— 1 — © Wärtsilä Corporation, August 2004

The Sulzer RT-ﬂex Common-Rail System Described

Summary

Tis paper provides a description of the Sulzer R-flex electronically-controlled common-rail system embodied in Sulzer R-flexlow-speed marine engines. It covers the main elements of the R-flex system – the supply unit, rail unit and electronic controlsystem. Te system’s benefits are reviewed, together with its reliability and built-in redundancy. It also provides a reference tothe R-flex chronology leading up to the 12R-flex96C – the world’s most powerful common-rail engine.

Introduction

Although common-rail fuel injection is certainly not anew idea, it has only become truly practical in recentyears through the use of fully-integrated electroniccontrol based on high-performance computers whichallow the best use to be made of the flexibility possible with common-rail injection.Te traditional camshaft has the considerablelimitation of fixed timing given mechanically by thecams. Although Sulzer low-speed engines have long hadthe benefits of double valve-controlled fuel injectionpumps with variable injection timing (VI), and adegree of variable exhaust valve timing being achievedhydraulically in the VEC system, the variation in timingso obtained has been very limited.Instead electronically-controlled common-rail systemshave been adopted in the new Sulzer R-flex engines togive complete control of the timing, rate and pressure of fuel injection and the exhaust valve operation, allowingpatterns of operation which cannot be achieved by purely mechanical systems.Rather than ‘electronically controlled’, it would bemore accurate to describe Sulzer R-flex engines asbeing computer controlled. Tis is because in the R-flexsystem, engine functions are fully programmable, perhapslimited only by the designers’ imagination and the lawsof nature. Te challenge is to use this freedom to createpractical benefits for engine users.Te common-rail concept was adopted also becauseit has the advantage that the functions of pumpingand injection control are separated. Tis allows astraightforward approach to the mechanical andhydraulic aspects of the design, with a steady generationof fuel oil supply at the desired pressure ready forinjection. Te common-rail concept also has the uniqueadvantage that it allows the fuel injection valves to beindividually controlled. Usually there are three fuelinjection valves in each cylinder cover, and in the SulzerR-flex engines they are operated mostly in unison butunder certain circumstances they are operated separately for optimum combustion performance.Te common-rail concept thus provides an idealbasis for the application of a fully-integrated electroniccontrol. Te combined flexibilities of common rail andelectronic control provide improved low-speed operation,engine acceleration, balance between cylinders, loadcontrol, and longer times between overhauls. Tey alsoensure better combustion at all operating speeds andloads, giving benefits in lower fuel consumption, lowerexhaust emissions in terms of both smokeless operation atall operating speeds and less NO

emissions, and also acleaner engine internally with less deposits of combustionresidues. Engine diagnostics are built into the system,improving engine monitoring, reliability and availability. As the common-rail system is built speciﬁcally for

Page

Introduction 1Sulzer R-ﬂex system 2R-ﬂex Sizes 3Supply unit 3Servo oil 5Control oil 5Rail unit 7Injection control unit (ICU) 8Exhaust valve control 9Operating pressures and system energy 9Starting air system 9

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Electronic control 9Reliability and redundancy 10Operation and maintenance 11Key features of the Sulzer R-flex system 11Benefits from the Sulzer R-flex system 12Low exhaust emissions 12Very slow running 12Fuel consumption flexibility 12Conclusion 13Chronology for Sulzer R-flex engines 14Bibliography 15

Contents

— 2 — © Wärtsilä Corporation, August 2004

Rail unit withelectronic controlunitsSupply unitIntegrated automatic ﬁneﬁlter for servo and control oilFuel pumpsServo oil pumpsCrank angle sensor at free endDuplicated supply lines forfuel and servo oil

