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‫‪Marine Diesel Engine‬‬

‫‪Lubricating Oil System‬‬

‫ﻣﺼﻄﻔﻲ ﺟﻌﻔﺮزاده‬
Marine Diesel Engine Lubricating Oil System

I- Introduction to Diesel Engine Lubricating Oil System

The main functions of a diesel engine lubricant are:
 Reduced wear
 Cooling
 Cleaning
 Sealing
 Protection against corrosion
Reduced wear:
The main function of a lubricant in a diesel engine is to reduce wear to an absolute
minimum.
A lubricant does this by providing an effective film between the engine's moving
parts to keep them separate and allow smooth operation.
As well as reducing wear, a lubricant also fulfills important subsidiary functions,
which help prolong engine life and reduce operating costs.
Cooling:
5-10% of the energy generated by fuel combustion is transferred to the engine
lubricant which must, therefore, be an efficient coolant.
In large diesel engines, the pistons are oil-cooled. This is done by directing a flow
of oil into the piston undercrown, by means of an oil passage in the connecting rod.
Oil coolers are fitted to large engines, to remove the heat.
Cleaning:
Incomplete combustion of fuel can lead to accumulation of soot and other deposits
in the engine.
This problem is especially severe in engines burning residual fuel.
Abrasive wear and corrosion can also cause the formation of wear particles.
An engine lubricant must clean the components, carrying away contaminants and
holding in suspension fuel contaminants and insoluble deposits.
Removal of deposits from the piston ring belt is critical to allow the rings to
maintain a good seal.
Sealing:
A diesel engine can create cylinder pressures of up to 180 bar: that is about 180
times atmospheric pressure.
To maintain power and economy, a lubricant must provide an effective seal between
the piston and cylinder wall to prevent the escape of gases (blow-by).
In order to do this it must keep ring groves, and the "lands" between the grooves,
clean and unobstructed, allowing them to adjust effectively to the varying cylinder
contours.

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Marine Diesel Engine Lubricating Oil System

Protection against corrosion:

A lubricant must be able to protect the engine against corrosion.
Corrosive wear is due to attack on piston rings and cylinder liner walls by sulphuric
acid, produced when any fuel containing sulphur is burned.
Bearings are often made of soft metals which are readily attacked by even the weak
acids formed by oxidation of the lubricant and contaminants circulating in it.

Choice of Lubricant:
There two types of lubricants which are used on ships:
 Mineral oil
 Synthetic oil
Mineral lubricants are normally based on paraffinic and/or naphthenic oils. And
consists of two parts: Base oil and Additives.
Base oil combinations are selected to meet operational conditions. The initial
selection of base oil is made in accordance with general physical characteristics such
as: Viscosity, Viscosity index, Pour point, Volatility.
Additives are normally added to base oil to satisfy the specified performance
requirements. Then the lubricant will be subject to performance tests, such as:
 Oxidation stability
 Wear tests
 Film strength
 Engine tests
 Equipment manufacturers approval tests
Synthetic oils are oligomers prepared by polymerization of selected monomers or
similar oily fluids manufactured by chemical synthesis from a variety of raw
materials. Synthetic base oils may be preferred if mineral do not meet the specified
performance requirements.

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Marine Dieesel Enginee Lubricating Oil System
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The twoo-stroke crosshead

c d engine

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Marine Dieesel Enginee Lubricating Oil System
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II- Priinciples of
o Two-S
Stroke Crosshea
C ad Diesell Enginee Lubricaation
Oil is nnot neededd only for the purpoose of lubrrication buut also forr cooling purposes..
Generallyy we havee two largge consum mers for lubricating
l g oil. Theey are inddicated ass
consumerrs for in sppite of all cleaning processess the oil haas to be chhanged aftter certainn
after a ceertain timee of havingg been useed.
Regardiing the maain enginee we have two differrent lubriccating oil systems:
s
 T The systemm of circullating oil
 T The systemm of cylindder oil

