The Story Of Large Vessel Engines

A look at the evolution of the engines that power large cargo vessels, as they evolved over the last 100 years. Starting with coal-driven steam reciprocating engines such as the triple expansion engines, steam turbines and finally to modern diesel marine engines. The different configurations of marine diesel are also explored and how their characteristics lend themselves to powering the largest ships in the world.

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FOOTAGE USED
harryolynx - Triple-Expansion Marine Steam Engine (1910) In Slow Motion

wartsilacorp - The new LNGPac™ LNG fuel handling system | Wärtsilä

[arienvanommen]

Hi, marine engineering student here, I want to make a comment on the electric drive pods shown in the video at 12:04. This type of propulsion is not more efficient than conventional type of propulsion and here is why.
For electric propulsion the diesel engines drive huge generators generating electricity. After that the electricity is transferred to the propeller's electric motor via an high voltage system. Then the electric motor has to turn the electric energy back into motional energy. In all these transitions of energy you lose some efficiency. Furthermore, the huge electric motor straight after the propeller increases drag. That's why this system is less efficient than conventional propulsion. That's also why the biggest container/ cargo ships still use the conventional method.
The advantages of the diesel-electric system is (like you said) maneuverability, but also there is more freedom in placing the engines in the ships design, since the engines don't have to be placed directly in front of the propellers. This is why the diesel electric system is massively used on cruise ships and dynamic positioning ships, where efficiency is less of a concern. Cruise ships sail into harbours almost daily, so a ship with more maneuverability saves in costs of hiring tug boats. Also space on a cruise ship is limited so being free in the placement of the engines helps with a compact engine room design.
Ships with dynamic positioning don't sail as much but need a system like this to accurately stay in position.
For those who have read this, thank you for your time and feel free to ask me any questions!
ps. don't mind my english, it's not my native language.

[jaikumar]

This channel is gold. ...every video is gold....who need Netflix

[liggerstuxin]

Underrated channel. Guarantee this will eventually get millions of subs. I sure hope so.

[John.z]

You mention the Titanic as a "steam piston engine" ship. But she was a bit of a hybrid. Her drive used two piston engines driving the wing shafts, and they both exhausted into a single low-pressure turbine that drove the centre shaft. Low pressure turbines have an advantage over the low pressure cylinder in a piston engine is allowing the condenser to set up a lower than atmospheric pressure at the exhaust without fear of water droplets forming and causing hydraulic locks in a piston engine cylinder.
This was exploited by Parsons in the early all-steam turbine ships as well.

[Stemolap]

Good video, struck close to home. I'm a mechanical engineer on board a ferry and we are a part of a pilot project currently, during witch our ship is fitted with peak-shaving hybrid solution. Currently our ship has diesel-electric power plant with azipod thrusters and we sail close to Natura 2000 nature protection area, so with EU/government/company go-funding we will be fitted with 670 kWh battery bank to reduce co2/nox emissions and running costs.

[MrEazyE]

I'm glad to watch this channel grow. He deserves millions of subscribers. It's great to see determined creators replace what The History Channel and Discovery used to be.

[RadioChief]

So much new information for me to learn packed inside this video with no fanfare, blaring music or other needless production gimmicks. Thank you!

[jackmills]

Crazy that some of these only reach 80 rpm. Some small gasoline 2 strokes can get above 15, 000 rpm. the torque figures on these diesels must by incredible.

[timothyball]

Well, dang. I was hoping for an internal look at the big engines, but got a history lesson. Well done and I learned stuff, just not what I was hoping for.

I will be sure to take a moment on Feb 28 to honor Mr. Diesel.

[NowAndyPlays]

As someone who works and a dual fuel vessel (similar to the one you showed in the video you showed a vs485) a wartsila vs4411. the big problem with Dual fuel is the amount of space you loose for cargo. our LNG tank holds about 200m3 of liquid methane, but takes roughly 700m3 of space. Also due to way these vessels operate close to oil platforms with all the engines on on very low power there is a lot of unburnt methane coming out of the funnel which is not very good for the environment.

