Sulzer 12RTA96C: a walk around a powerful reciprocating engine, running at 70 rpm
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- A video of a walk around the running Sulzer/Wärtsilä 12RTA96C main engine on board the Maersk Kimi, currently at 70 revolutions per minute. A powerful reciprocating engine.
The walk starts with an topview over the engine. It continues with a walk over the cylinder cover platform, the fuel pump platform, and finally the floor.
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Thanks for the tour as usual it was great not having a voice over rather letting the sound of the engine give a feel what the crew has to work with. The white noise song of the ship! Love that...
100k bhp
@@szymon6207 God Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn.
@@szymon6207this engine had the record of most powerful for a short time, it has a lot of running hours now. 3injectors par cilinder and the high pressure pipes are not double protected yet. You can hear the exhaust valve sigh. Great work on turbo silencing, it used to be terrible jet noise.
Wonderful video. It's nice to just hear the sound of the engine (no voice, no music).
Süper birşey bunun pervanesinide göster deniz daha Süper olacak nasıl dönüyor nasıl manevra yapuyor merak ediyor insan
No music? I'd beg to differ. There was plenty of music in this video. That engine sure has a rhythm. Lol
Just a Reciprocating Symphony.
As I am watching this you are heading to Delfzijl, Netherlands on a heading of 69.4Deg. Safe travels!
Hahaha, ik zie ze al in het Zeehavenkanaal
Amazing. Thank you. Nice to hear the engine without music.
This is an excellent walk-through. Appreciate the angles and intention. Felt like I was there.
This was awesome, loved to hear a giant like this purring along. I read that these engines use 140 bar compression, that's insane, over 2000 pounds per inch on the piston, or about 1091 tons of downward pressure on the piston/rod at top of compression stroke. That's before combustion pressure, which would be much higher.
Seems like the #1 piston is making strange noise when you walk past all the cylinder heads, maybe it has a leaking valve, or leaking exhaust pipe.
One thing I have never heard, is the exhaust note on an engine like this, it seems nobody has ever climbed the stack and recorded it. Wonder if its a rumble, or a 2 stroke style popping noise.
I suspect that would be the firing pressure, not the compression pressure. At a compression pressure that extreme, the mix would actually get too hot to burn (the exhaust would decompose into carbon and hydrogen). Dr. Diesel's initial experiments were with 60:1 compression ratios and the engine refused to fire.
It's amusing reading about all your fun facts about this engine!!!!
100k hp ?
Joining the Anna Maersk in a couple of days, my first experience with a large 2 stroke so found this video helpful. Thanks!
The engine room so clean. Good Job!
Thanks for posting such a cool video.. and not putting music over it.
Amazing piece of engineering.
And a clean engine room .
First, thanks a lot for this video... Its somethings that we cant see in our common lives. Second, The sound... ohhh that sound it was music for my ears... Pls upload more videos like this.... they are amazing... once again, thanks...
Waltz Time.....Beautiful.
Like a well practiced drum-section.
What a magnificent beast. All respect to the engineers who built it.
Such a wonderful rhythm that engine and valves have. Could almost use it as support music.
Phillip Mulligan Fun fact: Depeche Mode did make use of the rhythm of a diesel engine in their song 'Stripped'!
I got to go into my Depeche Mode collection. I know Frontline Assembly and Terrorfakt made use of large engine sounds.
Well Phillip, I actually do that, using it as a background!!
We did a voyage from the PG to Santos way back in the eighties, and had to do that with the engine running at 80 rpm (normal 115 for that particular engine) as the LPG tanks in Santos were not empty enough to take our cargo.
That slow running engine made you even walk slower.
i don't think it has valves being a 2 stroke.
I see a spare valve @ 2:35. It's for the sake of efficiency at various speeds.
Those spare cylinder liners look like they came out of an oversize Detroit Diesel. Gotta love the 2-strokes!
Well over 5 million lbft of torque...incredible
This noise is soothing for some reason. I bet the work environment there is mellow and fun.
First time I hear an engine that low. Sounds interesting. Thank you. Edit: oh my god, that air filter.
Dead slow ahead (or astern is normally 25 RPM, then you hear, kaboom ...........kaboom.........kaboom, always awesome to listen at.
It's amazingly quiet for such a huge, powerful engine!
Great Video !! ... Thank You !! ... one note ... This 12 cylinder (I counted) appears from the part number 12RTA96c that this is the 2nd largest one in the world ... see Wiki here ... Its largest 14-cylinder version is 13.5 metres (44 ft) high, 26.59 m (87 ft) long, weighs over 2,300 tons, and produces 80,080 kilowatts (107,390 hp). The engine is the largest reciprocating engine in the world.
