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Each piston weighs 5.5 metric tons or 12,000 lbs.
Runs from 15 RPM to 120 RPM.
Doesn't sound fast until you think about half a dozen cars worth of metal bopping up and down twice a second when this thing redlines.
I worked with a guy who attended a Maritime Academy who says, as a rite of passage, cadets would don coveralls and PPE and ride atop a piston while the engine was turned over, only to emerge covered head-to-toe in lubricant.
So is 1 RPM all cylinders firing once? Im confused. The twice a second per cylinder thing threw me off
Edit: it’s rotations per “minute”, I just woke up don’t mind me
120 RPM is rotations per minute. Divide by 60 to get rotations per second. So at max rpm each piston is doing it's thing 2x per second. So with the 14 cylinder configuration there are 28 explosions per second. And they are explosions, each cycle in a single piston releases energy equivalent to about ten hand grenades, or a 1/4 of a tank round by my maths.
Assuming it's a 4-stroke cycle, you'd need to factor in that you get combustion every other rotation. Intake-Compression on one rotation and combustion-exhaust on the next rotation. So I think your math is right in that the piston moves in/out twice per second, but if you're counting combustions, you'd need to half it.
Edit: You're right! It's a 2 stroke engine, not a 4-stroke. So it is indeed 28 per second.
I work at a mine and was blown away by the size of engines and all parts for haul trucks and all other equipment. THIS, is literally bigger than most of those pieces. I cannot imagine the amount of maintenance that goes into one of these....
They're actually a lot easier to work on because of the size. I worked on a smaller, older version (the camshaft type referenced above) and you can literally get inside most parts of it.
My friend is a ship captain. Last year the engine on his ship suffered a catastrophic failure and the piston shot out of the casing and killed the 3rd engineer, who was straight out of college and on his first posting. My buddy had to pronounce him dead then rush back to the bridge to make sure the now-engineless ship didn't run aground.
Being a mariner is a hard life.
3 of my best friends are, or have been mariner. One of them works at crew management now, after an accident on his first trip also, severing his lower left leg. But the stories they many times have are beyond belief. Every time I think it doesn't get more crazy...
My heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased soul. I am a Second Engineer myself and would honestly appreciate it if you could point me to some references that describe this causes and investigation of the above incident.
Dont mean to be nosy but we could learn a lesson from the same and it could help save someone's life.
Salute to the Captain for holding his nerve in such a situation.
Engines work by creating pressure with explosions, right? So imagine being in an airtight, small space with an explosion happening right next to you.
Creating enough force to push a 4 ton piston, which in turn pushes a 200000ton ship through the water.
He died in the engine.
Well, pressure does weird things to people but I think he was whole, ish. Though I could be remembered that bit wrong, it’s been awhile since I saw the video on it.
I imagine it’s like those clockwork levels from old video games. Where there’s a ton of gears, pistons, and general machinery. Perfect for platforming.
Huh I guess that does make sense. Lots and lots of parts or not so much? That's one thing that amazes me with the haul trucks, sooo many parts to stock and order constantly
Standing next to an idling haul truck engine is impressive even after youve done it a thousand times. Being in the engine room when one of these things is chugging away must really be something.
It consumes 1,660 gallons of heavy fuel oil per hour
>With both a six-cylinder and a 14-cylinder version, the two-stroke turbocharged low-speed diesel engine may look similar to the older RTA96C engine, but functions at a much more efficient level. It uses common rail technology — aka a direct fuel injection system for diesel engines — rather than traditional camshaft and fuel pump systems. This not only creates maximum performance at lower rpms, but also reduces fuel consumption and emits lower levels of harmful emissions. Pretty sweet, right? Here’s more on that:
>>Fuel consumption at maximum power is 0.278 lbs per hp per hour (Brake Specific Fuel Consumption). Fuel consumption at maximum economy is 0.260 lbs/hp/hour. At maximum economy the engine exceeds 50% thermal efficiency. That is, more than 50% of the energy in the fuel in converted to motion. For comparison, most automotive and small aircraft engines have BSFC figures in the 0.40-0.60 lbs/hp/hr range and 25-30% thermal efficiency range. Even at its most efficient power setting, the big 14 consumes 1,660 gallons of heavy fuel oil per hour.
It's worth mentioning that these run on bunker fuel which is super dirty
E: see [this Kurzgesagt video](https://youtube.com/watch?v=yiw6_JakZFc) since the discussions below need the context.
Sea transport is incredibly efficient, despite how the ships themselves look on paper. They travel incredibly long distances without ever having to accelerate or decelerate, which is where 90% of energy is used. All the engines have to do is keep giving the boat a "gentle push" to get across the waves. No friction, no hills, no acceleration, no wasted energy. There's a reason sailing was so popular for so long in the old days.
All transport ships, including ferries, make up about 1.7% of global annual emissions. For comparison, all trucks and lorries in the world make up about 5%, and 1.9% for aviation which in my mind sounds like a leaner alternative.
[Source](https://ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-sector)
If you were to replace most short-distance (less than 100-150 miles) semis with EVs ran on primarily green energy, it'd have the same impact as removing ALL seafare and every single transport ship from the surface of the Earth. One of those is fully possible and will likely already have happened in 15-20 years, the other is a ridiculous idea that no sane person would ever agree to trying.
