ABB Turbocharging announced today that its innovation, high-pressure tuning (HPT), was added to MAN Diesel & Turbo’s two-stroke engine tuning options at the end of March 2013.
HPT is a new engine tuning for part and low loads designed to fully leverage pressure ratio and turbocharger efficiency, two critical factors in a turbocharger that are often not used to their full potential. HPT forces more air into a two-stroke engine by increasing the pressure 0.5 bar above what would normally be expected from the turbocharger. Most turbocharging setups for part and low load require some extra hardware such as an exhaust gas bypass (EGB) or variable turbine geometry to reduce excess pressure from the cylinders. HPT compensates these needs without such add-ons by delaying the closing of the exhaust valve somewhat later than in an engine with conventional tuning. Thus HPT offers all the benefits of a more complicated engine tuning, but innovated according to a considerably more streamlined, more reliable design that makes no compromises on fuel efficiency.
“Recent developments at ABB Turbocharging have yielded very high pressures from our turbochargers for two-stroke engines, and we saw potential there for optimizing fuel efficiency by using an uncomplicated concept,” said Christoph Rofka, Head of New Business at ABB Turbocharging. “In the merchant marine business, simplicity and reliability are key. There’s a lot of highly complex equipment that has to run to the very harshest environments, so when you offer a straightforward solution with benefits that are visible right away, people respond. With HPT, you have no exhaust gas bypass or extra moving parts. So you also have no service cost. The benefits are clear.”
HPT offers engine builders, ship owners, and operators financial benefits. Thanks to the reduction of extra hardware, the customer’s initial investment, first cost, is reduced. The elimination of moving parts and extra hardware also removes the corresponding service costs. Engines tuned with HPT are also fuel-efficient across the entire output range for low and part loads and reduce fuel by 5 g/kWh compared to an engine with standard tuning. The potential fuel savings on a large container vessel with HPT can for example amount to several hundreds of thousands of dollars in just one year alone. HPT also offers very high operational flexibility and very high reliability at low investment cost. Effectively, HPT has great implications for customers interested in slow steaming.
“We are very pleased and flattered that MAN values this solution and wants to offer it to their own customers as one of their official engine tunings,” said Axel Kettmann, Senior Vice President. “And we look forward to collaborating with MAN in the future to offer innovative solutions that respond directly to and improve our customers’ situation. For example, a next logical step is to combine HPT with a high-pressure, high-efficiency turbocharger such as our new A200-L. Our customers have tested this solution, so we know for a fact that HPT is very effective on highly charged two-stroke engines. We expect this combination to generate truly exceptional technical and financial performance and to have a major impact on the marine industry.”
ABB Turbocharging is at the helm of the global industry in the manufacture and maintenance of turbochargers for 500 kW to 80+ MW diesel and gas engines. Our leading-edge technology and innovation enables our customers to perform better and produce fewer emissions, even in the toughest terrains. Approximately 200,000 ABB turbochargers are in operation across the globe on ships, power stations, gen-sets, diesel locomotives and large, off-highway vehicles.
With over 100 Service Stations in 50 countries worldwide, we’re everywhere our customers need us to be, doing whatever they need us to do. We ensure that your investment performs optimally for its entire lifetime through unrivalled expertise and a wide service portfolio that guarantees Original Parts and Original Service anytime, anywhere.
ABB is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 145,000 people.
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