Fuel Saving with Sulzer RT-flex

German Weisser
Manager Engine Performance
Wärtsilä Switzerland Ltd, Winterthur

Delta Tuning has been introduced in Sulzer RT-flex common-rail engines to provide lower fuel consumption
in the effective operating load range. It is offered as an alternative to the original tuning thereby allowing ship
owners and operators to choose the BSFC (brake specific fuel consumption) curve which best suits their ship’s
operating pattern.
This is made possible by the tremendous flexibility in engine settings provided by the computer-controlled
common-rail systems of Sulzer RT-flex engines.

As the flexibility of the RT-flex common-rail system is
explored in Sulzer low-speed engines, a new benefit has
been developed in terms of extending the choice in fuel
consumption through Delta Tuning.
Choice in fuel consumption is not completely new.
Since about 1980, Sulzer low-speed engines have been
offered at ratings lower than the maximum continuous
rating (now designated the R1 point) with benefits in
lower fuel consumption. There was, of course, also the
benefit of improved propulsive efficiency through the
possibility of reduced propeller rotational speeds. This
concept led to the layout fields which we have used for
some years.
It gave a choice but there were penalties in reduced
engine power or alternatively a need for ‘more engine’ in
terms of more cylinders or larger cylinder bore for the
same power.
Now, with the Sulzer RT-flex common-rail engines, we
are at the beginning of a new era in engine technology.
This is encouraging new ways of thinking thereby leading
to new concepts.
Whereas traditional camshaft-controlled engines were

Fig. 1: The first engine

employing Delta Tuning
is this 45,760 kW Sulzer
8RT-flex96C engine
seen here in the course of
erection at HSD Engine
Co Ltd, Korea.
[04#027]

—1— © Wärtsilä Corporation, July 2004

 ∆BSFC, g/kWh
4

0 171 g/kWh Fig. 2: The new alternative

BSFC curve for Sulzer
-2
RT-flex96C engines given
RTA engines
-4 by Delta Tuning compared
RT-flex engines: with the original BSFC
-6
Standard tuning curves. All curves shown
-8 Delta Tuning are for engines complying
with the IMO NOX
-10
regulation.
50% 75% 100%
[04#102]
Load

∆BSFC, g/kWh
6 RTA engines
RT-flex engines:
4 Fig. 3: The new alternative
Standard tuning
2 BSFC curve for Sulzer
Delta Tuning
RT-flex58T-B engines
0 170 g/kWh given by Delta Tuning
compared with the original
-2
BSFC curves. All curves
-4 shown are for engines
complying with the IMO
-6 NOX regulation.
50% 75% 100% [04#103]
Load

severely restricted by the fixed timing given mechanically
by the cams, the change to electronically-controlled
common-rail systems allows the timing, rate and pressure
of fuel injection and the exhaust valve operation to be fully
controllable. This flexibility allows patterns of operation
which cannot be achieved by purely mechanical systems.
Rather than ‘electronically controlled’, it would be
more accurate to describe Sulzer RT-flex engines as being
computer controlled. This is because in the RT-flex
system, engine functions are fully programmable, perhaps
limited only by the designers’ imagination and the laws
of nature. The challenge is to use this freedom to create
practical benefits for engine users.
The first tangible benefits of the extreme flexibility
in engine setting possible with the RT-flex computer-
controlled common-rail system are the engines’ greatly
improved performance in smokeless operation at all loads,
and its capability of running at very low speeds. Both have
been reported in previous articles in “Marine News”.
Reduced BSFC
Now the flexibility of the RT-flex system has been
utilised to reduce fuel consumption in the effective
operating range of most engines. At 75 per cent load, the
fuel saving can be up to 2 g/kWh depending upon the
engine model and the rating point selected. No changes
of hardware are involved, the development only requires
changes in the RT-flex software to adjust the respective
engine setting parameters.
At the first stage of development of RT-flex engines, the
main objective has been to obtain the same performance
standards as with the mechanical-camshaft RTA-type
engines, particularly with respect to power, speed, fuel
consumption, exhaust emissions, cylinder pressures, etc.
It must be pointed out that RTA engines have always
been highly competitive in fuel consumption right across
the load range owing to the use of variable injection
timing (VIT) and, in the case of the RTA84T engines
since 1991, also of variable exhaust valve closing (VEC)
which further reduces the part-load BSFC. These benefits
have already been carried over to the computer-controlled
common-rail systems of the RT-flex engines.
However, as combustion in the part-load range is better
in RT-flex engines than with RTA engines, there is a quasi
natural benefit in fuel consumption for RT-flex engines at
lower loads. This slightly lower BSFC at part load is the
result of the fuel injection pressure being kept higher at
those loads with the common-rail injection system.
The new step is to introduce a choice of fuel
consumption curve. Two fuel consumption curves are now
available as standard for RT-flex engines: the original one
as outlined above and the new alternative, being a lower

