MAN B&W Diesel A/S 1 (12)

Introduction to the Alpha lubricator system.

Mechanical System:

Alpha lubricator:

Hydraulic electrical unit controlled by the Alpha Lubricator Control Unit (ALCU). The unit
uses the cylinder oil as hydraulic supply, as well as injecting it in the cylinder liner. There
is one or two alpha lubricator for each cylinder, depending on the engine type.
The unit has a fixed stroke, mechanically adjusted by a shim. The feed rate is adjusted by
changing the injection frequency, e.g. injection every 4th revolution.
The unit gives a feed back signal to the computer when the stroke is finished, by means of
a proximity sensor. This feed back signal is also displayed by a LED on an intermediate
box next to each alpha lubricator.

Booster Pump station:

The pump boosts the cylinder lub. oil up to a working pressure of 45 bar.
The pump station comprises 2 similar displacement pumps, one running and one stand-
by. The unit also has pressure- and temperature sensors for feedback to the computer
system.
The pump station is fed with cylinder lub. oil from the usual gravity tank.

General info:

The original Hans Jensen system can be kept as a back-up system. It will be
disconnected at the driving clutches at the engine chain drive. The no flow alarms should
be disabled.

D:\USERDATA\Alpha Lubricator\Instruction\Alpha-retrofit.doc 2003-01-28

Tom Ballegaard
MAN B&W Diesel A/S 2 (12)

Electrical System:

The following three units are placed in the Alpha Lubricator Control Unit (ALCU). The ALCU
is normally placed in a switchboard room or in the control room.

MCU: (Master Control Unit)

This unit is the main computer for calculation of the cylinder oil injection.
The system uses an angle encoder to calculate the exact timing of the injection, so that
the injection takes place directly onto the piston rings in the compression stroke. This unit
is connected to the HMI panel, where alarms and various running parameters are
displayed. The cyl. oil feed rate is adjusted from the HMI panel.
A few external alarms are also connected to the engine alarm system.

Angle Encoder:

The encoder is located on the forward end of the engine, and directly connected to the
crank shaft.
If the encoder is a double encoder with 2 separate outputs, there are 2 terminalboxes, one
for the lubricator system and the other can be used for PMI.
A LED on the terminal box indicates TDC cylinder 1.

BCU: (Backup Control Unit)

This unit takes over the lubrication control in case the MCU fails to obtain the lubrication.
This unit has un-timed lubrication, and uses only the back-up pickups as speed indicators.
In case the BCU takes control, the lubrication (feed rate) will be increased by 50 %.
The orange lamp “BCU in control” is lit.

Back -up Pick ups:

2 pieces of proximity sensors located at the turning wheel. A plate is mounted on the
turning wheel and indicates TDC cylinder 1.

SBU: (Switch Board Unit)

A relay unit, which switches the hard wired signals for the alpha lubricator between the
MCU and the BCU.

D:\USERDATA\Alpha Lubricator\Instruction\Alpha-retrofit.doc 2003-01-28

Tom Ballegaard
MAN B&W Diesel A/S 3 (12)

Retrofit instruction:
Liner modification:

The holes for the cylinder lubricator nozzles must be modified. The holes are drilled
bigger, and horizontal grooves are ground in the liner surface, see fig. 1. The groove size
is about 5 mm wide and 7mm deep.
On the bigger engines (from bore 60) the holes can be drilled from the inside with a hand
drilling machine (use hard metal drills), and the grooves are ground with an angle grinder.
Be careful not to grind the groove too deep.

The horizontal grooves are to ensure that the oil is injected directly onto the piston rings.

Fig. 1 (New horizontal groove)

Check the correct size of the groove by inserting a needle in the nozzle holes, see fig. 2
(for a S80MC) where the bold lines indicate needles.

D:\USERDATA\Alpha Lubricator\Instruction\Alpha-retrofit.doc 2003-01-28

Tom Ballegaard
MAN B&W Diesel A/S 4 (12)

Fig. 2 (Bold lines indicate the needles)

The liner modification requires turning gear control unless the pistons are removed.

