Diagnostic Method for 2-Stroke Cycle Diesel Engine

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Technical Papers

Diagnostic Method for 2-Stroke Cycle Diesel Engine* by Measurement of Vibration on Cylinder-Jacket Observation of Change in Normal Vibration Pattern
Ryuichi Kimura**, Wataru Terashima**, Noboru Nakai**, Tetsuo Yamada***, Shou Takeda****

It is necessary to arrange the system to monitor the operational condition by various methods to achieve the safe operation of the engine. Based on the idea that the information on the engine condition can be obtained from its vibration signal, this paper carries out the experiment of the diesel engine of the actual ship. The vibration was measured for a long time (7800 hours) by means of a vibration sensor on the cylinder jacket. The hand touch can not recognize the time change of the vibration, but the three-dimensional expression of the vibration data through the frequency analysis allows the good understanding of the change of the vibration. The vibration is always changing if the vibration is observed on the long running hours of engine basis even in the stationary operation (engine revolution: 103 rpm) of the diesel engine. We executed the statistical analysis as one method to estimate the condition of engine by the information from the vibration. All the data of vibration was recorded on a normal engine condition, as a result we could not examine on an abnormal engine condition. Thus, the vibration data of low engine revolution (30 rpm) was used as the data of abnormal condition in this analysis. As the result of the analysis, it is found that the abnormal can be recognized from the above-mentioned engine condition. We succeeded to make the statistical model which can diagnose an engine condition.

1. Introduction
The reliability of the main engine must be extremely high in order to ensure the safe navigation of ships. It is thus necessary to locate the phenomena of inconveniences and troubles even when they are small and insignificant, and to pinpoint the causes and take countermeasures therefor. We have known empirically that the abnormal vibration and the abnormal sound generated in a main engine are the symptom of possible failures or accidents. It is understood from these factfindings that much information to indicate the state of the engine is contained in the radiant noise and the vibration of the engine. From such a viewpoint, the paper has aimed at the construction1),2) of the monitoring system capable of grasping the condition of the engine by positively using these information. In any equipment including marine diesel engines, deterioration and abrasion are surely generated in each part. The phenomena gradually increased in the
* Translated from Journal of MESJ Vol.33, No.10 (Manuscript received Dec. 15, 1997) ** Kobe University of Mercantile Marine (Kobe City) *** Kobe Nippon Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (Kobe City) **** Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (Minato-ku Tokyo)

elapse of the running time, and eventually, leading to failures or accidents. In order to prevent these failures or accidents beforehand, it is necessary to grasp the information related thereto from various angles. In this experiment, the vibration of the side wall part of the low-speed diesel engine was recorded for a long time, and the condition that the vibration is changed as the running time was examined. Firstly, the recorded vibration was frequency-analyzed to store the data on the vibration to construct the diagnosis system. The analysis method of the running condition introduced here includes the visual judgment, which grasps the motion of the engine based on the information by indicating the data of the radiant noise in a threedimensional manner. The statistical analysis is then achieved in an objective manner based on the data information, in addition to the visual judgment, the results were evaluated and examined, and the diagnostic system capable of coping with the phenomenon to be changed with the time, was also considered.

2. Experiments
Two-stroke cycle diesel engine mounted on a car carrier (19,000 dwt) was used as a test engine in this

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Fig. 2 Valve timing left end show the number of each cylinder, and the completely black-covered parts E.V. on each line show the opening condition of the exhaust valve. The ignition order of the cylinders is 1-8-3-4-7-2-5-6.

