Relevance of Miller Cycle on Marine Diesel Engines

- Ritinkar Sen
Introduction
In the early 1890s, Rudolf Diesel presented his idea of an economic combustion
engine with the idea of completely replacing the steam engine. The year 1903
marked the beginning of the success story of the diesel marine propulsion engine. (a)
Some details of the earliest engine are given below

The first Diesel Engine built by Rudolf

Diesel tested the successfully in 1897
Single cylinder, four-stroke, water-cooled,
air injection of fuel

• Output: 14.7 kW (20 hp)

• Fuel consumption: 317 g/kWh (238 g/hp-hr)
• Efficiency: 26.2%
• Number of revolutions: 172 min-1
• Displacement volume: 19.6 L
• Bore: 250 mm
• Stroke: 400 mm

• Weight: 9000 lbs (4,100 kg)

Ever since its introduction the manufacturers have been striving towards
improvement in the operational reliability and thermal efficiency of the diesel engine.
Improved reliability has been achieved by the application of improved material, fuel
injection, lubrication and cooling methods and improved design of components,
Improvement of thermal efficiency or reduction of specific fuel oil consumption (
SFOC) has been made possible by supercharging and increased compression ratio
with consequent increase in maximum firing pressure (pmax) and temperature
According to the leading engine manufacturer Yanmar, it has reduced the fuel
consumption of its four-stroke medium-speed diesel engines by 50g/kWh or more
between 1960 and 2016. Major factors in reduced fuel consumption have included
increasing the maximum firing pressure (Pmax) and improving the gas exchange work
, and these are the results of turbocharging technology.
Some of the key features that have undergone changes are given below:

m.e.p. (bar Thermal SFOC

Year pmax (bar) efficiency (%) g/kwh
)
1897 ? ? 26 317

1950 7 60 40 172

Today 20 160 55 125

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Increasing power generation has been another thrust area. When the Author started
his sea career in 1958, his first motor ship – powered by an MAN manufactured KZ
series diesel engine with a cylinder bore of 900 mm the power developed in each
cylinder was about 670 kW. Today a 900 mm bore cylinder can produce nearly 6,000
kW.

Variable Injection Timer (VIT)

Following oil crisis of 1973 which almost overnight saw nearly fourfold rise in bunker
price. Many ships – particularly bulk carriers and tankers - began to slow-steam in
order to reduce oil consumption for the voyages. Apart from technical difficulties,
running the engine at reduced power reduces thermal efficiency and increases the
SFOC. To counter these effects to some extent, variable injection timer (VIT) was
introduced by some makers whereby the commencement of fuel injection was
advanced automatically as the engine load increased.
Advancing the beginning of fuel injection results in increasing the maximum firing
pressure and combustion temperature. This in turn improves thermal efficiency of the
cycle and reduces the SFOC.

NOX emission
The MARPOL Convention was adopted on 2 November 1973 at IMO. The Protocol
of 1978 was adopted in response to a spate of tanker accidents in 1976-1977. As the
1973 MARPOL Convention had not yet entered into force, the 1978 MARPOL
Protocol absorbed the parent Convention.

Annex I (pollution by oil) and II (pollution by noxious liquid substances) entered into
force on 2 October 1983. Other Annexes – III (pollution by harmful packaged
substances), IV (sewage) and V (garbage) came into force on different dates
thereafter.

The original MARPOL covered pollution of the sea only. Air pollution was not covered
. In 1997, a Protocol was adopted to amend the Convention and a new Annex VI was
added which entered into force on 19 May 2005 dealing with the pollution of the
atmosphere by ships.
The regulations in this annex, among other things, set limits on emission from ship
exhausts of nitrogen oxide (Regulation 13) and sulphur oxide (Regulation 14). 
Ships can meet the new limit requirements for SOx gas emission by using low
sulphur fuel oil such as Marine Gas Oil (sometimes called distillates). Ships may also
meet the SOx requirements by using approved equivalent methods, such as an,
Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems or “scrubbers”, which “clean” the emissions before
they are released into the atmosphere. (b)

As regards the emission of NOx, following are the specified limits:

Relevance of Miller Cycle on Marine Diesel Engines Page 3 of 7

Ship Total weighted cycle emission limit of NOx (g/kWh)

construction n = engine’s rated speed (rpm)

