Wärtsilä engines for the most modern icebreaker
The recently introduced Wärtsilä 31 engine, which has been acknowledged by the Guinness Records Book as being the world’s most efficient 4-stroke diesel engine, has been selected to drive a new generation icebreaker currently under construction at the PJSC Vyborg shipyard.
The ship is being built on behalf of FSUE Atomflot, the enterprise of Rosatom, the state corporation for atomic energy. The contract was signed in September.
When delivered, the icebreaker will serve the Yamal LNG project in Sabetta, located north-east of the Yamal Peninsula in Russia. This industrial project is one of the largest in the Arctic. Efficiency in fuel consumption and reliability were the two major deciding factors behind the choice of the Wärtsilä 31 engine. Other key considerations in the decision process were the engine’s operational flexibility and its outstanding performance in extreme environmental conditions. The new vessel will operate in temperatures as low as minus 50 ° C
The new generation icebreaker Aker ARC 124 will will feature three 8-cylinder Wärtsilä 31 engine. The installation will also include Wärtsilä’s online monitoring of the engines, thereby enabling their operating condition to be closely followed remotely. An additional characteris-tic of the newly introduced vessel is that it will feature a totally new approach to mainte-nance. The first major service required by the Wärtsilä 31 comes only after 8000 running hours (compared to 2000 running hours for engines of a similar class), thus making the Wärt-silä 31 a clear leader in this field. This dramatic improvement reduces maintenance costs to a previously unattainably low level, as well as greatly increasing the vessel’s uptime availability.
The Wärtsilä 31 is the first of a new generation of medium speed engines, designed to set a new benchmark in efficiency and overall emissions performance. It is available in 8 to 16 cyl-inder configurations and has a power output ranging from 4.2 to 9.8 MW, at 720 and 750 rpm. This 4-stroke engine has the best fuel economy of any engine in its class.
New LNG bunkering vessel
Moreover, the company has reported that a new 5800 m3 LNG bunker and feeder vessel, being built for Sirius Veder Gas AB at Royal Bodewes, Hoogezand, in the Netherlands. The Wärtsilä propulsion package will comprise a 6-cylinder Wärtsilä 34DF dual-fuel main engine capable of running on either LNG or diesel, a reduction gearbox with power take-off (PTO), a shaft line suitable for use with environmentally friendly lubricants and equipped with a Wärt-silä Airguard aft seal that allows zero emissions, and a Wärtsilä controllable pitch propeller.
The Wärtsilä equipment is scheduled for delivery in 2016 and the vessel is due to be deliv-ered in February 2017.
(Source: Industrias Pesqueras)