Sulzer turbochargers and early gas carriers
RT67 turbochargers on a Sulzer RD90 engine
It is now such a common sight to see Wärtsilä low speed engines, as we now refer to the Sulzer-designed units, sporting ABB (and Napier) turbochargers that it is easily forgotten that Sulzer Bros of Winterthur formerly made turbochargers itself.
We were reminded of this by an article in the July 1961 edition of The Motor Ship, which described the Sulzer RT turbocharger, developed for the RD series of engine. Manufacture was being concentrated on the RT67, the largest version, specifically for the 900mm bore RD engine. As has been clear from the last few of these reviews, large-bore engines were definitely the fashion of the times. The RT turbocharger was of conventional design and manufacture, with centrifugal single-stage compressor driving a single-stage axial flow turbine at the other end of a short shaft. It was water cooled, and designed so that various air and exhaust arrangements could be accommodated. Pressure ratio seems, in comparison with today’s high-pressure Miller-cycle units, very low, at a maximum of 2:1, but with a maximum of 24,000bhp output from the large-bore engines of 50 years ago, and with NOx emission limits largely unheard-of, that was perfectly adequate.
Waste heat recovery is such a common concept today that it is interesting to see a report of a new development in the industry of a half-century ago that offered “the ultimate in overall thermal efficiency” – namely the exhaust gas boiler. Sunrod’s new compact boiler was claimed to produce an exceptionally high volume of steam for its size and weight.
In August 1961 we saw another early example of what is considered a modern concept – a gas carrier ship. As a Norwegian-built vessel for a Brazilian gas consortium, the Mundogas Brasilia foreshadowed another of today’s highly current trends. Most previous gas carriers ahd been conversions, but this was a newbuild LPG carrier with five 1,500m3 spherical cargo tanks. Its six-cylinder 1,500bhp Götaverken non-turbocharged main engine ran on HFO. It was described as “undoubtedly one of the most interesting ships yet inspected by The Motor Ship”.
Meanwhile, some controversy had been caused by a suggestion that the UK had become a net importer o ships. The shipbuilding trade bodies were anxious to dispel this notion, with the UK still heading the world shipbuilding output table by tonnage, but UK output was the lowest since 1945, and Japan was closing, having overtaken Germany for second place.
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