Tier date on or after n < 130 n = 130 - 1999 n ≥ 2000

45·n(-0.2)
I 1 January 2000 17.0 e.g., 720 rpm – 12.1 9.8

44·n(-0.23)
II 1 January 2011 14.4 e.g., 720 rpm – 9.7 7.7

9·n(-0.2)
III 1 January 2016* 3.4 e.g., 720 rpm – 2.4 2.0

Tier III applies only on new ships when in designated Emission Control Areas (ECA)

When the global Tier II limits came into force in 2011, engine-makers were able to
tune the engines to comply with these new emissions limits. Tier III poses a
challenge to engine designers, as tuning is not an option anymore and they need to
apply NOx reduction measures using other engine technologies. (g)

The available technologies for compliance with the IMO NOx Tier III limits currently
include:

• Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems: This is the most widely used
method for purification of NOx from an engine’s exhaust gas.
• Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR): Recirculation of the exhaust gas back to the
engine’s combustion process. This is still a relatively new technology for
maritime applications, but is developing into a competitive option for NOx
compliance.
• Alternative fuels such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) (g)

For the 4-stroke medium speed propulsion engine early closing of air inlet valve
according to Miller cycle presents another option.

Miller cycle

High temperature of combustion increases the amount of NOx formation. In most

part, the amount of NOx generated is through the reaction of N2 and O2 in the
atmosphere. For instance, if the duration of combustion. If the duration of combustion
is approximately 10 micro seconds, the generated quantity of NOx at flame
temperature 2 400 K (21300 C) is 10 times as much as that generated at 2 200 K (
19300 C) (h). Thus, any measures to improve the SFOC by raising the temperature of
combustion, e.g. by the VIT, act against NOx emission reduction measures. This
inevitably led to some “trade-off” i.e. some sacrifice had to be made reducing the
combustion temperature and accepting somewhat higher SFOC in order to comply
the NOx emission limits.

Application of Miller cycle can, to a large extent, reduce or eliminated the need for
“trade-off”.
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The basic principle underlying the Miller process is that the effective compression
stroke can be made shorter than the expansion stroke by suitable shifting of the inlet
valve timing. When both the engine output and boost pressure are kept constant, this
will reduce the cylinder filling and the pressure and temperature in the cylinders will
be lower. (e)

Miller cycle (patented by Ralph Miller in 1957) involves early closing of the air inlet
valve, even before the piston reaches the bottom dead centre. After closure of the
inlet the entrapped air is expanded and thereby cooled as the piston continues its
stroke till the bottom end. This cooling effect helps to reduce the peak temperatures
reducing the NOx formation.

However due to early closing of the inlet the amount of air trapped in the cylinder is
reduced and hence less fuel can be burnt and less power developed. In order to
compensate this the charge air pressure is increased ensuring that sufficient quantity
of air is available to burn more fuel.

The traditional single stage turbocharger the pressure ratio is limited to about 4 in
order to cope up with high temperature rise due to compression. By employing two-
stage turbocharging with inter-cooling and after-cooling a pressure ratio of up to or
more than 8 can be achieved. Leading engine manufacturers are now offering four-
stroke medium speed engines employing Miller cycle inlet valve timing in
combination with two-stage turbocharging.

During trials using an intensive Miller Cycle under full load conditions and
turbocharger pressure ratios of 6.5 to 7, MAN Diesel has recorded reductions in NOx
of over 30%, reductions in fuel consumption as great as 8% and a 15% increase in
specific power output (c)

The original purpose of the Miller process was to increase the power density of
engines without exceeding their mechanical and thermal limits. In the 1990s,
attention turned to how it could be used to reduce the temperature in the cylinders for
a constant engine output, and to using this positive effect to minimize NOx formation.
In the case of gas engines, an additional benefit is that the operating range can be
increased since there is less tendency for the engines to “knock” (e)

The Miller process is one of the few options that engine builders have for
simultaneously reducing emissions and improving engine efficiency. Since all engine
builders strive to meet engine emission limits without any loss of efficiency,
practically every modern engine is operated today with at least moderate Miller
timing. (e)

Variable valve timing (VVT)

Variable valve timing enables variations in the opening and closing of the inlet
valves. It can be used to compensate the increase in SFOC associated with
lower NOx emissions. VVT is an enabling technology of variable Miller valve
timing.