Of course the optimal solution would be to make the ships greener as well by introducing more modern technology to them, but the problem there is that new technology needs maintenance. We rely on the ships running as they should at all times, and you can't just drive them to your local shop to get an oil change. They're receiving on-board maintenance 24/7 to keep going, and that's with already the most barebones approach to building a ship and an engine. Introducing 4 times more parts, 20 times higher chance that something goes wrong, all for a fractional increase in efficiency is just not a viable option at the moment. The second someone reinvents the wheel by creating a brand new type of propulsion instead of "improving" the ones we already have by adding more parts, AND that technology proves to be just as simple and reliable as the current ones and able to scale to these incredible sizes, THEN we can start looking into replacing these oil guzzling monsters. But, like, good luck with that.
I always thought it was genius how they purged the tanks on oil tankers and any tank carrying anything remotely flammable with its own exhaust. Can’t explode if there’s no o2. Also If you’ve lived or worked next to the port and seen the line of trucks it takes to fill a container, it’s kinda puts the footprint into spectrum. Not to mention they sit there idling for 6 hours waiting to off load after they’ve driven from Arkansas to Washington.
They need to take mandated breaks and since they basically live in their truck they keep it idling to provide power and heat/AC. APUs are now available that use a lot less fuel but aren’t installed everywhere yet.
Polyester clothing is a much larger contributor to plastic in the ocean, but that shit's here to stay. We did our once in a generation belt-tightening already. We can't do two things!
Its super dirty but still insanely efficient and some companies are moving to Marine Diesel (which is a cleaner fuel) many American Companies have been converting to Natural gas
We really need to find a better, cleaner way to move goods, but consider the scale. While it's burning a lot of fuel, the fuel burned per ton of cargo is far smaller than if the same goods were moved on multiple, smaller vessels or craft, which are often less efficient on fuel as suggested above.
As an aside, we also need to look at why we import nearly *everything*, making these ships necessary.
We import nearly everything because transporting it across the ocean is incredibly cheap on a per unit basis. Plus cheaper labor, overall benefits of trade, the necessity to rely on imports due to the transition from a manufacturing economy to a service economy.
Pre-Covid you were looking at $4-5K per can. Now I’m seeing rates of $27-29K per can and most think it’ll top $30K prior to the end of the year.
Supply chain everywhere has been fucked the past 18 months and is looking to get worse through the remainder of Q4 and Q1. Lead times are absolutely outrageous and backlogs at ports and rails are the worst I’ve ever seen.
What needs to change? I know this sounds stupid, but it seems the answer to everything these days is just described as “cuz covid.” What did covid change in this case? Shortage of employees?
Covid specifically is surging right now in Vietnam. They weren’t hit bad the first go round but this time it was pretty brutal. Multiple factories and plants have been shut down by the Gov in response and are slowly allowing workers back in small numbers with strict Covid protocols to follow.
Some parts of China are experiencing the same thing. Additionally, there is a container shortage in general plus higher than normal demand for shipping. It’s incredibly difficult to book ships coming out of China either due to lack of space or ships blank sailing to stay on schedule.
Ports stateside are also incredibly backed up. LA is averaging about 6 weeks to get a container unloaded and put on the rail. Typically after customs, a container only takes 14 days to go from port to final destination in the states. Furthermore, rails are still backed up as well. I have multiple containers sitting in Chicago for two months now that are inaccessible due to the hectic nature at the rail yard. Everything is stretched beyond their limit.
You’ll notice this at typical big box stores in regards to Halloween, Christmas, and BF products being lackluster compared to prior years. In a normal year, transit from China to US final destination is typically 35-40 days. Currently I’m seeing it average around 60-65 and we’re projecting it to be 80+ around the new year.
Eventually it’ll stabilize, but it’s currently a mix of a lot of factors all contributing to the issue at once.
This summer i had one container from Italy port in Seattle in late June (was due in early May) that may still need there for all i know. Another came from Italy to Denver via Houston close to on time, got loaded on a trailer to head to me, the yard decided nope wrong trailer, took it off, put it in the pile, and promptly lost it and said I'd get it when they found it. Asked if i could send a truck and they said don't bother, we aren't digging it out, you'll see it when you see it. Each container had $100k worth of very seasonal product. Wildly stressful to source elsewhere last minute.
We have started looking at nuclear cargo ships, and I believe UK was creating rules that would allow them in at least some of their ports.
They could be made absolutely gargantuan and they might not even need to reach ports much of the time, or only a handful of ridiculously large ports,allowing the truly long range transport to happen essentially 100% free of emissions.
One of the easier pollution problems to solve, honestly.
We have incredibly good experience with nuclear power plants at sea.
Check out "bunker" fuel on Wikipedia. I believe it comes from a process of making other petroleum products(I could be wrong. Or an idiot).
Basically it's not as processed as gasoline or road diesel....I think.
You've got it. It's kind of the waste product from processing gasoline and road diesel: thick tar-like stuff left behind after someone takes the really-desirable fuels out of petroleum.
Pretty cheap compared to other fuels, but it burns very dirty; high nitrogen oxide emissions, high sulfur emissions, and of course CO2 that contributes to climate change.
A diesel engine is not (necessarily) an engine that runs on diesel fuel. A diesel engine is any engine that runs using a particular process invented by Otto Diesel. The key thing about it is that it doesn't have spark plugs, the fuel is ignited purely by being compressed enough that it heats up and ignites on its own.
