marine Archives - QuantiServ

Webinar from the Swedish Club: Dealing with Crankshaft Damage

18th November 2022

According to statistics compiled by the Swedish Club, crankshaft damage is the most expensive class of engine damage, with an average claim cost of 1.2 million USD.

In a webinar held on 26 October 2022, a panel of experts from the Swedish Club and from QuantiServ explored the common causes and types of damage to internal combustion engine crankshafts. They also explored different repair options and what can be done to prevent damages from occurring in the first place.

Panelists:

Henrik Karle, Technical Manager, The Swedish Club
Peter Stålberg, Senior Technical Advisor, The Swedish Club
Johannes Roberts, Manager, QuantiServ Sweden

This webinar was brought to you by The Swedish Club in collaboration with QuantiServ Sweden. It was broadcasted live via zoom on 26 October 2022.

Special thanks to the Swedish Club for making it possible. Previous webinars from the Club’s Loss Prevention series can be found here.

Large Reconditioning Order in China Successfully Completed

2nd November 2022

Our colleagues working at our reconditioning centre in Suzhou, China, have completed what most likely will be their single largest order of the year 2022.

The work came from an european-owned, 6600 TEU boxship docked in a shipyard in Zhoushan, China. Many components of the 19-year-old, 12 cylinder, 96 cm bore main engine were in need of reconditioning and/or overhauling. Of course our colleagues in Suzhou were more than happy to comply.

The components arrived at our workshop on 30 July 2022 and were returned to the vessel in two batches, on 28 August 2022 and 01 September 2022 respectively. Thus, the work took just took 32 days, from start to finish.

During this time, we reconditioned the following components:

15 pistons: Full reconditioning including coating of the piston ring grooves with the QS50K material
13 piston rods: Reconditioning of the running surface, skimming of the landing surfaces
9 piston skirts: Renewal of the rubbing bandages and skimming of the landing surfaces
12 stuffing boxes: Overhaul and modification of the housings (upgrade)

The work included dismantling, reassembling and pressure testing where required

This case neatly demonstrates that our reconditioning centres have sufficiently many skilled workers and machining capacity at their disposal to handle even the largest reconditioning orders with ease.

Piston assembly — Assembly of the stuffing boxes

Six of the piston assemblies ready for delivery

Inspection of two 70 Year Old Marine Engines in Switzerland

4th October 2020

One of our most-seasoned engineers recently had the rare opportunity to carry out an inspection and condition assessment on two 70-year old main engines installed on an inland cargo vessel in Switzerland. During its long history, the ship changed ownership two or three times and now belongs to one of Switzerland’s prime construction companies and is used to transport construction gravel to a cement plant, where the gravel gets recycled.

The vessel was originally built in 1948/49 in a shipyard in The Netherlands as an inland cargo vessel. She is a twin-screw design.

When she was built, she had a displacement of 1’246 metric tons, an overall length of 83 meters, a beam of 9 meters and a draught of 2.6 meters. In 1969/1970, she was converted to a self-unloading gravel carrier. Her length was extended by 8 meters, resulting in a new tonnage of 1’447 metric tons.

The two main engines were build by Sulzer Brothers in Winterthur, Switzerland, in 1948 and are connected to the propeller shafts through reversible gearboxes. The engines are of the two-stroke, trunk-piston type and have the following specification:

Engine Type: Sulzer 6TW24
Bore: 240 mm
Rated Speed: 400 rpm
Rated Output: 450 hp each

As can be seen in the cross-sectional view on the right, the engines are equipped with piston-type scavenge pumps, which explains the for the time considerable power output of 450 horse power per engine, or 900 horse power (671 kW) in total.

Our engineer spent a few days on board, compiled an extensive report and after the visit continued to support the customer, for example to identify spare parts.

Because we have a soft spot for antique marine installations, we carried out this assignment and the subsequent customer support activities pro-bono.