At high load, a strong Miller effect results in an improvement in the NOx-

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SFOC trade-off. At low load, the Miller valve timings are reduced to attain
higher combustion temperatures and thus lower soot emissions. (d)

Types of Earlier-Closing Miller Cycle

The figure be below illustrates the various types of earlier-closing Miller cycle with
reference to the diagram of air inlet valve open and close operation. While different
companies use different terminology, Miller cycle of which inlet valve is closed earlier
progressively from the inlet valve closing timing near the bottom dead centre (“Tier II”
) are called “strong Miller” and “extreme Miller” respectively. (f)

TDC
1

1 Air inlet valve opening timing

2 Extreme Miller air inlet valve closing
3 Strong Miller Air inlet valve closing
4 Tier II Air inlet valve closing
5 Tier I Air inlet valve closing timing

5 BDC 2
4 3

For the Tier II specification engine, which aim is to reduce NOx by 20% relative to
Tier I specification, single-stage turbocharging (a single turbocharger) is used to
achieve the higher pressure ratio. The pressure ratio for Tier II specification is as
high as 5.5 in some cases, if overload is included, and while it depends on the
turbocharger manufacturer settings, this is the limit of what is possible with single-
stage turbocharging. Accordingly, if a strong Miller or extreme Miller timing is used to
reduce NOx by 30 or 40% relative to Tier I, two-stage turbocharging (dual
turbochargers) is needed because the pressure ratios of 6 or higher is required. The
terminology used by Yanmar for this is “two-stage turbocharging system”. (f)
Two Stroke engines

In two stroke engines there are no inlet valves – the air for combustion is supplied
through scavenge ports on the liner near the bottom that are opened or closed by the
piston movement. Miller cycle cannot be applied for such engines.

In the X-series 2-stroke engines of Wartsila (formerly Sulzer) with uniflow scavenging
, a somewhat comparable process has been applied by later closing of the exhaust
valve. This reduces the length of compression stroke and thereby lowering the air
pressure and temperature
Relevance of Miller Cycle on Marine Diesel Engines Page 6 of 7

Sequential fuel injection Reduced peak temperatures

By applying intelligent engine solutions,

• Late exhaust valve closing (reduced
compression temperature and
pressure);
• Common rail fuel (uniform injection
pressure and heat release);
• Sequential fuel injection (reduced
peak heat release) and
• Increased charge air pressure (to
compensate air loss due to late
closing of exhaust valve)

Tiers I and II are complied with. (h)

According to a related article Tier III can be
met when using LNG as fuel

Compliance with Tier III NOx emission standard

A combination of two-stage turbocharging, improvement in the fuel injection system

and variation of timings of air inlet valve (Miller process) or exhaust valve (two-stroke
engine) can ensure compliance with Tier I and Tier II standards for NOx emission. By
switching the engine to LNG fuel Tier III standard can be met. However, when using
traditional heavy or diesel fuel oil, additional measures such as, selective catalytic
reactor (SCR) or exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) are necessary to comply with Tier
III. These are briefly described below.
Relevance of Miller Cycle on Marine Diesel Engines Page 7 of 7

Reducing agent Reactions

4NO + 4NH3 + O2
→ 4N2 + 6H2O
and
6NO2 + 8NH3
→ 7N2 + 12H2O

Up to 98 percent NOx can

be converted harmless
Nitrogen

SCR or EGR – which? MAN

Diesel recommendation
30bore- • SCR favoured
46 bore solution
• EGR alternative
solution
50 bore- • SCR or EGR
70 bore recommended
80bore- • EGR technically
95 bore favoured solution
• LP SCR
alternative
solution
• HP SCR difficult
for more than
eight cylinders

Acknowledgement
(a) A look back at the history of diesel ships - Published by Motorship
(b) IMO Regulation to reduce air pollution for ships and review of fuel oil
availability – an IMO paper on Frequently Asked Questions
(c) Advanced Primary Means improve Diesel Emissions, power and Consumption
– MAN Diesel Press release 11 June 2009
(d) MAN Diesel L32/44 Project guide
(e) Turbocharging medium speed diesel engines with extreme Miller timing – E.
Codan and I. Vlaskos, ABB Turbo Systems
(f) Two-stage Turbocharging for fur stroke Diesel Engine – Shunji Hamaoka,
Large Power Products Management Division, Yanmar Diesel
(g) Upcoming environmental regulations for emissions to air – IMO NOx Tier III –
DNV.GL paper
(h) Advanced Marine Engine which Reduces Environmental Load “The Wärtsilä X
-series” Featuring a Fusion of Advanced Electronic Control Technologies