I love Sulzer engines because they have awesome rythm they make when they stroke
Good memories out of this video 20 plus years marine engineer on watch.
Those are some damn quiet Turbo's/
It is a little tricky, you can see the revolutions speed at 70rpm, economic speed. When full power at 100 rpm the turbines will reach their maximum pressure and yes the screaming will tear you apart.
What an absolute beast!
displacement per cyl = 1810 litres
bore = 960mm (38in)
stroke = 1.5mtrs (8.2ft)
power = up to 5.72MW per cyl (about 92000bhp for 12cyl)
Torque = about 6,000,000 N.m or 4700000 lbf.ft @102rpm
power density = 29-34.8kW per tonne
crankshaft weight = 300t (660,000lb)
piston weight = 5.5t
best specific fuel consumption=160g/(kW/h) - that's really efficient!
but that torque though 🤪
Remember well as a young engineer 50 or so years ago on the HAL Korendijk in the middle of the North Atlantic in bad weather having to replace a blown out cylinder head on one of these monsters. Hope they are better now.
Dag Piet,
Scuffing of cylinder liners is the new problem nowadays
The correct name of the engine is Wärtsilä 12RTA96C. The Sulzer name has been discontinued years ago.
GooglFascists It does not sound that way in reality, it's only an interpretation by some non-native speakers. The word has managed to get some of the hardest Finnish phonemes for most foreigners in one place in fact.
The "W" is in fact a proper "V" in disguise, only written according to the 1800s' convention. There is a strong stress on the first syllable only, as always in any Finnish uncompounded word. The ''ä" (a with the dots) is always about the same as the "a" in the English words "cat" or "rat".
The "-silä" part is easier, about the same as the English "see ya" said quickly and offhand, only the weak 'y' substituted by a weak 'l'. The "wärt" part begins pretty close to the "va" in the English word "value" spoken with an emphasis "now that was some real VALUE for your money", then becomes the proper ("Spanish" if you like) rolling "r", then becomes the "ts" as in the word "cats" and finally the quick "see ya" only with the weak "l" in it. That's all there is to it :-)
"Sulzer" to me sounds like something you'd take for a minor stomach trouble..
Your phonetics are easy enough to interpret. Is "si" the stressed syllable?
marshaul The stress in all Finnish words always falls on the first syllable, the word being divided into värt-si-lä.
So, more like "seeyay", then? Or is the final ä different than the first?
marshaul Hmm, one can say that in many ways of course, but the rolling "R" in the word at least for me takes almost all 'energy' out of the word and the remainder is pretty weak.
I appreciate the over all cleanliness of that huge engine room. That contributes much to the crew's safety. Well done lads. That engine is a very impressive machine indeed! Does anyone know how hot it gets in that space while under weigh?
+Mr. Sebnup We would have been strung up for allowing it as dirty as the engine in the video!
Can't give an absolute number for temperature but it was too hot to wear anything under the boilersuit. I also remember that on finish of watch the immediate need was for an ICE COLD beer which could never be made to pour down our throats fast enough. We also had to take salt tablets to replace that lost in sweating.
Kimdino1--- I love the way you described the velocity of beer consumption. You and I are indeed kindred spirits in that regard, eh?
On closer inspection of that video, I see what you mean about that engine. It is pretty bad. I was basing my statement about cleanliness on the overview of the engine room, and not the engine proper.
+Mr. Sebnup We walked around with a clean rag in a pocket and would wipe clean any smear we saw. The thing is that on a clean engine any potential leaks were immediately apparent and could be quickly dealt with. It would be quite difficult to spot a weeping joint on the engine in the video.
On the only Sulzer I sailed with, an older model (6RND76) than this someone had painted a different flower on each cylinder where the numbers are shown here and these had became names. So instead of reporting, for example, "number 2 cylinder exhaust temperature is a bit high" we might say "Keep an eye on Violet, she is suffering from a hot flush". :)
Depending were you are in the E.R. In the Red Sea temperatures can go up to 40+ °C, whilst in the separator room I have seen 50 °C, ditto between the main ESDIII type steam boilers in the old days. Burning your hands on the railings. Drinking limejuice with ice water, salt tablets on the table in the messrooms, before taking a shower for lunch two beers in a wet overall and after changing to uniform (yes,yes) one more beer. (But the beer is a no go nowadays in the majority of the shipping companies)
travel in the ship must be amazing. Just a soft purr of the engine at 70 RPM
No, those spare parts are used for planned maintenance. Every part has got its own schedule. For example, pulling a piston (and replacing it with an overhauled or new one) takes about 6 to 8 hours (if everything goes well). This kind of maintenance is done when the container vessel is in port for loading and discharging. In case of any failure, the mentioned spare parts could of course also be used to get the vessel sailing again.
