Service Letter SL2013-573/JAG
Action code: WHEN CONVENIENT
Exhaust Valve Condition
In Relation to Low Load Operation
SL2013-573/JAG
August 2013
Concerns
Owners and operators of MAN B&W
two-stroke marine diesel engines.
Dear Sirs Type: MC/MC-C and ME/ME-C/ME-B
Since we issued the three Service Letters, SL2008-501, SL2009-511 Summary
and SL2011-544, describing low-load operation down to 40% and Long-term low load operation down
10% load, we have gained valuable experience on the exhaust valve to 10% engine load is generally pos-
condition during low-load operation. sible with appropriate precautions and
without major modifications. However,
In our 2008 Service Letter (SL08-501), we informed that an increase in some cases, the thermal load profile
of the exhaust valve temperature may lead to higher exhaust valve causes the need for extra inspections
spindle wear and shorter exhaust valve overhaul intervals, i.e. shorter and overhauls.
time between disc rewelding.
With reference to the previous market situation, MAN B&W two-
stroke engines were designed for continuous operation in a high
engine load range and, accordingly, the designs and materials of
exhaust valves were optimised for this range. Also, overhaul intervals
and expected lifetimes were stipulated for engines operating in a high
load range. However, long-term low-load operation down to 10% en-
gine load is generally possible when taking appropriate precautions,
such as more frequent inspections and overhauls of exhaust valves.
In order to counteract this increased cost on exhaust valves for op-
eration at low load, we have reviewed the possibilities for rewelding
of exhaust valves and have confirmed that up to three times instead
of the present standard with maximum rewelding two times is pos-
sible. Furthermore, we have for large bore engines increased the
burn-away limits.
Yours faithfully
Mikael C Jensen Stig B Jakobsen
Vice President, Engineering Senior Manager, Operation
Head office (& postal address) PrimeServ Production Forwarding & Receiving MAN Diesel & Turbo
MAN Diesel & Turbo Teglholmsgade 41 Teglholmsgade 35 Teglholmsgade 35 Branch of MAN Diesel & Turbo SE,
Teglholmsgade 41 2450 Copenhagen SV 2450 Copenhagen SV 2450 Copenhagen SV Germany
2450 Copenhagen SV Denmark Denmark Denmark CVR No.: 31611792
Denmark Phone: +45 33 85 11 00 Phone: +45 33 85 11 00 Phone: +45 33 85 11 00 Head office: Teglholmsgade 41
Phone: +45 33 85 11 00 Fax: +45 33 85 10 49 Fax: +45 33 85 10 17 Fax: +45 33 85 10 16 2450 Copenhagen SV, Denmark
Fax: +45 33 85 10 30 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] German Reg.No.: HRB 22056
[email protected] Amtsgericht Augsburg
www.mandieselturbo.com
Service Letter SL2013-573/JAG
Contents case, temperatures increase (green and black curves)
Low-load benefits and additional costs page 2 when loads increase when operating with T/C cut-out. This
Operation condition and thermal load page 2 situation will differ depending on the engine type, size, lay-
Recommendations page 4 out point and tuning method applied. Therefore, the only
way forward in case of prolonged low-load operation is to
inspect more frequently in order to learn the specific burn-
away rate for the engine in question with the specific low-
load operation pattern.
Low-load benefits and additional costs
Operation down to 10% load is feasible for all ME/ME-C/
ME-B and MC/MC-C engines without requiring engine
Temperature
modifications.
The optimisation of engine operation at low load has put
focus on improving the fuel oil consumption at these low
loads. Retrofit of turbocharger cut-out systems has be-
come popular. And for new projects, optimisation with
exhaust gas bypass, and low-load and part-load tuning 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110
methods (especially for the ME engines) will change the Load %
BOTTOM, normal operation SEAT, normal operation BOTTOM , T/C cut-out SEAT, T/C cut-out
thermal load on the exhaust valves.
Fig. 1: Exhaust valve temperatures, 8K90MC-C
Due to thermal load changes, especially when it comes to
exhaust valve components, continuous operation at low
load will require more attention to the engine condition and Fig. 2 illustrates exhaust valve disc bottom and spindle seat
overhaul intervals. temperatures on a 10S90ME-C9.2 engine as a function of
load. As can be seen, the temperature decreases on both
However, this cost increase is, as described in previous the exhaust valve disc bottom and disc seat when reduc-
low load Service Letters, easily outbalanced by the savings ing from 25% load to 10% load. The influence of the auxil-
gained in fuel and cylinder oil consumption per nautical liary blower on/off at 25% load can also be seen. We can
mile. only repeat our recommendation to inspect exhaust valves
when operating in the low-load range in order to schedule
reconditioning in due time.