Lubricators:

Install the Alpha lubricators in a position with easy access for maintenance/changing.
Make sure that there is sufficient space for the nitrogen charging tools for the
accumulators.
The lubricators can be positioned in any direction.
The accumulators are not charged at delivery, and charging tools are delivered together
with the other tools for the lubricators, but nitrogen is vessel or yard supply.

There are one 0.7 l inlet accumulator (to be charged with 25 - 30 bar) for each cylinder,
and one 0.16 l outlet accumulator (to be charged with 1.5 bar) for each lubricator.

It is not possible to check the nitrogen pressure in the small accumulators, because a
small amount of nitrogen will leak out during installation of the charging tool. As the
nitrogen amount in the accumulator is very small, this leak will have a big effect on the
pressure. Therefore nitrogen must be available and the accumulators must be re-charged.

D:\USERDATA\Alpha Lubricator\Instruction\Alpha-retrofit.doc 2003-01-28

Tom Ballegaard
MAN B&W Diesel A/S 5 (12)

Piping:

Feed line to the booster pump station:

Some plants have heat tracing on the cylinder lubricating feed line. This must be turned
of, otherwise the oil temp. in the booster pump tank will be too high.

Return line from the booster pump station:

The cylinder lub. oil service tank acts as a cooler, if the temp. of the return oil from the
lubricators exceeds 45 °C, a thermostatic valve mounted on the booster pump station will
lead the return oil to the service tank instead of to the booster pump tank. It doesn’t matter
if the return line enters the tank above or below the oil level.

8 mm pipes:

If the existing lubricators are kept as back-up, T-pieces and non-return valves are inserted
in each 8 mm pipe. The best way to do it is to insert them in the vertical pipes directly after
the outlet from the existing lubricators, see fig. 3.
The pipes from the Alpha lubricators should be as direct as possible, and only vertical
rising and horizontal see fig. 4.
If the T-pieces and non-return valves are inserted in the horizontal pipes and if pipe loops
cannot be avoided, see fig. 5, there is a risk that air pockets will be trapped in the pipes.

Fig. 3 (T-pieces and non-return valves)

D:\USERDATA\Alpha Lubricator\Instruction\Alpha-retrofit.doc 2003-01-28

Tom Ballegaard
MAN B&W Diesel A/S 6 (12)

Fig. 4 (vertical rising and horizontal)

Fig. 5 (Pipe loops, avoid this)

D:\USERDATA\Alpha Lubricator\Instruction\Alpha-retrofit.doc 2003-01-28

Tom Ballegaard
MAN B&W Diesel A/S 7 (12)

BCU pick-ups:

The pick-ups must be mounted so that the 2 sensors are activated at the same time (TDC
unit No. 1) see fig. 6, otherwise alarm 48 (Angle deviation, marker signals) will be
generated. Max angle deviation is 2 deg.

Fig. 6 (Example of mounting of BCU pick-ups)

D:\USERDATA\Alpha Lubricator\Instruction\Alpha-retrofit.doc 2003-01-28

Tom Ballegaard
MAN B&W Diesel A/S 8 (12)

Cabling:

Interface to existing systems: (Owners responsibility)

All contact inputs to the ALCU must be potential free.

Power supply
Voltage Breaker Comment
Control system 24 V DC 2 separate16 A, Voltage to be constant up to 1.5 x IN.
(2 supplies) characteristic C Cable quadrate: 1.5 for 0 – 25 m
breakers supplied from 2.5 for 25 – 70 m
same UPS 4.0 for 70 – 150 m
Booster pump 3 x 380 / 2 separate Voltage according to pump station
station 440 V 10 A, characteristic C specification
(2 supplies) breakers

Interface to alarm system

Alarm text Type Input / output Comment
Alpha lub. Common NC Output from ALCU
Alarm
Alpha lub.MCU NC Output from ALCU
No delay required in alarm system.
Power fail
It is very important that there is no
Alphalub. BCU in NC Output from ALCU
OFF delay, whereas a small ON
Control
delay can be accepted, but no delay
Alpha lub.BCU NC Output from ALCU
is preferred
Power fail
Alpha lub. MCU Fail NC Output from ALCU
Alpha lub.BCU Fail NC Output from ALCU

Interface to safety system

Text Type Input / output Comment
BCU Stop NO Input to ALCU To be closed in stop
Ahead / Astern NO Input to ALCU To be closed in Astern
Slow Down from NO / Output from ALCU NC / NO can be selected at BCU
Alpha lub. NC
MCU Stop NO Input to ALCU To be closed in stop
BCU Stop and MCU Stop must be 2 separate isolated contacts.

