Low- and medium-speed engine manufacturers, Wärtsilä and MAN Diesel & Turbo are starting the kick off of phase III of the extensive, long-term Hercules research programme. This phase, Hercules-C, aims at integrating several successful technologies in order to reduce emissions and optimise the efficiency and long-term reliability of marine engines.
The overall vision of the programme is to achieve sustainable and safe energy production from marine power plants. Hercules-S is made possible by funding from the European Commission and is planned to run for three years, from 2012 to 2014, with a budget of EUR 17 million. This brings the total Hercules research programme budget, which includes the earlier A and B projects, to EUR 76 million.
Hercules-C Objectives
– Achieve further substantial reductions in fuel consumption, while at the same time optimising power production and usage. This will be achieved through advanced engine developments in combustion and fuel injection, as well as through improvements in ship energy management, and the use of engine technologies supporting transport mission management.
– Maintain the performance of engines throughout their operational lifetime. This involves advanced materials and tribology developments to improve efficiency and reliability, as well as sensors, and monitoring and measurement technologies to improve the controllability and availability of marine power plants.
– Achieve near-zero emissions by integrating the various technologies developed in the previous collaborative research efforts.
Since 2002
Together, Wärtsilä and MAN Diesel & Turbo cover about ninety per cent of the world’s marine engine market. They have been collaborating in the Hercules programme since it was conceived in 2002 to develop new technologies to increase marine engine efficiency. In so doing, fuel consumption, CO2 emissions, as well as gaseous and particulate emissions can be reduced, while engine reliability will be increased.
Hercules Websites
– HERCULES-A (Phase I) 2004-2007 at https://www.ip-hercules.com[ip-hercules.com]
– HERCULES-B (Phase II) 2008-2011 at https://www.hercules-b.com[hercules-b.com]
– HERCULES-C (Phase III) 2012-2014 at https://www.hercules-c.com[hercules-c.com]