Mitchel Troost
If it blows up under way your screwed.
Worked on Sulzers in the 90s , the scavenge cleans were daemonic.
At least.
Sailed with an 9RND-M of 32000 HP of then 4 year old. The chief was always busy with cylinder lubrication and was on board since her commissioning. When I opened the scavenge air receiver covers at the bottom at SB side and the doors at PS, the spaces were of course black but clean.
Excellent detail, many thanks for posting.
Profoundly impressive, yet somehow terrifying..
What a beautifull, impressive machine. It's sound is music to my ears!
The largest lines on top of the cylinders, if I remember right, are the fuel delivery lines. There are also lines which deliver hydraulic pressure to open the exhaust valves (it's a camless engine), lubricating oil, and water to cool the the whole assembly.
Largest may be compressed air which acts as a valve spring in the big MAN motors.
@@1999fxdxthe one on top is hydraulic(mark the yellow band on the pipe) to open the exhaust gaz outlet valve.
thank you very much for showing this engine!
Nice video very detailed and steady good job.
Thank you for posting this. Very cool!
Great video. Very very interesting to see this engine. Lovely sound
Had the 6 cylinder version of these (x2) on one of the Navy ships I served as Engineer. 100 RPM was Max normally but in Emergency we can do 110 RPM. (in Forward & Reverse). I would say this one doing 70RPM was for efficiency purposes (Steady Steaming) I know our used 20 Gallons/Mile @ 100 RPM.
1/20 mpg lol 👍
:) Good ship , I had sailed on it few months ago !
Thanks for sharing this video, very interesting, good sound too!
Top!
Eindelijk eens een goede opname van dit schip en deze motor en niet zo,n bibberig wazig filmpje die je normaal altijd ziet.
Graag meer van dit soort filmpjes
Best ships engine video ever!
Is the Maersk Kimi an ex P&O southampton class. I served on the PONL Southampton and PONL Kobe when they were first built. Always loved that sound of sulzer engines.
This is a very good video thanks for sharing.
liked it very much,it remembered me oy old days on TP tankers.
Fine workmanship !
The sound of music!!!!👍👌
que rica maquina que tal sonido es espectacular el video sobre todo la presentacion en la limpieza de la sala de maquinas muchas gracias por subir este video
Cesar Lecca Camacho Es un gran video. Y como dices, la limpieza es espectacular en esta sala.
Como futuro Maquinista Naval me encantaria trabajar en un buque en estas condiciones, ademas de gustarme por la limpieza, me gustaria por el gran motor principal q tiene y por todo lo demas. Es impresionante.
Gran video!!
Great vid!!
MY company Allis Chalmers did work such as fab and machining on a bunch of these engines and Sulzer assembled them in the plant and then ran and tested them afterwards, they took them apart.
Sweet music to my ears
Tomorrow I will join a vessel with a similar main engine, so I will be able to capture more interesting videos from the engine room (eg. running at full speed). Subscribe to get notifications of new uploaded videos (approx. first week of June).
70rpm IS full speed dude.....
how fast do you think an engine this size can pedal?
prawnmilkshake At time of the recording, 100 rpm was full speed. For environmental/financial reasons one of the turbos has been cut out, so now the full speed is 70-80 rpm.
+Mitchel Troost Slowsteaming right?
I was wondering of these large diesels were turbocharged or not. I am interested in finding out specs on the engine. Fuel pressure, fuel consumption, ... boost pressure..turbo specs..
generally these engines use both a mechanical (geared) supercharger and turbocharging. Boost pressure of 1 atm (15 psi) are pretty common. The cylinders are ported to allow in fresh air and exhaust valves at the top open to vent the exhaust. Very high thermal efficiency.
Hier word ik nou vrolijk van. Een jaar geleden ook al💪👍👌
I can just imagine the heat and noise!
Thanks for the info on the turbo.