3. Three-dimensional indication of sound level and vibration level

Figs. 3 to 6 show the spectrum of the radiant sound and the vibration in the shop trial run of the engine in a three-dimensional manner. Here, the spectrum immediately after the manufacture of the engine is examined, and its temporal transition is also evaluated and examined. On the basis of the data of one cycle of the engine (1 rotation of the crank shaft) obtained through the frequency analysis, the three-dimensional figures of the sound pressure level and the vibration level in the light-and-shade pattern with the frequency (100-20 kHz) on the Y-axis and with the crank shaft angle (0360) on the X-axis, the figure of the valve timing is also indicated on the upper part of the three-dimensional figure to explain both the behaviors of the piston and the valve of each cylinder and the temporal change in the three-dimensional figure. The scale of the sound pressure level or the vibration level is indicated in the pattern below the three-dimensional figure. The three-dimensional figures of the radiant sound and the vibration in three hours after the shop trial run was started, are shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, respectively. The result (Fig. 3) of the radiant sound shows thick lines in the Y-axis direction in the ranges of A (0-40), B (80120), and C (210-250). When reviewed together with the figure of the valve timing above, it is proved that these agree with that combustion in No. 1, No. 3 and No. 2 cylinders. There fore, it is concluded that they are attributable to the combustion. On the other hand, when reviewed from the result (Fig. 4) of the vibration, a

Fig. 1 Test engine study. The specification of this engine is 8-cylinder and 16,320 kW in output. The data collection was started immediately after the manufacture of the engine, and the data obtained in one and a half years after the ship went into service (the running time of the engine : 7800 hours). Fig. 1 is a section of the engine, a vibration sensor is mounted on the part indicated by an arrow in the figure, and the radiant sound was recorded at the position away from the vibration sensor mounting position by 5 cm in the vertical direction. And, at the same time, the synchronous pulse signal to measure the synchronization of the data on the vibration and the radiant sound with the rotation of the engine was also taped. The above-mentioned sensor was mounted on No. 1 cylinder, and the cylinder was subjected to the examination. The collected data on the vibration and radiant sound was frequency-analyzed by an FFT analyzer. More specifically, the time of one cycle was divided into 120 sections, and frequency-analyzed in the measurement range of 20 kHz. The time relationship between the synchronous pulse signal generated for each cycle of the engine and the opening/closing condition of each cylinder valve is shown in the valve timing in Fig. 2. The figures at the

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Fig. 3 Three-dimensional figure of radiant sound (3 hours) completely different pattern is shown from that in Fig. 3. It is characterized in that the distribution of high level values is present at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 kHz around Point a (70), Point b (160) and Point c (295). The level change is characteristic, showing the bow-shaped pattern which is symmetrical in the right-to-left direction around three crank angles. The bow-shaped pattern is considered to be generated by the sliding of the piston moving vertically with the cylinder liner wall. That is, because the source of generation of the vibration passes in the vicinity of the installation place of the sensor, the change in the vibration appears as the change in the frequency between in the approaching time and after the passing. From this finding, the position of three crank angles at the center of the pattern show the timing when the piston passes the measurement point, and from the figure of the valve timing, three points (a, b, and c) indicates the passing timing of the piston of No. 1 cylinder is moved from the top dead center to the bottom dead center, the passing timing of the piston of No. 2 cylinder is moved from B.D.C to T.D.C. and the passing timing of the piston of No.1 cylinder is moved from B.D.C. to T.D.C.. In the same figure, light and shade lines indicating the high level similar to that in Fig. 3 can be seen in the ranges of the crank angles A, B and C. These lines can be concluded to be the vibration attributable to the combustion of No. 1, No. 3

Fig. 4 Three-dimensional figure of vibration (3 hours) and No. 2 cylinders. When Fig. 3 is again compared with Fig. 4, the change in the frequency can also be seen at Points a, b and c similar to Fig. 4. This change does not show a bow-shaped pattern as clear as that in the vibration (Fig. 4), but shows that the sound by the piston slide is indicated in a bow-shaped pattern. Figs. 5 and 6 are the three-dimensional figures indicating the radiant sound and the vibration in ten hours after the shop trial run was started. In Fig. 5 of the radiant sound, the sound in the combustion appears in the ranges of A, B, and C similar to Figs. 3 and 4. However, any bowshaped pattern attributable to the piston slide confirmed in Fig. 3 can hardly be confirmed. On the other hand, in Fig. 6 to indicate the vibration, the vibration caused by the combustion appears in the ranges of A, B and C, and the characteristic bow-shaped pattern attributable to the piston motion can be confirmed at 3 points of a, b and c. However, compared with Fig. 4, the vibration level is dropped by about 10 dB. These four three-dimensional figures show that the data on the radiant sound and the vibration in 3 hours and in 10 hours after the shop trial run was started, is respectively changed. In particular, in the threedimensional figure of the radiant sound, the bowshaped pattern is almost in-recognizable in only 10 hours after the engine was started. It can be concluded to be difficult from the above-mentioned the radiant