[ABVollen]

I'm sailing on a 5500grwt supply vessel, we run 4 high speed engines dualfuel engines.
The other advantage to dualfuel which you didn't mention is that the engines are usually a lot more efficient running diesiel on low loads.

[pipelinecowboy]

Who says an old dog can't learn something new ? Always enjoy your content, very informative!

[PBGetson]

I recall at the age of 10, first seeing the diorama of the first shipping route, in the main White Pass and Yukon Route Depot in Whitehorse, Yukon. That was in 1973, shortly after moving here from PEI.
My father worked on the train for four years, beginning as a brakeman (the guy who gets out to change the tracks), and continuing on to engineer (the guy who drives the train) and eventually becoming a conductor (the guy responsible for the whole train). So, the White Pass and Yukon Route is definitely in my blood. Thank you for that brief foray into the past.

[danielmellstrom]

This is crazy how well done your videos are. Quality like any big tv documentary!
And the amount of research you obviusly put in to every video is astonishing.

I watch them all, and hope that you will keep them coming and that more people will find your channel so you make great money for for your effort

[LaGuerre]

This channel is excellent. The fascinating topics (the "Small Distances episode was outstanding), the detail, the knowledge shared... it's a great channel. Would subscribe several times if I could.

[Dingus]

I might be wrong, but I believe the "hybrid ships", that you mention towards the end, is the same drive-train style as modern railroad car engines.

[alfredzanini]

I'm still trying to get my head around how engines work, but this video was interesting even without managing to grasp that! Congrats :)

[AdventureswithAdeel]

request= "make video about LCD, IPS-LCD, OLED, and AMOLED" basically explaining the science of behind screens.

[prophetsspaceengineering]

That smoke effect at the 2:10 min mark looks pretty amazing. Thumbs up!

[old_guard]

Well done - some minor additions and corrections. (From the perspective of a retired U.S. Coast Guard marine engineer)
A two-stroke diesel will always have a scavenge blower to clear the exhaust gasses from the cylinder. Typically a Roots-type blower directly driven by the engine, it has to be functioning for the engine to start up. (Noting that Roots-type blowers from General Motors X-71 series engines were repurposed as superchargers on gasoline engines, such as on drag racers.) The turbochargers are generally optional, and use the exhaust gasses to spin up a compression turbine to boost power. By quite a bit. Example: Fairbanks-Morse 38 D 8 1/8 common on large Coast Guard cutters of the '70s and '80s - 12 cylinder version, no turbocharger: 2, 000 brake horsepower. Add two exhaust-driven turbochargers which kick in at about 600-700 rpm: 3, 600 horsepower, and still a very reliable (although mechanically complex) engine.
Reversing: Using gears to reverse the propeller for stopping or backing down is not feasible due to size and power constraints. Steam reciprocating engines and large diesel engines can be stopped, valve cams shifted, then started up in reverse getting full power to stop more efficiently. Steam turbines used a separate backing turbine which was considerably less powerful, so ships using them would take considerably longer to stop. Controllable pitch propellers can add reversing without changing the shaft rotation, but at the expense of complexity and cost.
Gas turbines: The U.S. Navy uses gas turbines extensively on smaller combatants, up to about the level of "cruiser". A lot of power in a very small package, but at with a considerable penalty in fuel consumption. (The first Coast Guard cutter I was assigned to was a frigate-sized ship with both diesels (19 knots) and gas turbines (28 knots). Range: 10, 000 miles on diesels, 3, 000 miles on gas turbines. We almost never ran the gas turbines unless the Navy was paying for the fuel. The Maritime Administration funded an experimental gas turbine - powered merchant ship (I forget the name) but it never took hold. I boarded the ship for a safety inspection and the Chief Engineer told me that the controllable pitch mechanism had failed halfway through the first voyage and they had to reverse halfway across the Atlantic.