1. Circculating oil:
o
Circulatting oil means
m oil which
w is circulated
c through the
t main engine. Circulating
C g
oil is proovided as lubricatinng oil forr all bearrings of th he main engine
e annd for thee
purpose of piston cooling. The oil passingp thhe main engine
e is led
l into a separatee
collectingg tank which is arraanged beneath the engine.
e Th
he size of this
t tank is i to be ass
required by b engine maker.
From thhis tank thet oil is drawn byy the twoo main lubbricating oil pumps (one ass
service, oone as spaare) and diischarged via the luubricating oil cooler back intoo the mainn
engine. C Cleaning ofo oil is effected
e byy one messh type siingle filterr in suctioon line off
each maiin lubricaating oil pumpp andd one filteer of autoomatic typ pe in the commonn
dischargee line. Thee oil temperature is controlledd at main engine innlet and reggulated att
outlet sidde of lubriccating oil cooler.
Part of the mainn lubricatinng oil circuit is thee circuit forf lubricaation of piston
p rodd
stuffing bboxes. Gennerally oill from stuffing boxees is led too a separaate drain taank. Fromm
there it iss drawn byy a separaate pump and
a dischaarged partlly via CIC C-fine filteer (speciall
type of filter)
f bacck to colleecting tannk of main engine or to a separate
s c
circulatingg
tank. Draain tank an nd circulaating tank are conneected to thhe lubricatting oil sepparator off
main enggine. Retu urn from separatorr is led back b to thhe circulaating tankk. By thiss
proceduree the oil from
f stuffi
fing boxess is cleaneed additionnal to the normal clleaning off
circulatinng oil.

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Marine Dieesel Enginee Lubricating Oil System
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Permannent cleanning of ciirculating oil is afffected by y a separrate lubriccating oill

separatorr. The sep parator iss of autom matically self-clean ning desig gn. Heating up off
lubricatinng oil for the separaating proccedure is affected
a b a separrate heaterr which iss
by
heated byy steam. Oil
O outlet temperatur
t re is accorrding to sp
pecificatioon about 80
8 degreess
C. The ooutlet tempperature is controlled by thee amount of o steam at steam inlet.
i Thee
pump foor servingg the sepaarator draaws from m lubricatiing oil coollecting tank andd
dischargees to the separatoor. Cleaneed lubricaating oil is dischaarged bacck to thee
collectingg tank.
Each auuxiliary diesel enginne is proviided with its i own lu ubricating oil circuitt
consistingg of lubriccating oil pump,
p lub
bricating oil
o cooler and
a controol valve, all
a
attached tto the diessel engine.
Becausee the enginnes are alsso provideed for operation on heavy fueel the lubriicating oill
is polluteed by ressidues froom the prrocess of combustiion. Therrefore a permanent p t
separating of lubriicating oill is requirred. For tthis purpo ose a sepaarate lubriicating oill
separatorr for the auxiliary
a d
diesel engines are provided.
p Each engine is connnected too
this separrator. Thee oil is draawn from oil sump in crankccase of the engines and afterr
separating discharrged backk to the crank c casee. If one diesel onnly is in operationn
separationn may be continuouusly if twoo engines are runnin ng in interrvals. The separatorr
operates ffully autommatically.. It is provvided withh its own heater,
h heaated by steeam.

2. Cylin
nder oil:
The seccond impoortant lubbricating oil o system m for the main
engine iss the cylinnder oil syystem. Thhis system m is complletely
separatedd from the circulatting oil ciircuit. Cyylinder oill is a
special soort of oil used
u for thhe lubricaation of cyylinders on
nly. It
is burnedd within the cylinnders of main m engiine duringg the
process oof combuustion. Froom the cy ylinder oil daily seervice
tank the oil flow w to the mainm engine cylindder lubriccators
occurs byy gravity. A numbeer of oilinng devicess is arrang ged at
the perim
meter of each cylindder whichh providedd with holles to
the inner side of cyylinder. Thhese devicces are adjjusted so that
t a
predictedd amount of o oil is ledd to the cyylinder surrface.
Generallly two meethods of adjustmen
a nt are usedd:
 BBy oil injecction at evvery forth revolutionn.
 BBy control of injectioon depend ding on enngine revoolutions.
Additioonal return n line from
m lubricatiing apparaatus to a balance
b tannk is provvided. Thee
daily servvice is refi
filled by a separate pump
p whiich draws from the cylinder oil o storagee
tank and discharges to the daaily servicce tank.