—2— © Wärtsilä Corporation, July 2004

curve with reduced BSFC throughout the load range up
to 90 per cent. It has been achieved by adapted engine
tuning – termed Delta Tuning. In both the original tuning
and Delta Tuning, the RT-flex engines comply with the
NOX regulation of Annex VI of the MARPOL 73/78
convention, commonly referred to as the IMO NOX
regulation.
Tuning technique
Delta Tuning involves tailoring the firing pressure to
engine load through adapting injection timing, injection
pressure and exhaust valve timing. The firing pressure
is kept as high as possible at 75% load to observe a
minimum required margin to the NOX limit, and is
increased above 75% load to reach the maximum firing
pressure at about 90% load. Then it is reduced again for
higher loads. Below 75% load, the firing pressure is kept as
high as is possible within the limit of the allowable firing
ratio (firing pressure/compression pressure).
The result is that the BSFC is significantly lowered in
the mid- and low-load range, at all loads less than 90%
load, but then increased at high engine loads (90–100%
load). This emphasis on mid-load reductions in BSFC
brings a real benefit to engine users while allowing a
higher BSFC at full load to enable the engines to comply
with the IMO NOX regulation.
With the total flexibility offered by the computer-
controlled common-rail system, it would be technically
possible to lower BSFC at all engine loads and speeds.
With RT-flex engines, all the relevant parameters can
be continuously varied so that the engine can – within
the physical limits – follow any specified BSFC curve as
engine load and speed are varied. The two key limitations
today, however, are in the needs to comply with the IMO
NOX regulation and to ensure no diminishing of engine
reliability and durability.
Owing to the natural laws of physics and chemistry,
there is always a trade off between engine efficiency
and NOX emissions. Lowering the BSFC curve for an
engine is almost inevitably associated with an increase in
—3—
NOX emissions and only the NOX emission penalty for
achieving a certain BSFC reduction may vary between
individual measures.
As the IMO NOX limit is specified as a weighted
average of NOX emissions measured at certain engine
loads and speeds, the strategy with Delta Tuning is thus
to accept increases in NOX emissions over a useful wide
load range and to compensate with a reduction in NOX
emissions at full load.
Two BSFC curves as alternatives
The result of Delta Tuning is a BSFC curve with a
different emphasis than the original BSFC curve. Thus the
two BSFC curves are offered as alternatives. They give ship
owners and operators the opportunity to choose the BSFC
curve which best suits their vessels’ operating pattern. Yet,
in both cases, the engines comply with the IMO NOX
regulation.
Delta Tuning, however, is only offered for Sulzer
RT-flex engines whose contracted maximum continuous
rating (CMCR) is in the upper region of the engine
model’s rating field, and it yields the greatest benefit close
to the R1 rating point. This is because there is a decreasing
margin in NOX emissions against the IMO limit with
greater derating.
The engine information for RT-flex engines with Delta
Tuning will be readily obtainable using the ENSEL engine
selection software and the WinGTD general technical data
software which are freely available from the local Wärtsilä
offices. In both cases, the software includes a selection
button for Delta Tuning. Once Delta Tuning is selected,
the software will restrict the engine layout field to the area
for which Delta Tuning gives worthwhile results.
Conclusion
Delta Tuning is a demonstration of the flexibility of the
computer-controlled common-rail systems incorporated
in Sulzer RT-flex engines. It brings a clear benefit to ship
owners and operators, allowing them to choose how
to adapt their engines better to individual operating
requirements.
© Wärtsilä Corporation, July 2004