Common Rail Fuel System and Exhaust Valve Control
Common Rail Fuel System and Exhaust Valve Control
Common Rail Fuel System and Exhaust Valve Control
&
Maritime Institute Of William Barentsz
Pururav Nagaraj
Date: 29 August 2006
This assignment is done in the fulfillment of bachelor degree in maritime operations for diesel
technology and emissions Unit 2: Marine Diesel-Technology Trends.
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1. What has driven the innovation of this technology?
In the marine market, the Annex VI of MARPOL 73/78 and the Technical
Code on the Control of Emissions of Nitrogen Oxides from Marine Diesel
Engines came into force on 18th may 2005.
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Briefly describe how this technology works.
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Schematic of the common-rail systems in Sulzer RT-flex engines.
Supply unit
Fuel and servo oil are supplied to the common-rail system from the supply unit
which is driven through gearing from the engine crankshaft.
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Supply unit for a Sulzer 12RT-fl ex96C engine with the fuel pumps in a Vee-form
Arrangement on the left and servo oil pumps on the right-hand face of the central gear
drive. The fuel pumps all deliver into the collector seen above the fuel pumps.
The fuel supply pumps are arranged on one side of the drive gear and the
hydraulic servo-oil pumps are on the other side. This pump arrangement allows a
very short, compact supply unit with reasonable service access. The numbers,
size and arrangement of Pumps are adapted to the engine type and the number
of engine cylinders.
The fuel supply pumps are driven through a camshaft with three-lobe cams. This
camshaft cannot be compared with the traditional engine camshaft. It is very
short and of much smaller diameter, and is quite differently loaded.
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The fuel delivery volume and rail pressure are regulated according to engine
requirements through suction control with helix-controlled filling volume
regulation of the fuel supply pumps. Suction control was selected for its low
power consumption as no excess fuel is pressurized.
The fuel pumps deliver the pressurized fuel to an adjacent collector from which
two independent, double walled delivery pipes lead upwards to the fuel rail. Each
delivery pipe is dimensioned for full fuel flow. The collector is equipped with a
safety relief valve set to 1250 bar.
The supply unit supplies both servo oil and control oil to the rail unit.
Servo oil - Servo oil is used for exhaust valve actuation and control. It is supplied
by a number of swashplate-type axial piston hydraulic pumps mounted on the
supply unit. The oil used in both the servo and control oil systems is standard
engine system lubricating oil, and is simply taken from the delivery to the engine
lubrication system.
Control oil - The control oil serves as the working medium for all rail valves of the
injection control units (ICU). The working pressure of the control oil is maintained
constant to ensure precise timing in the ICU. It is also used to prime the servo oil
rail at standstill thereby enabling a rapid starting of the engine.
Rail Unit
The rail unit contains the rail pipes and associated equipment for the fuel, servo
oil and control oil systems. The starting air system is not included in the rail unit.
The hydraulic pipes for the exhaust valve drives arch up from the exhaust valve
actuators on the servo oil rail, and the sets of triple high-pressure fuel injection
pipes rise up from the injection control units on the fuel rail.
The volume of the common-rail system and the supply rate from the fuel supply
pumps are such that the rail pressure is very stable with negligible pressure drop
after each injection.
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A D B C
Inside a Size IV rail unit during assembly. The exhaust valve actuator (A) is mounted on
the servo oil rail and the injection control unit (B) is on the fuel rail. Next to the fuel rail is
the smaller control oil rail (C) and the return pipe for servo and control oil (D).
Filter Unit
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Electronic Control System
All functions in the Sulzer RT-flex system are controlled and monitored through
the Wärtsilä Engine Control System (WECS). This is a modular electronic system
with separate microprocessor control units for each cylinder, and overall control
and supervision by duplicated microprocessor control units. The latter provide the
usual interface for the electronic governor and the shipboard remote control and
alarm systems.
An essential input signal for WECS is the engine crank angle. This is measured
very accurately by two sensors driven from a stub shaft on the free end of the
crankshaft. The sensors are able to give the absolute crank angle position
immediately that electrical power is applied. With RT-flex engines, the remote
control sends engine manoeuvring commands to the WECS. The remote control
processes speed signals from the engine order telegraph according to a defined
engine load program and fuelling limitations, and generates a fuel reference
signal for the WECS.
Electronic control units beneath the front of the rail unit of a Sulzer RT-flex96C engine.
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Key features of the Sulzer RT-flex system-
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How does this technology apply to control emission?
The precision and flexibility in engine setting given by the RT-flex system
facilitates compliance with the NOX regulation of Annex VI of the MARPOL 73/78
convention, usually referred to IMO NOX regulation.
The flexibility of the RT-flex engines will also allow a lowering of NOX emissions
if the corresponding increase in BSFC is acceptable. With common-rail injection,
a wide variety of injection patterns can be generated. The injected quantity of fuel
can be divided, for pre-injection, triple injection, etc. The Sulzer RT-flex engine,
with its individual fuel valve control, also has the unique ability to vary individually
the injection timing and sequence between the three fuel injectors in each
cylinder and thus to generate a tailor-made heat release.
In engine tests, this degree of flexibility has proved useful to reach NOX
emissions of 20 per cent below the IMO NOX limit with a moderate BSFC
increase of 2.3 per cent.
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What are the precautions involved in running this kind of
technology?
Reliability and safety has the utmost priority in the common rail RT-flex
system.
The duplicated high-pressure delivery pipes have stop cocks at both ends
to isolate any failed pipe. Each single pipe is adequate for the full delivery.
All high pressure pipes are double-walled for safety.
If the stroke measuring sensor fails, the WECS system switches the ICU
to a pure time control and triggers the signal based on the timing of the
neighbouring cylinders.
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References:-
Wartsila 2006 Technical papers - The Sulzer RT-Flex common rail system
described [Online]
Available from:
www.wartsila.com/.../ship_power/media_publications/technical_papers/sulzer/rtflex_descripti
on_20040816.pdf
[Accessed on 18 august 2006].
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