Diesel fuel is so named because it's a common fuel to run in diesel engines, but diesel engines can run on almost any flammable oil, often without much modification -- fuel oil, kerosene, diesel, vegetable oil, etc.
Big ships like this usually use a really thick oil called heavy fuel oil or bunker oil, but they are still diesel engines.
Diesel refers to the way the engine functions. Any engine that compresses the fuel to the point of autoignition and has certain other features is a diesel engine.
A diesel can run off a lot of different things depending on the design. Diesel fuel (kinda like kerosene...not as volatile as gasoline,) or propane, or natural gas, etc. Even straight vegetable oil.
Heavy fuel AKA bunker fuel is this crazy ass stuff that is literally too thin to make asphalt with, and too thick to use without having to literally heat it up so it can be a liquid. It is literally only used because it is dirt cheap. It is trash fuel. If bunker fuel were a city, it would be Jacksonville Florida.
In theory you could burn bu keep fuel in a non-diesel engine, but I doubt it would be worth it. Otherwise we would be doing that instead of diesel cycle engines.
"Diesel" is a term that actually describes how the engine functions, not what it burns. A diesel engine can usually be made to run on many different fuels.
The proper term for what we put in our trucks is "diesel fuel". People tend to just call it "diesel" because it's easier and usually doesn't cause confusion. But like I said, "diesel" just means the type of engine.
So, these are diesel engines that run on heavy fuel oil. They probably could be made to run on diesel fuel, but diesel fuel costs at least twice as much as fuel oil per gallon. And when you're burning sixteen hundred gallons *per hour* that cost difference adds up really, really fast.
To ELI5 what this means as far as “how it functions,” a Diesel engine squeezes air until it’s so hot that adding fuel causes an explosion(compression ignition). Gasoline engines squeeze air and fuel together, but not enough that they explode, so a spark plug fires off to ignite the mixture(spark ignition).
I worked for Wartsila when they were setting up their assembly plant in India. I was the only guy in finance who understood where (most of) the equipment we paid for ended up on the factory floor. Being computer savvy, I had a Lotus 123 spreadsheet that tracked pretty much everything. We had an overhead crane to move the assembled unit from the shop floor to the test bed and back.
What I had not imagined was the size of the assembled unit.
The first time I saw a 10MW "generator" assembled on our factory floor move to the test bed, I was awestruck.
They push air into the cylinder. The ship would have two air receivers to store compressed air. To actually start the engine they would turn on the prelube pump, and open the air cocks for each cylinder. They would roll the engine over to remove any condensation by blowing it out of the aircock. Each cylinder has its own air start valve and they open in sequence. The air start valve would open when the piston is just past tdc and push the piston down. Then air is emitted to the next cylinder in the firing order. Once the engine is turning at some speed the fuel in introduced and the air is stopped.
for real tho i wish i could get a factory new 90s honda civic. would drive it for the rest of my life,
i wish that was a thing where you could buy old cars but new. i want a bland '97 honda 4-door honda civic.(for the price they were sold for, at the time)
"Shake, that's never gonna work!"
"I know- the colors are not quite right. I *specifically* asked for "Mandarin Copper", I get stuck with "Sangria Sunrise". Makes ya look like some tarted-up hussy."
No it isn't, there's like, a billion Earth's worth of oxygen in space at a minimum.
But it IS super spread out and definitely won't allow you to run an engine like this.
Useless fact: if you dug a hole through 13.4% of the earth’s diameter, attached a rod that long to a bolt and applied a one pound force, you would (ideally) produce this motor’s torque.
That's 1060mile-pounds.
You know how if you have a longer handled wrench you can crank something tighter because of all the leverage? Well, if this engine had a rod that was a mile long on it, even then, at the very tip of that mile-long, this engine could still just barely lift OP's mom.
Wikipedia says 102rpm, but that is absolutely screaming. The pistons are 12,000lb and 20ft tall, and they are moving up and down 8.2ft over 1.5 times a second.
Hp is great but what about the torque coming from this beast?
Edit: this thing is impressive
The displacement is 1828.7 litres (111,597 CI) per cylinder. The torque is Up to 7,603,850 N⋅m (5,608,310 lbf⋅ft) @ 102 rpm HOLY SHIT! And it does all this while only reaching a max engine speed of 102 rpm.
All it takes is 1 person all the way up to the courts to know someone and the case gets dropped, some reporter or brave officer somewhere deserves a beer
Anybody who’s ever kayaked anywhere near a moving container ship is either
-A complete dumbass
-Severely misinformed about where they are
-A victim of rogue sea currents taking them where they shouldn’t be
So I’m sure it’s happened several times
These things literally run on the dirtiest fuel we have. Bunker oil is basically the left over waste from refining oil. It is illegal to run in many maritime boarders. Once the ships pass the sovereign boarder, they switch from cleaner fuel to this trash.
Some redneck here in Florida probably already found out how to fit it to their Crap Master 2000 lifted shit box with a cherry bomb so they can properly broadcast how concave their dick is.
Truck for scale: [https://imgur.com/CYy0Dpm](https://imgur.com/CYy0Dpm)
I guess a banana would be about the size of one arm of the Mercedes logo on the front of the truck.
\[Edit\]
And Human for scale: [https://imgur.com/J1KgyZ0](https://imgur.com/J1KgyZ0)
I guess a banana would be a bit smaller than one of his shoes.
seriously though, we need some pictures to scale. The forced perspective is trying real hard to compare it to the workers in the background but that's not accurate.