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Marine Dieesel Enginee Lubricating Oil System
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Marine Dieesel Enginee Lubricating Oil System
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Marine Dieesel Enginee Lubricating Oil System
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Cylindeer lubricaators
Cylindeer lubricattors are a battery of smalll reciprocating pum mps driveen by thee
engine. TThe pumpss supply oilo via a seeries of delivery pippes to smalll lubricatting holes,,
or quills, distributeed around the cylindder. Each quill
q has itts own dellivery pipe.
Each enngine cyliinder has two or more m i circumference. Each
quillss around its E quilll
has a nonn-return vaalve whichh:
- eliminnates presssure pulsattion in thee delivery pipe
- prevennts air or combustio
c on productts enteringg
- keeps the deliveery pipe fuull of oil when
w the engine
e is stopped

Pulse Feed principle with

w and withhout “zig-zagg” distributioon groove

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Marine Dieesel Enginee Lubricating Oil System
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Figure aboove: CLU3 was

w the standdard cylinder lubricating oil
o dosage sysstem on Wärrtsilä two-strooke crossheadd
engines for more
m than 20 years.
y

For furtther readiing:

Some ddiesel engiine manuffacturer such s as MAN
M B&WW is usingg electroniic controll
lubricatioon systemm for cylinnder oil, known
k as Alpha Lubricatorss. The cyylinder oill
amount iss controlleed such thhat it is prooportional to the ammount of sulphur
s enntering thee
cylinder with
w the fuuel. The foollowing tw wo criteriaa determinne the conntrol:
 The ccylinder oilo dosagee shall be proportioonal to thhe sulphurr percentaage in thee
fuel
 The ccylinder oiil dosage shall be proportion
p nal to the engine looad (i.e. thhe amountt
of fueel enteringg the cylinders).
The impplementation of thee above tw wo criteriaa will leaad to an optimal
o cyylinder oill
dosage, pproportionnal to the amount
a off sulphur entering
e thhe cylindeers.
The schhematic ovverview off the system m is shownn below.

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Marine Dieesel Enginee Lubricating Oil System
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Alpha L
Lubricatorr system laay-out

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Marine Dieesel Enginee Lubricating Oil System
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Installaation in eng
gine room
m

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Marine Dieesel Enginee Lubricating Oil System
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Pump SStation

Control uunit overviiew

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Marine Dieesel Enginee Lubricating Oil System
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III- Principless of Fourr-Strokee Trunk Piston Engine

E
In fourr-stroke trrunk pistoon enginees, there are a
number of differeent methoods for lubricating
l g the
cylinder lliners and piston rinngs, depen
nding on engine
e
size and mmake:
 S Splash fromm the revoolving crannkshaft
 “Inner lubrrication”, where thee oil is suppplied
frrom the piiston side
 “Outer lubrrication”, where thee oil is suppplied
bby an exteernal, sepaarate cylin
nder lubriccating
ddevice fromm the cylinnder liner side.
In a fouur-stroke trunk piston engin ne, the cyllinder
lubricatinng oil is identical
i t the enggine systeem oil
to
used for bbearing lu
ubrication and coolinng purposes.
A smalll amount of the cyllinder lubricating oilo by-
passes tthe pistonn rings and endds up inn the
combustiion space, wheree it is “consum med”.
Howeverr, the pistton in a four-strokke trunk piston
p
engine haas an oil scraper riing that scrapes moost of
the oil ssupplied tot the cyllinder lineer back tot the
engine’s oil pan, from
f wheere it is drrained, cleaned
and recyccled.
Normallly, a largee, modernn, well maaintained four-strok ke trunk piston diessel enginee
will consume somee 0.3 to 0.55 g/kWh of o lubricatting oil.

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