Cooperation agreement between engine makers
The agreement applies to marine newbuild projects for ships to be deployed on Japanese domestic trade routes, and where the shipyards and shipowners involved are located in Japan. JFE has produced and supplied medium-speed diesel engines since 1964 under the SEMT Pielstick licence, which was acquired by the MAN Group in 2006.
The MAN Diesel & Turbo common rail engines in question cover a power range of 3,600 to 21,600 kW, and their common rail injection system, which is fully electronically controlled, is suitable for both heavy fuel oil and distillate fuels, according to MAN Diesel & Turbo. It said the technology, developed in-house and fully optimised for the company's engines, provided superior performance in terms of fuel consumption and smoke emissions, especially at part load, compared with the same engines’ IMO Tier II versions that feature conventional injection systems.
Upon customer request, the common rail engines can be provided with ECOMAP capability, an innovative feature for the MAN 32/44CR and 48/60CR engines; the flexibility of the CR system allows the engines to be programmed to follow different SFOC/power characteristics, with each having an optimal efficiency at different load points. Hence the customer can achieve better fuel economy by changing the engines’ operating profiles. Especially aboard vessels with multi-engine installations, the combination of such CR engines with an intelligent power management system enables maximal exploitation of the engines’ flexibility potential, MAN Diesel & Turbo said.
The dual-fuel engines covering the power range of 3,180 to 18,000 kW can be operated in the Otto (gas mode) or diesel cycles – from LNG in the former to more traditional HFO, MDO or MGO in the latter mode.
Significantly, the dual-fuel engines can switch between these fuels at any engine load between 15% to 100% maximum continuous rating (MCR) without disruption to the power supply.