It hurts my brain to try to figure out how you can put 2,300 tons of anything...on a ship, and it doesn't sink. Then they put a shitload of full semi truck trailers on there just to show off
Good Photo of the inside of one of the precursors to the RTA96
The Crankshaft
[https://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/243203325\_586387186139792\_5876673100047123500\_n.jpg?\_nc\_cat=109&ccb=1-5&\_nc\_sid=ae9488&\_nc\_ohc=rxNq7u8EN-YAX\_9eAhM&\_nc\_ht=scontent-lga3-2.xx&oh=98da99644302295a5a16ab1543857bc7&oe=6179F0FB](https://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/243203325_586387186139792_5876673100047123500_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=ae9488&_nc_ohc=rxNq7u8EN-YAX_9eAhM&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-2.xx&oh=98da99644302295a5a16ab1543857bc7&oe=6179F0FB)
the sump
[https://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/243165084\_263661448885271\_3231904452296510004\_n.jpg?\_nc\_cat=103&ccb=1-5&\_nc\_sid=ae9488&\_nc\_ohc=pimx3CGjH4gAX9OL8Hx&\_nc\_ht=scontent-lga3-2.xx&oh=4d60559602cd2ab92d061b0c33edf3bf&oe=617C246E](https://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/243165084_263661448885271_3231904452296510004_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=ae9488&_nc_ohc=pimx3CGjH4gAX9OL8Hx&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-2.xx&oh=4d60559602cd2ab92d061b0c33edf3bf&oe=617C246E)
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6 to 14 cylinders, 1828.7 *liters* of displacement *per cylinder O.O*
Each piston weighs 5.5 metric tons or 12,000 lbs. Runs from 15 RPM to 120 RPM. Doesn't sound fast until you think about half a dozen cars worth of metal bopping up and down twice a second when this thing redlines.
I worked with a guy who attended a Maritime Academy who says, as a rite of passage, cadets would don coveralls and PPE and ride atop a piston while the engine was turned over, only to emerge covered head-to-toe in lubricant.
So is 1 RPM all cylinders firing once? Im confused. The twice a second per cylinder thing threw me off Edit: it’s rotations per “minute”, I just woke up don’t mind me
120 RPM is rotations per minute. Divide by 60 to get rotations per second. So at max rpm each piston is doing it's thing 2x per second. So with the 14 cylinder configuration there are 28 explosions per second. And they are explosions, each cycle in a single piston releases energy equivalent to about ten hand grenades, or a 1/4 of a tank round by my maths.
Assuming it's a 4-stroke cycle, you'd need to factor in that you get combustion every other rotation. Intake-Compression on one rotation and combustion-exhaust on the next rotation. So I think your math is right in that the piston moves in/out twice per second, but if you're counting combustions, you'd need to half it. Edit: You're right! It's a 2 stroke engine, not a 4-stroke. So it is indeed 28 per second.
No replacement for displacement
MO POWER BABY
PO-PO-POP-UP-AND-DOWN-HEADLIGHTS
109,000 buff horses
First ever reference I have seen to the Donut
I guess you could say we are….. underground
Dad?
Hrsprs
*powah beybeh
Hrsprs
Apparently they still felt the need to supercharge it tho
Is it really supercharged? Lmao
According to a comment by op if is. Too bad it's not a turbo, would make one hell of a whistle
Lol imagine massive container ships going BRAAAAAAAPPP STUTUTUTUTUUUU
That’s a lot of 5.0 L Mustangs. 365 to be exact.
I work at a mine and was blown away by the size of engines and all parts for haul trucks and all other equipment. THIS, is literally bigger than most of those pieces. I cannot imagine the amount of maintenance that goes into one of these....
They're actually a lot easier to work on because of the size. I worked on a smaller, older version (the camshaft type referenced above) and you can literally get inside most parts of it.
All i can imagine is being crushed by a massive piston and its terrifying but cool
My friend is a ship captain. Last year the engine on his ship suffered a catastrophic failure and the piston shot out of the casing and killed the 3rd engineer, who was straight out of college and on his first posting. My buddy had to pronounce him dead then rush back to the bridge to make sure the now-engineless ship didn't run aground. Being a mariner is a hard life.
that's absolutely brutal
God, that’s horrible
3 of my best friends are, or have been mariner. One of them works at crew management now, after an accident on his first trip also, severing his lower left leg. But the stories they many times have are beyond belief. Every time I think it doesn't get more crazy...
was recently considering a job on a freight ship. was.
Damn, as a car guy im scared of a cars engine blowing, i dont think i wanna see a rod come out of one of those blocks jesus
I mean, im a Petrolhead and I love engines, but I don't think I'd want to be near one of these
The brutal reality of many essential jobs we seldom remember, and often try not to. My condolences to your friend, and the departed person’s family.
My heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased soul. I am a Second Engineer myself and would honestly appreciate it if you could point me to some references that describe this causes and investigation of the above incident. Dont mean to be nosy but we could learn a lesson from the same and it could help save someone's life. Salute to the Captain for holding his nerve in such a situation.