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Fig. 5 Three-dimensional figure of radiant sound (10 hours) sound results to detect the information by the slide. On the other hand, regarding the vibration, the pattern to indicate the slide of the piston is clearly shown, and it may be said that the vibration is the source of information suitable for understanding the slide condition of the piston ring, etc. Accordingly, it is decided to examine the information on the vibration among the two shown above in this study. The change in the spectrum of the radiant sound and the vibration in a short time was shown above, and it was examined how the spectrum term changes if the running time is further increased. The below-mentioned results are those obtained during the service after the engine was mounted on the test ship. The data immediately after the engine was mounted to the data in approximately one year and 6 months layer, were used for the analysis. Here, the result after 190 hours, 2300 hours, and 6000 hours are shown in Figs. 7, 8 and 9. As mentioned above, these are the three-dimensional figures of the vibration. In the result of Fig. 7, the vibration by the slide is observed at Points a, b, and c similar to the results of Figs. 4 and 6. However, the condition was slightly changed in Figs. 8 and 9. For example, a high level pattern generated in the range of 70-160 and 250-290 in crank angle of in Fig. 7, (a band-like pattern of not less than 90dB generated over the whole frequency band) is not present as the band-

Fig. 6 Three-dimensional figure of vibration (10 hours) like pattern in Fig. 8 where 2300 hours are elapsed. Besides, the level is not more than 60 dB in the higher frequency band (over 15 kHz), which is not indicated by the pattern of the figure. This trend is intensified with the time, and in Fig. 9 where 6000 hours are elapsed, the pattern of not more than 60 dB (a white pattern) is spread close to 10 kHz in a part of crank angles in Fig. 9. The bow-shaped pattern by the slide shows the trend that the level is dropped as the time is elapsed through it is slight. For example, in Fig. 7, the bow-shaped patterns distributed over higher frequency bands (of not less than 15 kHz) are continuous at the level of approximately 100 dB or over. However, in Fig. 9, the bow-shaped pattern is reduced in size, and only a part thereof is shown as dots. As mentioned above, it is observed that the vibration level is changed by and by as the time is elapsed. However, the data is for the normal running condition of the engine, and does not indicate that the engine is in the abnormal condition. In other words, even in the normal running condition, the secular change always works on the engine, and the degree of indication of the secular change is shown in Figs. 7 to 9. Though the factor is natural, the running time of the engine surely affects each member of the engine, and the effect of the abrasion, etc., is indicated more clearly. For the study aiming at the construction of the abnormality monitor-

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Fig. 7 Three-dimensional figure of vibration (190 hours)

Fig. 9 Three-dimensional figure of vibration (6000 hours) ing system using the vibration, it is one of the important objects to elucidate the regularity of the vibration which is changed with the running time of the engine. If the regularity can be understood, generation of an abnormality in the changing normal pattern can be understood. From the above-mentioned viewpoint, in the following chapter, the event is examined by applying the statistical analysis.

4. Data analysis
In order to grasp a normal condition and an abnormal condition of an engine from the pattern of the vibration data to be changed with the service time of the engine, the relationship between the running time of the engine and the vibration must be examined. Thus, the possibility of explaining the relationship using the multiple regression analysis was considered. The multiple regression analysis is a technique to explain the dependent variables by explanatory variables of multivariates, and in this study, the multiple regression equation was obtained with the value of the vibration data obtained through the frequency analysis as the explanatory variable, and with the running time of the engine as the dependent variable. In preparing the above-mentioned three-dimensional figures, the required number of the variables is 24000 in total, be-

Fig. 8 Three-dimensional figure of vibration (2300 hours)

