Kongsberg Maritime has received system Type Approval for its Bearing Wear Condition Monitoring (BWCM) system.
The Type Approval was received according to Germanischer Lloyd's (GL) 'Guidelines for Machinery Condition Monitoring', meaning it is now approved to avoid open-up inspections, thereby reducing engine downtime and maintenance costs significantly.
The Kongsberg BWCM system measures and displays the combined physical wear of crosshead, crank and main bearings, providing early bearing seizure warnings if problems occur during engine operation. It protects the engine continuously during operation, based on the latest specifications from MAN Diesel & Turbo, including detection of sudden wear development. The sensors are specifically designed to provide accurate measurements over years of operation inside the engine.
Compared with manual clearance measurements, the BWCM is designed to provide long-term wear data with better accuracy, higher repeatability and reliability. It monitors the combined wear of all three principal crank-train bearings at Bottom Dead Centre (BDC), using two proximity sensors (forward and aft) per cylinder. The system will provide an alarm before steel-to-steel contact, therefore helping to avoid catastrophic engine failure.
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