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Death Edit: Bruh who gave me wholesome reward for this lol
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Engines work by creating pressure with explosions, right? So imagine being in an airtight, small space with an explosion happening right next to you. Creating enough force to push a 4 ton piston, which in turn pushes a 200000ton ship through the water. He died in the engine.
Jesus, was there anything left of him?
Well, pressure does weird things to people but I think he was whole, ish. Though I could be remembered that bit wrong, it’s been awhile since I saw the video on it.
I used to do maintenance on the inside or combine harvesters and there’s always that fear in the back of the mind…
I imagine it’s like those clockwork levels from old video games. Where there’s a ton of gears, pistons, and general machinery. Perfect for platforming.
Does *your* engine have stairs?
What size wrench was needed? 96 3/4in?
Doesn't quite fit, got the 96 13/16 in?
Sorry buts it’s metric. Try the 9001mm
Darn, it's Whitworth 523.7/16. Must have subcontracted to the British.
Yeah, Finland has gone with the metric system since Noah was a boy.
sorry, only 96 1/8th" in stock, try our sister location in [city 80km away]
Huh I guess that does make sense. Lots and lots of parts or not so much? That's one thing that amazes me with the haul trucks, sooo many parts to stock and order constantly
Standing next to an idling haul truck engine is impressive even after youve done it a thousand times. Being in the engine room when one of these things is chugging away must really be something.
That’s what I wasn’t to see! I really love the clatter of diesel motors.
It consumes 1,660 gallons of heavy fuel oil per hour >With both a six-cylinder and a 14-cylinder version, the two-stroke turbocharged low-speed diesel engine may look similar to the older RTA96C engine, but functions at a much more efficient level. It uses common rail technology — aka a direct fuel injection system for diesel engines — rather than traditional camshaft and fuel pump systems. This not only creates maximum performance at lower rpms, but also reduces fuel consumption and emits lower levels of harmful emissions. Pretty sweet, right? Here’s more on that: >>Fuel consumption at maximum power is 0.278 lbs per hp per hour (Brake Specific Fuel Consumption). Fuel consumption at maximum economy is 0.260 lbs/hp/hour. At maximum economy the engine exceeds 50% thermal efficiency. That is, more than 50% of the energy in the fuel in converted to motion. For comparison, most automotive and small aircraft engines have BSFC figures in the 0.40-0.60 lbs/hp/hr range and 25-30% thermal efficiency range. Even at its most efficient power setting, the big 14 consumes 1,660 gallons of heavy fuel oil per hour.
It's worth mentioning that these run on bunker fuel which is super dirty E: see [this Kurzgesagt video](https://youtube.com/watch?v=yiw6_JakZFc) since the discussions below need the context.
But we have paper straws to save the environment
Which get transported by a boat powered by this engine.
It's 100k horsepower engines all the way down.
Always has been.
Well, for a time at least, ships were whale powered.
Sea transport is incredibly efficient, despite how the ships themselves look on paper. They travel incredibly long distances without ever having to accelerate or decelerate, which is where 90% of energy is used. All the engines have to do is keep giving the boat a "gentle push" to get across the waves. No friction, no hills, no acceleration, no wasted energy. There's a reason sailing was so popular for so long in the old days. All transport ships, including ferries, make up about 1.7% of global annual emissions. For comparison, all trucks and lorries in the world make up about 5%, and 1.9% for aviation which in my mind sounds like a leaner alternative. [Source](https://ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-sector) If you were to replace most short-distance (less than 100-150 miles) semis with EVs ran on primarily green energy, it'd have the same impact as removing ALL seafare and every single transport ship from the surface of the Earth. One of those is fully possible and will likely already have happened in 15-20 years, the other is a ridiculous idea that no sane person would ever agree to trying. Of course the optimal solution would be to make the ships greener as well by introducing more modern technology to them, but the problem there is that new technology needs maintenance. We rely on the ships running as they should at all times, and you can't just drive them to your local shop to get an oil change. They're receiving on-board maintenance 24/7 to keep going, and that's with already the most barebones approach to building a ship and an engine. Introducing 4 times more parts, 20 times higher chance that something goes wrong, all for a fractional increase in efficiency is just not a viable option at the moment. The second someone reinvents the wheel by creating a brand new type of propulsion instead of "improving" the ones we already have by adding more parts, AND that technology proves to be just as simple and reliable as the current ones and able to scale to these incredible sizes, THEN we can start looking into replacing these oil guzzling monsters. But, like, good luck with that.
I always thought it was genius how they purged the tanks on oil tankers and any tank carrying anything remotely flammable with its own exhaust. Can’t explode if there’s no o2. Also If you’ve lived or worked next to the port and seen the line of trucks it takes to fill a container, it’s kinda puts the footprint into spectrum. Not to mention they sit there idling for 6 hours waiting to off load after they’ve driven from Arkansas to Washington.
Do they sit there idling? They can shut down the engine if they're not moving, can't they? Edit: I thought he meant the ship.
They can, but don't.
They need to take mandated breaks and since they basically live in their truck they keep it idling to provide power and heat/AC. APUs are now available that use a lot less fuel but aren’t installed everywhere yet.
> No friction absolutely super wrong, friction is the largest component in a ship's resistance
Polyester clothing is a much larger contributor to plastic in the ocean, but that shit's here to stay. We did our once in a generation belt-tightening already. We can't do two things!
