Largest Diesel Engine

Container ships are some of the largest and heaviest vessels that plough on the seas.  To push these vessels through the water require immense amount of energy, that are derived from massive diesel engines. RT-flex96C is from one of those lagest and most powerful engine in the world.

The Wärtsilä RT-flex96C is a two-stroke turbocharged low-speed diesel engine designed by the Finnish manufacturer Wärtsilä. It is currently considered the largest reciprocating engine in the world, designed for large container ships, running on heavy fuel oil. It stands at 13.5 metres (44 ft) high, is 26.59 m (87 ft) long, and weighs over 2300 tonnes in its largest 14-cylinder version — producing 80080 kW.

One of the most remarkable feature of this behemoth is the high thermal efficiency, which exceeds 50%. This means that 50% of the heat generated by burning fuel is converted to power. For comparison, most automotive and small aircraft engines can only achieve 25-30% thermal efficiency. Even at its most efficient power setting, the big 14-cylinder engine consumes 1,660 gallons of heavy fuel oil per hour.

Some Statistics of RT-flex96C engine:

Bore: 960 mm

Stroke: 2,500 mm

Displacement: 1,820 liters per cylinder

Mean piston speed: 8.5 meters per second

Engine speed: 22–102 RPM

Torque: 7,603,850 newton metres (5,608,310 lbf·ft) @ 102 rpm

Power: up to 5,720 kW per cylinder, 34,320–80,080 kW (46,680–108,920 BHP) total

Mass of fuel injected per cylinder per cycle: ~160 g (about 6.5 ounces) @ full load

Crankshaft weight: 300 tons