Recent operational experience and research relating to marine machinery condition monitoring. Discussion

This paper outlines some of the research and development that Lloyd's Register has undertaken into the field of machinery condition monitoring in recent years. This work commenced in the early 1980s with the investigation of the influence of fuel quality on diesel engine wear and corrosion, and then progressed through the use of embedded intelligence, and the necessary algorithms required in condition monitoring methodologies, to the question of fault visibility, sensor reliability and the relative advantages of steady and transient condition monitoring. Based on this programme of research, a summary of the major conclusions is presented, together with experience gained from the practical application of vibration and integrated machinery condition monitoring systems to ships.