in ships.
No part of this publication may be
reproduced without source note.
Specimen copy requested.
Also the cylinder liner makes an es-
sential contribution to the reliability
of our engines. On the inside it
mostly depends on a good combus-
tion and on the outside above all on
a good cooling water management.
This is a cylinder liner for an old
MaK 2-stroke engine, which was
produced this year for spare
demand.
Caterpillar Motoren GmbH & Co. KG
Dep. MK 1
Falckensteiner Str. 2
D-24159 Kiel
P.O. Box D-24157 Kiel
Phone: +49 (0)431 3995 2825
Fax: +49 (0)431 3995 3080
E-Mail: papendieck_karl_h@CAT.com