Operation condition and thermal load
Continuous operation at low engine load requires more at-
tention from the owner or operator. Frequent inspections
are paramount to follow the condition of the engine com-
Temperature
ponents. Furthermore, planning of maintenance is crucial.
A higher thermal load on the exhaust valve components
must be expected when operating the engine in the load
area just above the cut-in point of the auxiliary blowers.
During long time low-load operation, the average tempera-
ture of the spindle disc underside will be higher and, as a 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110
consequence, high-temperature corrosion and the calcu- Load %
BOTTOM, Aux Blower on SEAT, Aux Blower on BOTTOM , Aux Blower off SEAT, Aux Blower off
lated burn-away rate will also be higher.
Fig. 2: Exhaust valve temperatures, 10S90ME-C9.2
Fig. 1 illustrates exhaust valve disc bottom and spindle
seat temperatures on an 8K90MC-C engine as a func-
tion of the load. As can be seen, when operating at lower
loads without T/C cut-out, the temperature increases when
the load decreases (red and blue curves). However, in this
Exhaust Valve Condition. Page 2 of 4 pages
Service Letter SL2013-573/JAG
Engine type Burn away Running (hrs.) Burn away rate Spindle lifetime
K98ME 9 mm 14,000 0.64 61,000 hrs.
S60MC-C 11 mm 26,000 0.43 64,000 hrs.
K98MC-C 7.5 mm 15,000 0.50 78,000 hrs.
S90MC-C8 14 mm 15,000 0.93 39,000 hrs.
Burn away rate = mm / 1,000 hrs.
Normal lifetime = 100,000 hrs. including reconditioning of spindle
Table 1: Previous spindle lifetimes (examples)
Table 1 illustrates some examples of burn-away rates ob- Table 4 shows the calculated burn-away rate with a spindle
served during low-load operation in relation to the previous lifetime of 100,000 hours.
standard for overhaul.
Values can change if other contributing factors have an in-
We have changed our max. burn-aways as follows: fluence on engine performance.
Engine type Previous New Burn-away rate per 1,000 hrs.
60 9 mm Unchanged Engine size Previous New
70 10 mm Unchanged 60 0.27 mm 0.36 mm
80 11 mm 14 mm 65 0.30 mm 0.40 mm
90 12 mm 17 mm 70 0.30 mm 0.40 mm
98 13 mm 20 mm 80 0.33 mm 0.56 mm
90 0.36 mm 0.68 mm
Table 2: Maximum burn-aways 98 0.39 mm 0.80 mm
With these new limits, three times reconditioning and new Table 4: Allowable burn-away rates
limit for burn-away, the spindle lifetimes illustrated in Table
1 will be as follows:
Fig. 3 shows an exhaust valve on an S60MC-C8.1 engine
Spindle
Engines Burn away Running hours inspected after 26,000 hours after long-time low-load op-
lifetime
eration. The burn-away rate is more than 11 mm and, ac-
K98ME 9 mm 14,000 124,000 hrs.
cording to the instruction manual, the maximum burn-away
S60MC-C 11 mm 26,000 85,000 hrs.
for rewelding on this engine type is 9 mm. Again, in view of
K98MC-C 7.5 mm 15,000 160,000 hrs. low load, this calls for a more frequent inspection interval
S90MC-C8 14 mm 15,000 73,000 hrs. and planning of maintenance.
Table 3: Updated spindle lifetimes (examples)
As can be seen, three times reconditioning combined with
new burn-away limits will, to a large extent, mitigate the
shortening influence of low-load operation on the exhaust
valve spindle lifetime.
Fig. 3: Exhaust valve, S60MC-C8.1
Exhaust Valve Condition. Page 3 of 4 pages
Service Letter SL2013-573/JAG
Recommendations
In case of prolonged low-load operation, more frequent in-
spections are called for to judge the burn-away rate on the
exhaust valve bottom. In general, it is not possible to give
overall guidelines for overhaul intervals at low load, as the
points listed below are factors contributing in a mixture to
give different burn-away rates for a given vessel:
full or derated engine layout
t ype of fuel valves (we recommend to use slide-type fuel
valves running at low load).
t ype of turbocharging system layout
auxiliary blower’s switch-off point
f uel oil quality
turbocharger cut-out.
D epending on the use of fuel optimisation methods at low
load, different loads can be more or less critical
If running at a load very close to and just above the auxil-
iary blower cut-in point, we recommend to change the load
slightly to keep the blower running. Alternatively, the auxil-
iary blower could be switched to “manual on”.
For any questions regarding the content of this Service
Letter, please contact our Operation department, LEO, at
[email protected].
Exhaust Valve Condition. Page 4 of 4 pages