At 4:57, there are 4 ea. Turbochargers winding up at tens of thousands of rpm each. The sound track does not quite pick up the high frequency, or is it my ears after working as Ch. Engineer on these for decades? Thank you Mitchel for sharing this RTA video. The last ship I worked on was a Sulzer 5RLB90 with only one larger Turbocharger and loop scavenged (no exhaust valve). Guessing both the exhaust valves and stroke on this engine to be about seven feet.
Bellissimo questo video, tutta la sala macchina del motore sulzer
I could fall asleep beside that engine.
videoclipits These wartsila-sulzer engines actually work that way. They are damn mountains you actually like a lot.
I could also fall asleep listening to this
Guess you've never seen such a Thing for real. They are deafening loud.
Swiss precision and durability! :-)
The world's most powerful engine is this engine's bigger brother, the 14RTA96C.
no - the most powerful is the next generation of this engine - 14RT-flex96C without camshaft, but with commonrail system, injection control unit, valve control unit, wartsila engine control system, etc. It`s power output is 80080 kW
Nikita Shevchenko, what camshaft? Most of these engines I’ve seen are not running camshafts.
it would be great if you could have narrated (with written captions) exactly what we were looking at. I mean this is great if you're a mechanical engineer and you can recognize everything that is b eing shown. That said, it was fascinating. Don't have a clue what any of it is, b ut it's fascinating nonetheless.
That is correct: the Maersk Kimi is the former P&O Nedlloyd Kowloon.
Nice video.
I like it.
DAMN LOOK at those TURBOS. making mad boost
Beautiful sounding engine... It must be a bear to start cold! How many hours can it run in between overhauls? What do you do to keep control of the ship if you need to replace a piston (or other large part) while you are in the middle of the ocean?
You let the vessel drift.
The engine is not started “cold” jacket cooling water and lub.oil are heated when alongside
A little faster and you can play a 78 rpm record ;)
Music to my ears.
I always dremt of doing just that -- walking around world's largest iesel just to enjoy 'musical' (rythmic) quality, especially of injectors). Unless I met right person, I probably shan't ever get this dream realised-- especially in this modern climate of security paranoia! (At present I only know one person in merchant marine industry he is 2nd officer on Kaiwo Maru, Japanese (NIST) training ship. (That is square rigger sailing ship and only has two medium speed but excellent quality Yanmar auxilary diesels aboard).
LOVE this Sulzer (now either Wärtsilä or MAN/B&M 斗山重工業/Doosan) 12RTA96C engine here! Again wish I knew someone in this industry who would invite me aboard to enjoy this first hand in operation.
Parabéns meu chapa pelo vídeo e pela musica fenomenal!
Fascinating video. I thought that marine diesels are generally more efficient at about 450 rpm (engine speed) and the reduction gearbox brings that down to approx. 100-120 rpm at which the propeller has max efficiency. The prop shaft you show appears to be reving at 70 rpm, so I have to wonder what does not match here, unless there is NO reduction box and the drive is taken directly to the prop. Please comment.
78a67h this engine is directly coupled to the propeller.
No gearbox installed.
And the engine is direct reversible because the ship has no brakes🤪
78a67h. You are confusing medium speed 4 stroke engines (450rpm) with slow speed 2 stroke engines, depending of type, with a MCR
cont. delivered at up to 120rpm.
Reciprocating term is mostly used for horizontaly opossed cylinders such as VW, Porsche etc. Sulzer, B&W are in line 2 cycle engines.
Cornel Trasca Incorrect. Reciprocating, to move forward and backward alternately, is applied to any piston/cylinder engine irrespective of it’s configuration or cycle strokes.
Reciprocating as opposed to something like an electric motor or wankel engine that only revolves around an axis.
@@Bendigo1 The destiction reciprocating comes mainly from aviation: Turbofan, Turbojet, Jet, Turboprop vs Inline, Boxer and Radials and of course all other piston configurations that weren't succesfull in aviation for instance X- and W- Engines
can you crank that engine up to about 2500 rpm so it will actually do some work....
Very cool . Not complaining but would love some visual aids to describe what parts actually are. More videos please
Robert Weedman The parts are easy the identification.
wonders how many strokes it takes to time to change piston and sleeve.
Thanks for the tour, you should try and make one with a voice over.
Micr0chiP, at lease subtitles to what some of the less obvious machinery is.
Do you see a gorilla breathing fire too?
The Wärtsilä 12 cylinder cathedral :-)
Each revolution of the engine cranks the ship somewhere between 7 and 9 metres forward, depending on how fast she's goinng.