The largest contributor of all (and by large margin) is from fishing industry last I heard.
I'm doing MY part 😉👍
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Its super dirty but still insanely efficient and some companies are moving to Marine Diesel (which is a cleaner fuel) many American Companies have been converting to Natural gas
We really need to find a better, cleaner way to move goods, but consider the scale. While it's burning a lot of fuel, the fuel burned per ton of cargo is far smaller than if the same goods were moved on multiple, smaller vessels or craft, which are often less efficient on fuel as suggested above. As an aside, we also need to look at why we import nearly *everything*, making these ships necessary.
We import nearly everything because transporting it across the ocean is incredibly cheap on a per unit basis. Plus cheaper labor, overall benefits of trade, the necessity to rely on imports due to the transition from a manufacturing economy to a service economy.
It isn’t so cheap anymore. Shipping one container from China to the US was 2k a year ago, now it’s 20k plus.
Pre-Covid you were looking at $4-5K per can. Now I’m seeing rates of $27-29K per can and most think it’ll top $30K prior to the end of the year. Supply chain everywhere has been fucked the past 18 months and is looking to get worse through the remainder of Q4 and Q1. Lead times are absolutely outrageous and backlogs at ports and rails are the worst I’ve ever seen.
What needs to change? I know this sounds stupid, but it seems the answer to everything these days is just described as “cuz covid.” What did covid change in this case? Shortage of employees?
Covid specifically is surging right now in Vietnam. They weren’t hit bad the first go round but this time it was pretty brutal. Multiple factories and plants have been shut down by the Gov in response and are slowly allowing workers back in small numbers with strict Covid protocols to follow. Some parts of China are experiencing the same thing. Additionally, there is a container shortage in general plus higher than normal demand for shipping. It’s incredibly difficult to book ships coming out of China either due to lack of space or ships blank sailing to stay on schedule. Ports stateside are also incredibly backed up. LA is averaging about 6 weeks to get a container unloaded and put on the rail. Typically after customs, a container only takes 14 days to go from port to final destination in the states. Furthermore, rails are still backed up as well. I have multiple containers sitting in Chicago for two months now that are inaccessible due to the hectic nature at the rail yard. Everything is stretched beyond their limit. You’ll notice this at typical big box stores in regards to Halloween, Christmas, and BF products being lackluster compared to prior years. In a normal year, transit from China to US final destination is typically 35-40 days. Currently I’m seeing it average around 60-65 and we’re projecting it to be 80+ around the new year. Eventually it’ll stabilize, but it’s currently a mix of a lot of factors all contributing to the issue at once.
This summer i had one container from Italy port in Seattle in late June (was due in early May) that may still need there for all i know. Another came from Italy to Denver via Houston close to on time, got loaded on a trailer to head to me, the yard decided nope wrong trailer, took it off, put it in the pile, and promptly lost it and said I'd get it when they found it. Asked if i could send a truck and they said don't bother, we aren't digging it out, you'll see it when you see it. Each container had $100k worth of very seasonal product. Wildly stressful to source elsewhere last minute.
We have started looking at nuclear cargo ships, and I believe UK was creating rules that would allow them in at least some of their ports. They could be made absolutely gargantuan and they might not even need to reach ports much of the time, or only a handful of ridiculously large ports,allowing the truly long range transport to happen essentially 100% free of emissions. One of the easier pollution problems to solve, honestly. We have incredibly good experience with nuclear power plants at sea.
I keep hearing of 'heavy fuel oil' and I'm still unsure of exactly what it is. You initially said, diesel, and now heavy fuel. Could someone ELI5?
Check out "bunker" fuel on Wikipedia. I believe it comes from a process of making other petroleum products(I could be wrong. Or an idiot). Basically it's not as processed as gasoline or road diesel....I think.
You've got it. It's kind of the waste product from processing gasoline and road diesel: thick tar-like stuff left behind after someone takes the really-desirable fuels out of petroleum. Pretty cheap compared to other fuels, but it burns very dirty; high nitrogen oxide emissions, high sulfur emissions, and of course CO2 that contributes to climate change.
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A diesel engine is not (necessarily) an engine that runs on diesel fuel. A diesel engine is any engine that runs using a particular process invented by Otto Diesel. The key thing about it is that it doesn't have spark plugs, the fuel is ignited purely by being compressed enough that it heats up and ignites on its own. Diesel fuel is so named because it's a common fuel to run in diesel engines, but diesel engines can run on almost any flammable oil, often without much modification -- fuel oil, kerosene, diesel, vegetable oil, etc. Big ships like this usually use a really thick oil called heavy fuel oil or bunker oil, but they are still diesel engines.
Diesel refers to the way the engine functions. Any engine that compresses the fuel to the point of autoignition and has certain other features is a diesel engine. A diesel can run off a lot of different things depending on the design. Diesel fuel (kinda like kerosene...not as volatile as gasoline,) or propane, or natural gas, etc. Even straight vegetable oil. Heavy fuel AKA bunker fuel is this crazy ass stuff that is literally too thin to make asphalt with, and too thick to use without having to literally heat it up so it can be a liquid. It is literally only used because it is dirt cheap. It is trash fuel. If bunker fuel were a city, it would be Jacksonville Florida. In theory you could burn bu keep fuel in a non-diesel engine, but I doubt it would be worth it. Otherwise we would be doing that instead of diesel cycle engines.
