The main reason for developing hi tech cylinder lubrication system is to

reduce the operational costs of the engine. Moreover, the most expensive
lubricating oil is generally used for the engines combustion chamber as
cylinder lube oil. The development of intelligent cylinder lubrication thus
makes perfect sense.

In the shipping industry, two giants MAN Diesel and Wartsila have
introduced a remarkable technology for modern electronically controlled
marine engines. Known as Alpha and Pulse lubrication systems, this new
technology is one-of-its-kind.

In this article we will understand what does pulse lubrication means and how
it helps to reduce the cylinder oil feed rate and eventually the operating costs
of the ship.

Wartsila- A major player in the marine engine manufacturing industry has

introduced an intelligent cylinder lubrication system in its electronically
controlled engine. This system is popularly known as the pulse lubrication
system.

What is Pulse Lubrication System?

A pulse lubrication system is an electronically controlled cylinder oil

lubrication system for Wartsila engines, wherein metered quantity of cylinder
oil is injected in to the liner, depending on the engine load. This ensures that
accurate amount of cylinder oil is delivered inside the liner at the correct settime for that particular engine load.

Construction and Working of Pulse Lubrication System

There are normally eight quills attached to the cylinder liner in a single row,
which gets the oil supply from the electronically controlled dosage pump
The oil is supplied to the dosage pump from daily tank via fine filter of 40
microns

The quills consist of a duct passage to store metered quantity of oil. The area
of this duct passage and the quantity of oil can be altered by changing the
position of the central piston
There are crank angle sensors attached to the engine which give signals to
the control unit in order to inject oil at the correct position of piston
movement
200 bar high pressure servo oil reduced to 50 bars are supplied to the
lubricator unit, which pressurises the centre piston in the quills. This injects
oil inside the liner at adequate pressure for even distribution
WECS (Wartsila Engine Control System) which is the master controller of the
Pulse lubrication system controls the solenoid valve opening and the oil
injection
Each unit is provided with 8 lubricating quills, 2 piping systems of Cylinder oil
and servo oil, and A 4/2 solenoid valve to servo oil flow.

After receiving signal from the crank angle sensor, at the correct position i.e.
between the pack of piston rings, WECS allows the solenoid valve to open
and pass the servo oil. This in turn presses the central piston and delivers the
oil stored in the duct passage of the quills.

As soon as the injection is over, there is a small orifice which fills the duct
passage again with the cylinder oil as the central piston moves backward.
This ensures that the oil is always present in the chamber in metered
quantity as decided by the WECS after calculating load and sulphur content
of the fuel.

Benefits of Pulse Lubrication System

Reduction in Cylinder oil Feed rate up to 0.7 gm/kwh and thus reduction in
operating cost

Well prcised delivery of metered cylinder oil giving better lubrication to

piston ring and liner
Better distribution of oil within the liner
Less fouling of combustion space
Less fouling of scavenge space