| Research |
Period |
Researcher(s) |
Overview |
| Plan |
2002 |
| 1. Highly accurate fuel pump mounted on the measuring
device of combustion characteristics under future fuels using (Foundation Support) |
|
|
Project Group Technical Team |
The amount of cargo transported by ships is more than 90%
of that of world trading so a lot of energy is expended by ships. From the view
point of fuel economy, ships use low price fuel such as residual oil, a mixture
of waste oil and marine fuel oil and so on. This has caused and increased air
pollution from ships and many serious marine engine problems. Scuffing problems
occurring in marine Diesel engines have seriously affected the transportation
economy of ships. To prevent scuffing problems, observing and understanding combustion
phenomena at the latter stage of the combustion period is effective. This is because
existing combustion test devices have low accuracy fuel injection measurement
and proper observation of combustion cannot yet be performed. This research develops
a proper fuel pump to be used for studying the relation of fuel oil to scuffing
problems. |
| 2. Marine diesel plant with super high efficiency,
high output and low environmental damage (Foundation Support) |
|
|
Project Group Technical Team |
While the marine internal combustion engine needs to have
high output, high performance and compactness, CO2 reduction and repression of
discharge of pollution are important issues. This investigation includes a feasibility
study on progressive internal combustion engines (beyond 55% of thermal efficiency
levels), namely, a 'Waste Energy Recovered and Circulated to the Cylinder'- type
internal combustion engine targeting 1 MW ?` 10 MW class output. Efficiency and
output will improve and harmful exhaust gas will decrease by injecting super-critical
water into the cylinder. Super-critical water will be obtained by using exhaust
gas energy. This fiscal year's target is to confirm the possibility of the system
through investigation into the model construction of the system, the purification
effect of super (or semi-super)-critical water in combustion gas and the system
component. Verification tests for commercialization will be opened through this
investigation. |
| 3. Suitable control device for the fuel injection
timing of a four-stroke diesel engine (Foundation Support) |
|
|
Project Group Technical Team |
Nitrogen oxide, NOx, discharged from marine diesel engines
requires reduction because it is a cause of air pollution. IMO intends to phase
in regulations to decrease NOx discharge from ocean-going ships. Controlling optimum
fuel injection conditions such as high pressure injection, pre-injection, post-injection,
intermittent injection and so on are effective ways to clear the second level
of this regulation. On the other hand, to decrease CO2 discharge that is expected
to become a regulation, it is obviously necessary to decrease the fuel consumption
ratio. Therefore, to suitably control fuel injection conditions is an effective
way even when NOx regulations are strengthened in the future. This research aims
to produce a control device that optimizes fuel injection conditions of a four-stroke
diesel engine. |
| 4. Maintenance of a small marine engine employing
IT technology (Foundation Support) |
|
|
Project Group Technical Team |
In recent coastal fishery there has been a reduction in the
amount of a fish caught due to decreasing fish resources and aging fishermen.
Insufficient time is spent on engine maintenance. Moreover, because of a decrease
in the number of people in charge of maintenance due to financial depression at
engine manufacturers, it is difficult to support the maintenance of fishermen's
engines. Under these conditions, there has been a rapidly increasing burden on
engines through continuous operation at high loads due to the long distance of
fishing banks and busy repeat operations alternating between high and low speeds
because of changing fishing conditions such as those at fisheries. Inappropriate
operation and lack of maintenance has caused an increase in safety and economy
problems, and improvement in the ship maintenance system is required. This investigation
aims to develop a remote controlled maintenance support system aided by IT (Information
Technology) for small marine engines. This development is expected to secure the
safety of ships and to reduce the total life cycle cost of engines by preventing
engine trouble and engine performance deterioration. |
| 5. The possibility of clearing the environmental
regulations on marine internal-combustion engines by employing light fuel oil
(Foundation Support) |
|
|
Project Group Technical Team |
A marine diesel engine reduces the discharge of CO2 by its
inherent high thermal efficiency, but the amount of NOx and SOx discharged is
very large compared with other types of heat engine. Therefore, IMO has adopted
a new protocol to prevent air pollution with NOx and SOx (sulfur content in fuel)
discharged from ships. Regulations will be put into action and strengthened in
the near future for ships navigating, especially in prescribed areas and domestically.
If this happens, using conventional heavy fuel oil will contravene the strict
regulations. A leading candidate to cope with the regulations is the use of light
fuel oil as the oil for marine internalcombustion engines, and this investigation
produces guidelines for developing a future marine engine considering problem
of economy, conforming to the environmental regulations and technological aspects. |
| 6. Reducing the unbalanced force of the marine
diesel engine (Foundation Support) |
Project Group Technical Team |
|
|
Recently, marine diesel engines have improved remarkably in
output and thermal efficiency, but the balancing problem of marine diesel engines
is becoming more important because of the increase in reciprocating force and
rotating inertia force. an equiangular crankshaft arrangement is very effective
in making a well-balanced engine, but it is not in general use for solving the
balancing problem. This investigation produces a system in which the balancing
problem of an engine can be calculated by the most suitable method aided by recently
developed computer software and hardware and advanced information technology.