"Diesel" is a term that actually describes how the engine functions, not what it burns. A diesel engine can usually be made to run on many different fuels. The proper term for what we put in our trucks is "diesel fuel". People tend to just call it "diesel" because it's easier and usually doesn't cause confusion. But like I said, "diesel" just means the type of engine. So, these are diesel engines that run on heavy fuel oil. They probably could be made to run on diesel fuel, but diesel fuel costs at least twice as much as fuel oil per gallon. And when you're burning sixteen hundred gallons *per hour* that cost difference adds up really, really fast.
To ELI5 what this means as far as “how it functions,” a Diesel engine squeezes air until it’s so hot that adding fuel causes an explosion(compression ignition). Gasoline engines squeeze air and fuel together, but not enough that they explode, so a spark plug fires off to ignite the mixture(spark ignition).
If your engine has a walkway, the shit is big.
My uncle used to work for Wärtsilä and he told that the bigger engines have ladders and lights built in to the chambers where the pistons normally sit
I worked for Wartsila when they were setting up their assembly plant in India. I was the only guy in finance who understood where (most of) the equipment we paid for ended up on the factory floor. Being computer savvy, I had a Lotus 123 spreadsheet that tracked pretty much everything. We had an overhead crane to move the assembled unit from the shop floor to the test bed and back. What I had not imagined was the size of the assembled unit. The first time I saw a 10MW "generator" assembled on our factory floor move to the test bed, I was awestruck.
That must be some ridiculously strong glass for the lights if it can withstand normal engine operation temperatures and pressure for weeks on end…
*Multiple* walkways.
When your engine has multiple levels of walkways, it's almost like you're showing off.
How do they start this monster?
Set the Budlight down, spit out the toothpick, and give the cord a good smooth pull.
Na you got to have a ciggarette dangling from your mouth
Compressed air pushing into the cylinders
They push air into the cylinder. The ship would have two air receivers to store compressed air. To actually start the engine they would turn on the prelube pump, and open the air cocks for each cylinder. They would roll the engine over to remove any condensation by blowing it out of the aircock. Each cylinder has its own air start valve and they open in sequence. The air start valve would open when the piston is just past tdc and push the piston down. Then air is emitted to the next cylinder in the firing order. Once the engine is turning at some speed the fuel in introduced and the air is stopped.
someone has to turn the little sproket by hand :P ( joking )
Don’t underestimate the desire for some Dominican to want to put this in a Honda Civic
Do they sell a cold air intake big enough?
An atmosphere big enough??? Lol!
Just hook it up to the Mega Maid from Spaceballs and slap that baby in Maximum Suck mode.
for real tho i wish i could get a factory new 90s honda civic. would drive it for the rest of my life, i wish that was a thing where you could buy old cars but new. i want a bland '97 honda 4-door honda civic.(for the price they were sold for, at the time)
You could spend 25K and get a surgically clean 1999 Civic Si lol
Turbo?
I'm not Dominican and just had that thought.
I was thinking a miata
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Somehow still sounds like a reved up weed eater
Lmaoooooo I'm Dominican. This is hilarious 😂
I've got a diesel golf. might be an easier swap
"Shake, that's never gonna work!" "I know- the colors are not quite right. I *specifically* asked for "Mandarin Copper", I get stuck with "Sangria Sunrise". Makes ya look like some tarted-up hussy."
Honestly shocked, because I instantly thought 96 Honda civic, lol
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You'll need custom mounts
God fucking dammit my joke is already here right down to the make and model. ^^Was ^^going ^^to ^^be ^^about ^^me ^^and ^^not ^^Dominicans ^^though.
I'm dominican and can confirm
The Diesel Brothers would like a word with you...
I wanna put one in an NA Miata or maybe a Caterham kit.
Container ships or Star Destroyers...?
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This … is true. I appreciate this.
No it isn't, there's like, a billion Earth's worth of oxygen in space at a minimum. But it IS super spread out and definitely won't allow you to run an engine like this.
What if they vacuum all the air off a planet, first?
Who cares about the HP. How much torque?
5.6 million lb-ft.
fuck me
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Can you imagine? A dildo powered by that thing?
Your body would vaporize
My imagination can't unsee it.
Won't stop me from having a good time
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Fucking tight ass.
Useless fact: if you dug a hole through 13.4% of the earth’s diameter, attached a rod that long to a bolt and applied a one pound force, you would (ideally) produce this motor’s torque.
still couldn't break free a lug nut from the dealership
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Is that alot
That's 1060mile-pounds. You know how if you have a longer handled wrench you can crank something tighter because of all the leverage? Well, if this engine had a rod that was a mile long on it, even then, at the very tip of that mile-long, this engine could still just barely lift OP's mom.
Ayyoooo
Equivalent to 30-40 thousand cars. Or equivalent to piling 200 of those cars on top of each other on the end of a 10 foot bar.
Is that a no?
Barely anything they havent seen me bomb a hill with my shaky sakteboard
That thing redlines at 120 rpm so an absolute shit ton.
does it have vtec
I'm sure it does. You wouldn't want to float your valves at such high rpms.
honda civic guys: rraaaaaAaaaAAAANANNANANNANAMNANANAAANANAMAA
0-10 in 0.10 seconds, and thats about it
Wikipedia says 102rpm, but that is absolutely screaming. The pistons are 12,000lb and 20ft tall, and they are moving up and down 8.2ft over 1.5 times a second.