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cause one cycle is composed of 120 sections and one section is composed of 200 variables. The multivariate analysis with using all variables is doubtful from both the calculation time and the expected effect, and in this study, it is decided to extract the data on the crank angle capable of sufficiently explaining the above-mentioned relationship from one cycle of the engine. As described before, the bow-shaped vibration pattern is characteristic and clearly changed with the running time of the engine, the data in the vicinity of the crank angle is examined. More specifically, the bow-shaped pattern (the slide vibration of No. 1 cylinder) is generated twice, i.e., when the piston is lowered and when the piston is elevated, and the data at the bow-shaped top point when the piston is lowered at the crank angle of 72 was adopted. At this angle, when 200 variables obtained in one frequency analysis are referred to as the data of one case, one case is constituted by allotting the spectrum values at 100 Hz, 200 Hz, ...., 20 kHz to the explanatory variables of x1, x2, ..., x200. 85 cases of the data under the same condition were prepared in the analysis, and 22 groups data were prepared for each different running time of the engine. When the observed value is explained using a plurality of variables x1, x2, ..., xp, the expected value of y is expressed by p variables as follows. E [y] = 0+1x1+2x2++pxp (1)

Table 1 Data constitution

equation can be obtained as (5) below. runhj = b0+b1x1, j+b2x2, j++bpxp, j (5)

The probability fluctuation part is added thereto, and the observed value leads to as follows. y = 0+1x1+2x2++pxp+ (2)

The equation (2) is the multiple regression equation of y to x1, x2, ..., xp, and the data is expressed as indicated in Table 1. The dependent variable of y is the running time (runh) of the engine , and is the remainder of the estimated value subtracted from the observed value. In this case, the multiple regression model and the remainder are expressed by (3) and (4), respectively. runhj = 0+1x1, j+2x2, j++pxp, j+j where, (j= 1, 2,...., N), N: total case number (3)

j = runhj - (0+1x1, j+2x2, j++pxp, j)

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The multiple regress analysis is the analytical technique to obtain the estimated values b0, b1, b2, ...., bp of 1, 2, ..., p so that the sum of squares of the remainder is minimum, and the multiple regression

The multiple correlation coefficient of the multiple regression equation obtained above is R =0.935, and the decision coefficient R2 =0.873. It is indicated that the multiple regression equation obtained from this result applies well. The multiple correlation coefficient is the result using 200 variables, but it can not be always concluded that the analysis is achieved with only the variables affecting the dependent variables among 200 explanatory variables. Thus, to select the variables to be used for the analysis, the stepwise method is used. The analysis is achieved with the input probability of 0.05 and the removal probability of 0.1 as for the significant probability of the F-value in inputting or removing the explanatory variables in/from the multiple regression equation, and 60 variables are finally obtained. As a result of the analysis using the variables, the multiple correlation coefficient R=0.928, and the coefficient of decision R2=0.861. The rest of 140 variables except the selected 60 variables less affect the dependent variables, and it can be concluded that 140 variable may be excepted. The average processing of the cases is taken in order to decrease the noise component contained in the data when the dependent variables are calculated using the obtained multiple regression equation. Fig. 10 is the figure to indicate the relationship between the average number and the error. As shown in the figure, there is not linear relationship between the average number and the error, and the error time is rapidly reduced in the range between 1 and 20, and then, gradually decreased. As shown in the result, the error is 330 at the average number of 100, and further reduction of the error can not be expected. In this study, it is desired to reduce the error as much as possible in obtaining the estimated

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Fig. 10 Average Processing value from the regression equation, but it is also necessary to select an appropriate average number when taking into consideration the calculation time. The average number where the error is approximately 400 hours was adopted here. Fig. 11 is a scatter diagram between the observed value and the estimated value using the data of 30 addition-averages. The estimated value at each time of observation is plotted with the mark with the estimated value on the Y-axis (the estimated running time) and the observed value (the observed running time) on the X-axis. In the figure, the linear relationship between the observed value and the estimated value is strong, and the accuracy of estimation is excellent, and it is found that the obtained multiple regression equation agrees well. The previously obtained multiple correlation coefficient R of the model is 0.928, also indicating the strong correlation from the numerical viewpoint. In reality, the estimated value is distributed around the regression line with the mean error of approximately

