Condition-Based Maintenance for medium speed diesel engines used in vessels in operation. (5th April 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Basurko, Oihane C.; Uriondo, Zigor
• Is Part Of: Applied thermal engineering. Volume 80(2015:Apr.)
• Page Start: 404
• Page End: 412
• Publication Date: 2015-04-05
• Subjects: Condition-based monitoring -- Artificial neural network -- Energy efficiency -- Medium-speed diesel engines -- Fishing vessels; Heat engineering -- Periodicals; Heating -- Equipment and supplies -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 621.40205
• DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.01.075
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-4311

Abstract

Abstract: Condition-Based Maintenance for diesel engines has contributed to reliability, energy-efficiency, and cost reduction. Both, the modelling of engine performance and fault detection require large amounts of data; usually, these are obtained on a test bench. In contrast, in operative engines, provoking faults onboard is not a viable proposition. Condition-Based Maintenance, fault detection and diagnosis need to be solved on engines installed in commercial vessels: the present contribution answers this need. A medium-speed diesel engine was monitored using thermocouples, pressure sensors, a propeller shaft torque meter and fuel oil flow-meters, during more than 10, 000 running hours. Monitored data were used to train a three-layer feed-forward neural network, to generate the engine performance model; thus, determine the engine's fuel consumption and faulty conditions. The faulty conditions considered were: (1) a polluted turbine; (2) a dirty air filter/compressor; (3) a dirty air cooler; (4) and bad fuel injection, i.e. bad combustion. The sensor's precision and the experience gained by monitoring the engine served as a baseline to define the fault threshold values. The results proved the feasibility of installing a Condition-Based Maintenance, for vessels in operation, by monitoring engine performance and analysing the data with the aid of artificial neural networks. Highlights: Condition-Based Maintenance is defined for medium-speed diesel engines in operation. ANNs have proved to be suitable to model engine performance of commercial vessels. Fishing vessels with medium speed diesel engines are assessed as a case study. A novel data monitoring and processing strategy is presented for fishing vessels. An affordable onboard Condition-Based Monitoring approach for vessels is achieved.