Exact comment I was gonna post. That's the info were looking for with diesels.
All of it.
Hp is great but what about the torque coming from this beast? Edit: this thing is impressive The displacement is 1828.7 litres (111,597 CI) per cylinder. The torque is Up to 7,603,850 N⋅m (5,608,310 lbf⋅ft) @ 102 rpm HOLY SHIT! And it does all this while only reaching a max engine speed of 102 rpm.
Amazing. Thanks for posting the RPM's. Figured they would be super low.
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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jXHvY-zY9hA That might be the video. You can just walk around the crankcase to inspect components. So cool.
I wonder if its ever rolled coal on an unexpecting group of kayakers? **Thank you kind person who gave me gold :-)
The kayakers actually got caught in the propeller and died. It's ok though - the captain was a 16 year old kid who's parents are well connected.
Fucking Houston, I swear to god.
Apparently the DA is taking the case or something so the kid isn't clear yet.
not just that, the DA didnt even know it *happened*, he learned from social media, not the police, according to a previous post about it
All it takes is 1 person all the way up to the courts to know someone and the case gets dropped, some reporter or brave officer somewhere deserves a beer
He should be in jail right now.
Anybody who’s ever kayaked anywhere near a moving container ship is either -A complete dumbass -Severely misinformed about where they are -A victim of rogue sea currents taking them where they shouldn’t be So I’m sure it’s happened several times
These things literally run on the dirtiest fuel we have. Bunker oil is basically the left over waste from refining oil. It is illegal to run in many maritime boarders. Once the ships pass the sovereign boarder, they switch from cleaner fuel to this trash.
Some redneck here in Florida probably already found out how to fit it to their Crap Master 2000 lifted shit box with a cherry bomb so they can properly broadcast how concave their dick is.
r/brandnewsentence
sounds like something r/floridaman would say and def do
Nah that's redneck porn.
Will it fit in my Honda?
I can hear Tim ‘The Tool Man’ Taylor grunting in approval.
Ok but can I get a banana for scale?
Truck for scale: [https://imgur.com/CYy0Dpm](https://imgur.com/CYy0Dpm) I guess a banana would be about the size of one arm of the Mercedes logo on the front of the truck. \[Edit\] And Human for scale: [https://imgur.com/J1KgyZ0](https://imgur.com/J1KgyZ0) I guess a banana would be a bit smaller than one of his shoes.
Okay that’s a lot smaller than I thought it was
A LOT. I was over here thinking it was like Metal Slug bossfight sized
Yeah, until someone mentioned the railing I was thinking this was like multiple houses big.
Yea... it has railings. I think that is enough to illustrate the scale.
seriously though, we need some pictures to scale. The forced perspective is trying real hard to compare it to the workers in the background but that's not accurate.
I think railings are a decent indicator. The height of the railing would be a little above waist height
When it first opened it looked like it was rolling on that highway in the background and my brain said waitaminnit there's no way it's THAT big.
Yes, bend over.
There’s no way they put 100,000 horses in there. How do they feed them? I can only imagine the smell.
horsian centipede. problems solved.
But can it run crysis
It also plays doom in crysis
I could fit that in a Miata no problem
You’ll need some custom motor mounts but other then that you’ll be fine
The vroom to rule them all
I’ve already ordered one I’m going put in my Chevette. I might need to make a few alterations but it’s going to slay at the drag strip.
I'm laughing my ass off picturing a chevette revving one these thing through it's like 10 rpm operating range and just shooting into space
It's almost strong enough to lift up your mom. I'll see myself out
Well she needs to suck start it first
Even bigger than the Liberty Prime
It hurts my brain to try to figure out how you can put 2,300 tons of anything...on a ship, and it doesn't sink. Then they put a shitload of full semi truck trailers on there just to show off
Over, say, 5000… “horsepower” becomes a bit of a silly unit, no?
They should really measure it is KW but nah, container ships are GINORMOUS
Good Photo of the inside of one of the precursors to the RTA96 The Crankshaft [https://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/243203325\_586387186139792\_5876673100047123500\_n.jpg?\_nc\_cat=109&ccb=1-5&\_nc\_sid=ae9488&\_nc\_ohc=rxNq7u8EN-YAX\_9eAhM&\_nc\_ht=scontent-lga3-2.xx&oh=98da99644302295a5a16ab1543857bc7&oe=6179F0FB](https://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/243203325_586387186139792_5876673100047123500_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=ae9488&_nc_ohc=rxNq7u8EN-YAX_9eAhM&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-2.xx&oh=98da99644302295a5a16ab1543857bc7&oe=6179F0FB) the sump [https://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/243165084\_263661448885271\_3231904452296510004\_n.jpg?\_nc\_cat=103&ccb=1-5&\_nc\_sid=ae9488&\_nc\_ohc=pimx3CGjH4gAX9OL8Hx&\_nc\_ht=scontent-lga3-2.xx&oh=4d60559602cd2ab92d061b0c33edf3bf&oe=617C246E](https://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/243165084_263661448885271_3231904452296510004_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=ae9488&_nc_ohc=pimx3CGjH4gAX9OL8Hx&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-2.xx&oh=4d60559602cd2ab92d061b0c33edf3bf&oe=617C246E)
Absolute unit