Home » Case Studies » ~1% Fuel Consumption Savings Per Year Achieved for a Cargo Vessel’s Doosan-Sulzer 12-cylinder 2-Stroke Engine
Table of Contents
Case Study
~1% Fuel Consumption Savings Per Year Achieved for a Cargo Vessel’s Doosan-Sulzer 12-cylinder 2-Stroke Engine
Table of Contents
Background
Industry
Marine
Solution
Engine Condition
Monitoring System
(ECMS)
Make & Model
Doosan-Sulzer
12-cylinder,
2-stroke Engine
Asset
Cargo Ship
Objective
To evaluate our
Engine Condition Monitoring System
ability to identify component-level faults and reduce unnecessary maintenance actions while improving fuel efficiency.
Challenge / Problem Context
The customer wanted to verify if the system could identify emerging faults before they impact engine performance.
There was a need to scientifically extend engine overhaul intervals and avoid unplanned downtime.
The engine showed slightly reduced efficiency at 80 RPM, which needed investigation.
Any proposed solution had to be non-invasive, easy to install, and capable of remote monitoring.
What Did We Do?
Installed both the Engine Condition Monitoring System and TorqueSense on the main engine without invasive procedures.
Enabled remote access to real-time data for seamless monitoring by the Neptunus technical team.
Focused on analyzing raw data sets specifically at 80 RPM to identify subtle changes in mechanical behavior.
Discovered a non-linear delay caused by the damper getting fully excited at 80 RPM, which led to crankshaft twist and affected combustion timing.
Recommended recalibrating valve settings and fuel injection timing to compensate for the damper-induced delay.
Results That We Achieved
Identified early signs of combustion imbalance and mechanical deterioration that were not visible through routine inspection.
Enabled an estimated 1.2% increase in fuel efficiency, translating to 400–500 tonnes of fuel savings annually for engines of this size.
Provided the ship operator with a data-backed strategy to delay unnecessary maintenance, saving cost and reducing downtime.
Proved that our ECMS is engine-agnostic, easy to install, and capable of component-level fault detection and remote monitoring .
