The companies China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) and Wärtsilä have announced that Wärtsilä has transferred its share of 30 % in the Winterthur Gas & Diesel (WinGD) company to CSSC, one of the largest shipping conglomerates in China, after which CSSC has gained full ownership of WinGD. WinGD is seated in Winterthur in Switzerland and is one of the earliest representatives of diesel technology, having started the development of large internal combustion engines in 1898 under the name "Sulzer". As an independent international company, WinGD will continue to develop its portfolio of low-speed two-stroke marine engines and cooperate with the services network of the Wärtsilä corporation for the purpose of providing post-purchase support services to buyers.
In December last year, the MAN company presented the last generation of serial six-cylinder engines for working ships. The first engine produced, MAN D2676 LE443, with a capacity of 537 kW (730 HP) at 2300 revolutions per minute, and a cylinder capacity of 12.4 l is intended for use on a new ship for salmon hunting, the LT32 Gilnetter built in the Mavrik Marine shipyard in the state of Washington. The new design of the LT32 ship is adapted for navigation in the shallow waters of the Bristol Bay in Alaska, an advantage in which is ensured by the weight of the D2676 engine, whose dry mass is 1200 kg, that is, 105 kg less than that of the older type, MAN D2876, while its other key advantages include low fuel consumption and quiet operation. The first voyage of the ship is scheduled for late autumn this year.
In America, the German automobile company Volkswagen agreed to pay 10 billion dollars for the buyback of the models with a device for falsifying the results of pollutant emission, as well for compensation to their buyers. It will also pay 2.7 billion to federal and Californian regulators for financing the projects of pollution reduction and 2 billion for investments into clean technology. In addition, it has announced the payment of 603 million dollars for buyers' and environmental claims in 44 federal states.
The 15.3-billion-dollar settlement for the removal of 500 thousand diesel vehicles with fake data on pollutant emissions from American roads represents a record in the automobile manufacturing industry, and the damage to the finances and reputation of the automobile giant could become even greater following the lawsuits and claims in at least 5 more American federal states, Germany and South Korea.
The world’s biggest engine is indeed a great colossus, with a height of approximately 13.5 metres, a length of 26.6 m and a weight of 2300 tonnes.
It has 14 cylinders and the capacity per cylinder is 5,720 kW, which gives it a total capacity of 80,080 kW.
It was manufactured to transport ultra-large container ships which carry approximately 16,000 containers.
The engine has a significant capacity, but also a great "thirst" – if it ran for an entire day, it would consume 250 tonnes of fuel!
The biggest and most powerful engine in the history of the MAN Diesel & Turbo company portfolio has been put in operation. The MAN B&W 11G95ME-C9.5 two-stroke engine of 75,570 kW (103 thousand horse-power), which is the main engine of the MSC Jade container ship with a load-bearing capacity of 19437 TEU, owned by the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) shipping company, was produced by the Korean company Doosan Engine. The ship also contains 4 MAN L32/40 (2 x 8L32 /40 + 2 x 9L32/40) auxiliary engines, each of which contains one MAN NR34/S turbocharger.
The engine is the first in a series of six engines ordered by the MSC.
At the beginning of the 2000s, MAN, a pioneer in the field of two-stage turbocharging, developed the MAN ECOCHARGE system, a combination of the low-pressure and high-pressure stages with intercooling, which significantly improves engine performance.
In May 2016, the MAN Diesel & Turbo company sold its 1000th turbocharger for two-stage turbocharging.
The ECOCHARGE system optimally connects the low-pressure turbocharger – usually a TCA or a TCR one – with the high-pressure stage, for which the recently developed TCX series has been designed. The increase of the efficiency of turbocharging, as compared to that of single-stage turbochargers, is mostly related to the intercooler, which significantly reduces the energy required for the compression of incoming air to high pressure. The greater capacity generated by the ECOCHARGE technology provides an opportunity of choosing between a significant increase of engine output or a reduction of the size of the engine without a negative impact on its performance. So far, the ECOCHARGE technology has been implemented in several new four-stroke engines, such as types 12 or 20 V 32/44 CR TSS and 12 or 20 V 35/44G TS, which can also be gas-fired.