The Most Powerful Diesel Engine in the World!

http://www.bath.ac.uk/~ccsshb/12cyl/

The Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C turbocharged two-stroke diesel engine is the most powerful and most efficient prime-mover in the world today. The Aioi Works of Japan's Diesel United, Ltd built the first engines and is where some of these pictures were taken.
It is available in 6 through 14 cylinder versions, all are inline engines. These engines were designed primarily for very large container ships. Ship owners like a single engine/single propeller design and the new generation of larger container ships needed a bigger engine to propel them.

The cylinder bore is just under 38" and the stroke is just over 98". Each cylinder displaces 111,143 cubic inches (1820 liters) and produces 7780 horsepower. Total displacement comes out to 1,556,002 cubic inches (25,480 liters) for the fourteen cylinder version.

Some facts on the 14 cylinder version:
Total engine weight: 2300 tons (The crankshaft alone weighs 300 tons.)
Length: 89 feet
Height: 44 feet
Maximum power: 108,920 hp at 102 rpm
Maximum torque: 5,608,312 lb/ft at 102rpm

Fuel consumption at maximum power is 0.278 lbs per hp per hour (Brake Specific Fuel Consumption). Fuel consumption at maximum economy is 0.260 lbs/hp/hour. At maximum economy the engine exceeds 50% thermal efficiency. That is, more than 50% of the energy in the fuel in converted to motion.
For comparison, most automotive and small aircraft engines have BSFC figures in the 0.40-0.60 lbs/hp/hr range and 25-30% thermal efficiency range.

Even at it's most efficient power setting, the big 14 consumes 1,660 gallons of heavy fuel oil per hour.



A cross section of the RTA96C:


The internals of this engine are a bit different than most automotive engines.
The top of the connecting rod is not attached directly to the piston. The top of the connecting rod attaches to a "crosshead" which rides in guide channels. A long piston rod then connects the crosshead to the piston.
I assume this is done so the the sideways forces produced by the connecting rod are absorbed by the crosshead and not by the piston. Those sideways forces are what makes the cylinders in an auto engine get oval-shaped over time.

[turmite]

WC I am seeing potential here for a diy diesel powered 3 axis router to end all routers!!

Mike

[teilhardo]

Thats the biggest *&%$# IC engine I've ever seen. What are they going to use it for? Why use a diesel engine, why not go with nuclear power or gas turbine?

Originally posted by teilhardo Thats the biggest *&%$# IC engine I've ever seen. What are they going to use it for? Why use a diesel engine, why not go with nuclear power or gas turbine?

From what I read, it going in a Toyota pickup to go against Ford super duty... LOL

[Mariss Freimanis]

Geez.. My calculator shows 3,776 gallons per hour.

108,920 HP times 0.26 lbs/HP/hr = 28,320 lbs / hr. Figuring 7.5 lbs / gallon for oil (from my private pilot days) gives 3,776 gallons per hour, not 1,666.

Mariss

[kenlambert]

I want to see the size of the torqe wrench LOL

bet that would be a man killer tool

[whiteriver]

woha.
Thats about as big and powerful as my Ford F250 Powerstroke. But I get better fuel economy.

Donny

[Swede]

Originally posted by Mariss Freimani Geez.. My calculator shows 3,776 gallons per hour. 108,920 HP times 0.26 lbs/HP/hr = 28,320 lbs / hr. Figuring 7.5 lbs / gallon for oil (from my private pilot days) gives 3,776 gallons per hour, not 1,666. Mariss

I think those numbers are mutually exclusive, the 0.26 figure being best economy, and the 108,920 HP being peak HP. Not sure. One thing to ponder is the fuel consumption of this humongous diesel vs. a modern gas turbine engine as used on say a Boeing 777. I don't know what the horsepower of the 777's Rolls Royce Trent engine is, but it is astronomical, and at takeoff power settings will consume probably 4000 gallons/hour or over a gallon per second per engine. 90,000 lb thrust.

So here you have a giant diesel engine which weighs 4,600,000 pounds, or the weight of 6 Boeing 777 airplanes combined. It is VERY strange to me that an engine of this mass has a use. Imagine the maintenance! The Japanese are smart, it must be economically viable. Amazing stuff.

[whiteriver]

Well at those numbers under a full steam from china to seattle that would be about $500,000. Even at that high of a shipping cost those damn american companies in china can still ship raw materials from the us to china make the item and ship it back to the US. And sell it to us cheaper than we can make it for buying the raw materials here.
Just can't compete with slave labor and a US government that makes it easy for China to sell here. Not to mention the tax breaks American Companies get for going over there.
I could pack my bags and move over there and make 3 times the money and live ten times better starting a company there. Nah. American born and bread American till i'm Dead.

Donny

[teilhardo]

Hey Donny,
You could just start a company, have all its ops done (and you could even stay here) in the US and have it "headquartered" (ie a po box) in the Carribean, live here and enjoy all the tax breaks of the Virgin Island govts.

[Mariss Freimanis]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, Gecko drives are designed here, manufactured here, shipped from here and tech-supported from here. We use domestic electronic components (where possible), sheetmetal and printed circuit boards. The hand-assembly is also contracted out to domestic assembly shops. We do that because the price is nearly the same as off-shore but we have much better contol over quality and a much shorter turn-around time.

The choice is based entirely on practical economic considerations; equal quality, near equal prices but I can order up 5,000 aluminum housings, have them fabricated, tapped, anodizied, silkscreened, and have them in 2 weeks. Can't do that off-shore.

By the way, over 35% of our sales are international; we sell a lot of drives in China.

Mariss

[Bloy2004]

Hmmm... well after all that's been said above, don't forget that we are all on the same little ball, like houses in a neighborhood, neighborhoods in a city, cities in a county, counties in a state, states in a country, countries in a world...that small little ball.....