It will be possible to calculate the optimal dimensions for any number of cylinder
engines. |
| 7. A small, high precision shaft horsepower meter
for domestic navigating ships (Foundation Support) |
|
|
Project Group Technical Team |
It necessary to improve navigation management and safety measures
and to decrease running cost to activate domestic navigation. Accurate monitoring
of engine condition is an effective way of preventing accidents by the torque-rich
of an engine and of improving fuel consumption. Engine output is conventionally
measured by a horsepower meter that calculates horsepower by measuring the twisted
angle of the propeller shaft and engine speed. Because the meter is large, heavy
and costly, almost all domestic ships have not installed it. This research will
develop a small high precision shaft horsepower meter composed of weak laser rays,
reflex mirrors and a measuring algorithm. It will be smaller, lighter and cheaper. |
| 8. A small, slim, high performance deck crane
(Foundation Support) |
|
|
Project Group Technical Team |
The deck crane installed in cargo ship decks needs to be as
compact and light as possible to effectively secure limited loading space. In
particular, the deck crane installed in container ships needs to be compact with
contour dimensions of less than 2.4 m fitted to the container width so that it
can be loaded with many containers. A crane having contour dimensions of less
than 2.4 m is on the market as slimtype crane, but the price is about twice that
of the conventional type (4.4?`4.6 m). This investigation aims to develop a small,
high performance, slim crane different from the conventional type. |
| 9. Ability/handling of substitute coolant R417A
compared to the generally used coolant R22 for fishing boat freezing equipment
(Foundation Support) |
|
|
Project Group Technical Team |
In spite of having a zero coefficient for ozone layer destruction,
HFC series coolants such as R404A, R407C, R507A, R134a, which have been developed
and sometimes used, cannot be used in the same way as the coolants of conventional
freezing equipment because they have different running conditions under the pressure
and performance of the machine oil. However, R417A, which belongs to the HFC series
and is regarded as a substitute for R22, is recently employed as coolants that
can be used with conventional freezing equipment without any alteration. This
is good news for ship owners because they can employ the new coolants with conventional
freezing equipment, as R22 is being used now. However, there are few public technical
reports on performance comparison and on handling difference between R22 and R417A
when the new coolants are applied to existing R22 equipment, and in particular
there are no reports on using the new coolants with the super-low temperature
devices seen in the ocean tuna long-liners. The amount of production of R22 will
decrease by 65% by 2004, production is phasing down, and its manufacture will
finally abolished by 2020. This investigation aims to gather technical data on
the performance of conventional freezing devices using R417A as a coolant. |
| 10. Development of a propeller for a microhydro-electric
generating device to maintain the environment (Foundation Support) |
|
|
Project Group Technical Team |
At present, research has been undertaken to utilize natural
energy sources such as solar energy, wind power, wave, hydraulic and tide power
and biomass to reduce the discharge of carbon dioxide and prevent global warming.
Among these energy sources, hydraulic power is the most popular method of obtaining
electric power by constructing dams. However, dams will soon no longer be constructed
because of the high construction cost of the dam piling and due to environmental
problems. Now, there are methods of obtaining hydraulic powergenerated electricity
more easily, using small scale generators and small waterfall generators. These
small power generators are expected to be used on isolated small islands and mountains
where electric power cannot be transferred, and also in developing countries.
The micro-hydraulic power generation device developed through this investigation
is very small and can generate electricity even in very low waterfalls such as
those of the rivers in Japan. This research investigates the following; 1.the
most suitable quality of material for the propeller, 2.propeller formation, dimensions
and rotation. The propeller technology the will be applied from already developed
technology from the side thrusters of ships. A design for the most suitable propeller
is then studied as an energy recovery device, and the total system will be realized
in the near future. |
| 11. Heat-pump type dehumidification machine that
services year round and handles the new coolant (Foundation Support) |
|
|
Project Group Technical Team |
A heat pump-type dehumidification machine that was developed
to service year round did not employ an electric heater for the reheating process
because saving energy was more important. It was developed mainly for block-coating
in shipbuilding, coating double bottoms and coating the inside of the hold. It
has already been widely used for dehumidification not only in the hot, humid season
but also in winter by using the heater. However, the HCFC series of coolants being
used for developed machines will be abolished by the recent Montreal protocol.
Therefore, this investigation develops a heat pump-type dehumidification machine
that services year round, can handle the new coolant, is easy to use and is very
reliable |