Interface to governor system

Text Type Input / output Comment
LCD Input NO Input to ALCU Standard.
Telegraph pos. 4– Input to ALCU Only used if the LCD output cannot
20 Isolated and powered be supplied from the governor
mA from ALCU system

Interface to auxiliary blowers

Text Type Input / output Comment
Pre lubrication NO Input to ALCU To be activated at Aux. blower start

D:\USERDATA\Alpha Lubricator\Instruction\Alpha-retrofit.doc 2003-01-28

Tom Ballegaard
MAN B&W Diesel A/S 9 (12)

Cable glands:

The screen must be terminated in the cable gland by pulling the lock nut and the grommet
over the cable, fold the screen over the grommet, push the grommet with the cable into
the body and tighten the lock nut. See fig. 7.

Fig. 7 (Terminating of the screen)

Intermediate boxes:

Be careful with the cable glands, the distance to the printed circuit board is very small, and
there is a risk that the screen from the cables are touching the board, making a short
circuit.

D:\USERDATA\Alpha Lubricator\Instruction\Alpha-retrofit.doc 2003-01-28

Tom Ballegaard
MAN B&W Diesel A/S 10 (12)

Booster pump station:

The pump station can be placed anywhere (min. 3 m) below the cylinder lub. oil service
tank an example is at the camshaft platform as shown on fig. 8.

Fig. 8 (Booster pump station)

Temp. reading:

The temp. reading on the HMI panel must be calibrated to compensate for the cable
resistance, otherwise the temp. shown on the HMI panel will be incorrect. The
calibration is done in the MCU setup file by changing the parameter “C_MaxTOilInlet”.
Measure the oil temp. in the booster pump tank, and correct the “C_MaxTOilinlet” value
with the difference between the oil temp displayed on the HMI and the local
measurement. This can be done in the lubsetup.exe program by changing the
parameter “Oil temp. calib. Factor”.

Start up of pump station:

Check both pumps for correct rotation direction.

If pressure cannot be obtained, it could be due to air trapped in the suction line or filter.
Loosen the suction pipe at the pumps to de-airate the system.

D:\USERDATA\Alpha Lubricator\Instruction\Alpha-retrofit.doc 2003-01-28

Tom Ballegaard
MAN B&W Diesel A/S 11 (12)

Service terminal:

The service terminal is connected to the controller via the COM port and a 0-modem
cable.
A hyper terminal is used as communication software.

Set up for the hyper terminal:

Connect to: COM port:

Port settings for MCU:

Bits pr. second: 9600 (must correspond to DIP switch SW1 pos. 1 & 2)
Data bits: 8
Paraty: None
Stop bits: 1
Flow control: None

Port settings for BCU:

Bits pr. second: 57600
Data bits: 8
Paraty: None
Stop bits: 1
Flow control: Xon – Xoff

Settings:
Emulation: VT100

Transfer menu: Send File / Receive File - Protocol: Xmodem

Working plan:

On page 12 is an example of a gantt chart based on M/V British Progress, a 7S80MC done
at Dubai Dry Dock July 2002.
As the time consumption depends on the yard / workers doing the job, this gantt chart can
only be used as a guidance.

D:\USERDATA\Alpha Lubricator\Instruction\Alpha-retrofit.doc 2003-01-28

Tom Ballegaard
MAN B&W Diesel A/S 12 (12)

D:\USERDATA\Alpha Lubricator\Instruction\Alpha-retrofit.doc 2003-01-28

Tom Ballegaard