Nice.thanks for sharing
Probably a two-stroke crosshead engine. At that low an rpm, the stroke must be at least 4 x the bore, or at least is much longer. Hence, the need for a crosshead to slide straight up and down well below the piston to allow the piston to travel that far without the rod hitting the cylinder liner. Most of these are scavenged by a turbo that is spun up mechanically via a one-way clutch and chain drive and then driven by the hot exhaust. There are intake ports below the power and compression strokes, and then a large exhaust valve that is nearly as large as the entire top of the combustion chamber. An in-block camshaft operates the exhaust valves via oil-filled tubes--a form of hydraulic lash adjuster keeps the tube filled with oil at zero lash. Injectors provide fuel from both sides of the cylinder.
The first sentence is correct in sofar that "probably"' has to be changed in "For sure" and the bore to stroke ratio is 2,6.
The second sentence is incorrect, these engines are turbocharged by an exhaust gas turbocharger which supply of-course the scavenge air as well. The chain driven scavenge air pumps (roots blower type) from the 1950ties are long gone. There are three fuel valves per cylinder
Thank you so much for this video. I am fascinated by these large 2 strokes.
Are 4 strokes used in newer technology for better emissions or does it matter
at sea?
Interested to know what the average room temp of the engine room is?
Wow she's getting on a bit, built 1998 and now has 22 years service under her keel. That design of engine has moved on now with the new regulations. You may notice the M.E. rev counter at the manoeuvring station. It had a 10 digit counter. (7.04 mins) If it changed over on your watch it cost you a case of beer. Didn't happen often but I was caught twice. Nice video takes me back, down side was my hearing is knackered. No surprise to those that have actually spent time in a engine room.
Yes! We had the same tradition. I was the lucky one to buy a case of beer for the onlookers only once. I already took the case with me on watch as I knew it would go through zero during my watch Looking at the counter and hearing the crewmembers behind me, present at the show, making noise about it, made me just pointing at the refrigerator.
I'm curious seeing the spare pistons and liners, are failures that frequent? How much time does it take to change one? What typically is the mode of failure?
One hell of a generator on the back of that thing!
In 1980 I sailed as engineer on the 208.000 dwt steam turbined crude oil tanker "Texaco Hamburg" which burned 140 tons of fuel per day. What is the daily fuel consumption of this Sulzer 12RTA96C?
The consumption is around 172g/KWh HFO (IFO 380).
A modern diesel is way more fuel efficient than a steam turbine, which is why the diesel has virtually replaced the steam turbine in commercial ship applications, sadly taking the thrill of working a steam ship away from engineers
I was surprised to see spare cylinders and pistons on board!
Supplying piston and liner this size is difficult so they normally have spares even for newly built ships.
If you need it in the middle of the Pacific, no helicopter is going to bring one to you. :-)
In the early days of the RTA96 they were eating cylinders. Lots of scuffing problems
SOOO SWEEEEET ! Love em' big.
Sound 3/4 time signature :D Most powerful ok, but wish you had written the output in HP
Wow-nice! Something us lubbers don't get to see.. sound is mesmerizing.
That's cute how when you walk by the shaft generator you can hear the electrical noise and see the interference in the video :)
it is a shame that someone has the chance to video something this big doesn't have enough sense to put some humans in to show those who will never get to see one of these in person how big the really are I worked on these engines for years but will never forget the first time I was sent to help work on one
Probably filmed during the weekend when he did his round
this is the most powerful diesel engine inthe world
actualy i think the most powerfull one is the 14 cylinder, i think that nis the bigest they make, this is the second bigest =)
cooey84 oh ! yes. The most powerful one is the Wartlisa Sulzer 14RT96C-flex. Which are fitting on broad of ships of Maersk's PS-E class. exp., "Emma Maersk" is the first one of the 8 sisters. Thank you.
Yes! I want this engine to drive my bmx bike. I might need to get some permits and limited to a few streets because of power lines, but if it takes me to the coffee shop then oh yaaa
Tyee Cambrón max 100 000 hp mass A LOT
What a great video..
Will this fit in my Honda ? Sorry , had to do it .
I wonder what size prop they use on the end of that drive line.
big ones😁
dejligt at høre lyden igen, da det ca, 25 år siden jeg har været sammen med en motor,
så det kriblede lidt
I could fall asleep listening to that cadence
Is #1 cylinder leaking somewhere? sounds like it..
Albert6541 1 cylinder= clo clo clo clo clo clo clo clo clo clo clo...
Just how strong is this beast?
What kind of Oilmist Detector is installed on this machine?
Hooked to my standby generator.