Fig. 11 Scatter diagram of observed value and estimated value

400 hours at any time of observation. Taking the abovementioned points into consideration, the multiple regression model obtained in this chapter estimates the running time of the engine in a transition mode under a normal running condition from the vibration data of the engine. That means, the multiple regression model explains the regularity of the vibration data to be changed together with the running time of the engine under the normal condition of the engine, and the running time corresponding to the inputted vibration data can be estimated thereby. However, if the engine is not in a normal condition, an appropriate running time can not be estimated. Because the normal model in a transition mode is prepared, it can be understood whether or not the running condition is normal when the vibration data obtained at the engine side is obtained. As the test ship is engaged in an actual service, no abnormality can be artificially generated. In this experiment, no abnormalities were generated in the engine, and no extraction of abnormalities of the engine could be detected. Thus, in this experiment, an examination was made what result is obtained in the estimated value in a different running condition from the normal one by inputting the vibration data of the engine at the engine speed of 30 rpm which is different from the normal engine speed of 103 rpm. The vibration data at different engine speed is the one where the running condition of the engine is changed, and the engine is not in any abnormal condition, but from the viewpoint that the vibration data is different from the normal one, it was regarded as the abnormal condition. Fig. 12 is a scatter diagram between the observed value and the estimated value where the estimated value of the abovementioned data (hereinafter, referred to as abnormal data) is plotted with (one sample at the lower left in the figure), and the estimated value of the normal data used in Fig. 11 are plotted with marks. As clearly shown in the figure, the estimated value of the abnormal data is estimated at the different position from that of the group of the estimated value of the normal data. The estimated value of the running time of the engine of the abnormal data was 1085 hours, and the error hour from the observed value was 1831 hours. Based on the negative estimated value, and the large error time, it can be diagnosed that the abnormal data shows the running condition different from the normal running condition. Based on the fact that even a slightest change in the running condition can be detected by the above-mentioned method, it is thus considered that a serious abnormality can be sufficiently detected by the present diagnostic method when it is generated in an actual engine. This point will further be clarified through the analysis of the changing data as the proceeds.

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Fig. 12 Scatter diagram of observed value and estimated value (normal and abnormal)

Conclusion
Much information is included in the vibration generated in one cycle of the engine, the vibration of the side wall of the 2-cycle diesel engine for marine use was obtained for a long time, and its characteristic was examined, and also, it was examined how it was changed. The radiant sound and the vibration in one cycle were frequency-analyzed, and the sound and the vibration attributable to the combustion and the slide of the engine were clearly confirmed in a characteristic pattern from the three-dimensional figure. In reviewing the slide of the piston of the engine, it was judged from

the pattern in the three-dimensional figure that the information from the vibration directly propagated from the engine body is more than that obtained from the radiant sound. In this experiment, the information from the vibration was used from the above-mentioned reason, but it does not necessarily lead to that the diagnosis by the radiant sound is inferior. For example, in a case of the extensive monitoring, the radiant sound is more advantageous in the viewpoint of the simultaneous monitoring, and this point will also be examined. The multivariate analysis was tried to examine the relationship between the running time of the engine and the change in the vibration. As a result, the normal model for each engine running time could be prepared by achieving the multiple regression analysis of the vibration in a transition mode under the normal running condition of the engine. In the example, the vibration pattern under the normal condition is modeled, and the vibration pattern of the engine can be confirmed for the running time, and it is possible to examine whether the engine is in a normal running condition if the method is advanced.

References
1) Kimura, Nakai & Kishimoto : Abnormal Sound Detection by Neural Network in the Diesel Engine. Bulletin of the M.E.S.J.,Vol.26, No.1 (1998) 2) Kimura, Nakai & Mizutani : Diagnosis System of Diesel Engine by Statistical Vibration Analysis. Bulletin of the M.E.S.J., Vol.24, No.1 (1996)

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