Fig. 1: Principal elements of the common-rail system on a Sulzer R-ﬂex engine. Note that there are variations on this arrangement in the various R-ﬂex engine types depending upon the engine type and number of cylinders.[02#072]

reliable operation on heavy fuel oil, it detracts nothingfrom the well-established economy of low-speed marinediesel engines but rather opens up new possibilities foreven better economy, ease of operation, reliability, timesbetween overhauls and lower exhaust emissions.It is more than ten years since development of theSulzer R-flex common-rail system began and morethan 20 years since the first tests were made withelectronically-controlled fuel injection in Winterthur,Switzerland.Te early camshaftless systems developed for Sulzerengines relied on integral electronic control but usedindividual, hydraulically-operated fuel injection pumps.However the change in injection concept from theindividual, hydraulically-operated fuel injection pumpsto a common-rail system in 1993 was made because thesystem with individual pumps did not offer potentialfor further technological development despite it havingintegral electronic control. Electronic control was foundto be insuffi cient by itself and a new fuel injection

able 1: Sulzer R-ﬂex engine programme 2004

Engine ype R-flex50 R-flex58-B R-flex60C R-flex68-B R-flex84-D R-flex96CBore, mm 500 580 600 680 840 960Stroke, mm 2050 2416 2250 2720 3150 2500Power, R1 kW/cyl 1620 2180 2360 3070 4200 5720Speed, rpm 124 105 114 95 76 102BMEP, bar 19.5 19.5 19.5 19.6 19.0 18.6Piston speed, m/s 8.5 8.5 8.6 8.6 8.0 8.5No. cylinders 5–8 5–8 5–9 5–8 5–9 6–12, 14R-flex Size 0 I I II IV IV concept was recognised as essential. Common rail wasseen as the road ahead and it is applied in Sulzer R-flexengines.Sulzer R-flex engines are thus notably different fromother electronically-controlled low-speed diesel enginestoday as Sulzer R-flex engines are unique in combiningthe benefits of both common-rail systems and electroniccontrol.

Sulzer RT-ﬂex system

Sulzer R-ﬂex engines are essentially standard SulzerRA low-speed two-stroke marine diesel engines exceptthat, instead of the usual camshaft and its gear drive, fuelinjection pumps, exhaust valve actuator pumps, reversingservomotors, and all their related mechanical control gear,they are equipped with a common-rail system for fuelinjection and exhaust valve actuation, and full electroniccontrol of engine functions.Tere are four principal elements in the Sulzer R-ﬂex

— 3 — © Wärtsilä Corporation, August 2004common-rail system: the rail unit along the side of thecylinders, the supply unit on the side of the engine, a ﬁlterunit for the servo oil, and the integrated electronic controlsystem, including the crank angle sensor.Te R-ﬂex engines are thus equipped with common-rail systems for:• heated fuel oil at pressures up to 1000 bar,• servo oil at pressures up to 200 bar,• control oil at a constant pressure of 200 bar,• engine starting air system.

RT-ﬂex Sizes

Te hardware in the R-ﬂex system is being developedin four principal sizes for the six engine types currently in the programme (see able 1). Te six R-ﬂex enginetypes cover a power range of 8100 to 80,080 kW (11,000to 108,920 bhp).Tis illustrates one of the advantages of the common-rail system in that hardware is standardised for groups of engine types, not just for the various cylinder numbers.

Supply unit

Fuel and servo oil are supplied to the common-rail systemfrom the supply unit which is driven through gearingfrom the engine crankshaft.In the first few R-flex engines, the supply unit is onthe exhaust side of the engine so that it could be lowerdown without interfering with access to the crankcase.However, for all subsequent engines, the location of thesupply unit has since been standardised on the front of the engine (on the same side as the rail unit) and at aboutmid height. Tis keeps the engine ‘footprint’ small sothat the engines can be located far aft in ships with fineafterbodies.Te supply unit is naturally at the location of thegear drive: at the driving end for five- to seven-cylinder

Fig. 2: Schematic of the common-rail systems in Sulzer R-ﬂex engines.[02#007]

Volumetricfuel injectioncontrol unitFuelinjectorsExhaust valveactuator

Exhaust valveactuating unitCrankanglesensorWECScontrolsystem

30bar starting air200bar servo oil and control oil1000bar fuel HFO / MDO

Fig. 3: Supply unit for a Sulzer 12R-ﬂex96C engine with the fuel pumps in a Vee-formarrangement on the left and servo oil pumps onthe right-hand face of the central gear drive. Te fuel pumps all deliver into the collector seen above the fuel pumps.[04#074]