• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.11
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• pp.1529-1535
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• 2011

Improvement of the thermal efficiency in operation and maintenance of low- and medium-speed engines is a kind of never-ending requirement in the maritime power plant business. For the purpose of improving engine management efficiency, a principal factor that represents the fitness of the engine should be identified. Gas pressure, gas temperature, and vibration have all been used as this factor. However, they have limitations in terms of response speed and diagnosis accuracy. The EFR (engine fitness ratio) is suggested as a new diagnostic factor in this paper. The EFR is defined as the ratio of particular frequencies in the frequency domain and represents the fitness of an engine. It is calculated from the fluctuation pattern of the crankshaft angular speed. The EFR was verified using an experimental method for a low-speed engine and an analytic method for a medium-speed engine.