One Thousand Five Hundred and Thirty-Eight, the Gap Is Not 1 Point

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So they launched various attempts, and then with the cooperation of many international manufacturers, they finally conquered the dual-fuel engine for LNG ships.

Among them, the first to overcome, and the best technology is Samsung Heavy Industries.

In 2019, they also relied on this technology to grab orders for all 19 boats from Maoxiong.

And let's be honest, coveting this technology, it's not a day or two, but a long time!

It even specially organized several domestic diesel engine manufacturers to jointly conduct public relations.

But easier said than done?

Originally, we are not very good in the field of engines, whether it is cars, ships, or aircraft, the level is not good.

Now it's a bit of a joke to have to do this kind of dual-fuel marine engine.

Maybe many people will feel uncomfortable after hearing this, and may even say, why should the people of the Southern Dynasties do it, we can't.

Several diesel engine factories in our country are not bad.

Xiao Feng has seen a lot of people who are prone to get hot-headed and go crazy on the Internet, but every time he sees the arguments of these guys.

He likes to suggest that these guys drink some ice water to cool down first, and then go to those factories in China to experience it.

Look at the production lines used in those factories, where the machine tools are produced, and where the equipment used by the workers is produced, and chat with the workers.

Ask them whether they are willing to use domestic tools or foreign-made tools, and ask if there is any difference.

Then I went to a few more companies and factories to see who owned the production lines used by these factories.

It doesn't take much, as long as it takes a few months to half a year, I believe you will have a clear understanding of the real strength of our industry.

It is true that the domestic diesel engine factories have made more publicity in recent years.

Some of their diesels do fit into some of our boats, but if you look at those boats, most of them are fishing boats, or they're just offshore freighters.

For the giant ships that really run the ocean, look at a few who are willing to use their diesel engines.

Their products, let’s be honest, let’s not say that they are compared with international first-tier brands like Mann, Cummins, and Isuzu, and they are not comparable to Perkins, which is declining, and Doosan Daewoo, which has just emerged in the past two decades…

This point, you can see if you go to the two domestic engineering equipment companies, and you will know if they have the main engines of the domestic diesel engine factories on their machines.

A series of problems such as backward design, high noise, high fuel consumption, poor reliability, working in high-intensity environment, and easy cylinder explosion have always been the main problems that plague our domestic diesel engines.

And speaking of the diesel engines of the Southern Dynasties, let alone, they have really developed much better than ours.

For example, people started around the same time as us, introducing German car companies to build a joint venture car factory.

It's just that we chose Volkswagen, while the candidates from the Southern Dynasties chose Mercedes-Benz.

Renjiazhi and Mercedes-Benz have been studying for ten years, and they have almost learned the large-displacement engine technology of Mercedes-Benz. After that, they turned their faces and terminated the cooperation early.

It is better to break the contract and lose money than to cooperate with Mercedes-Benz and drive Mercedes-Benz out of the market of the Southern Dynasties.

At the same time, they also imported a large amount of technology from Mitsubishi. By this time, the car companies in the Southern Dynasties already had their own technical foundation.

After that, it didn't take long for Hyundai to enter the American market with its high quality and low price.

Returning to the topic, after the development of the automobile industry in the Southern Dynasties,

The mainstream models they promote in China are not the same as ours.

In the field of civilian vehicles, we mainly promote gasoline vehicles.

The Southern Dynasties country mainly promoted diesel vehicles, which was mainly related to the power and fuel economy of diesel vehicles.

It is precisely because of the diesel engine that has been vigorously promoted from the beginning, their skill in the field of diesel engine has always been very deep.

Thirty years ago, they began to enter the field of construction machinery, and hatched companies such as Doosan Daewoo specializing in diesel engines.

Later, they stole Japan's market share and became the leader in the global shipping field. This technology of making diesel engines goes a step further.

Since the construction of LNG ships began, the three major shipyards in the Southern Dynasties have been pondering how to distance themselves from the emerging companies and build their own moats.

And this dual fuel system is their key research and development project.

It should be known that a mainstream LNG ship of 170,000 cubic meters has a general tonnage of about 100,000 tons.

In the shipping industry, compared with those 20,000-ton container ships, and oil tankers that start at 300,000 tons, they are not big.

But it is definitely not small, and because the transported materials are special, this kind of ship has special requirements for speed.

For other freighters, the faster the transport speed, the better.

After all, if you run fast, you can run several times a year, which can make more money for the ship owner.

Of course, each ship will also have its own economic balance point.

That is, when sailing at a certain speed, the most fuel efficient.

Otherwise, just running fast enough, but the fuel consumption is also high, which is not in the interests of the shipowner.

After all, for a long voyage, a tanker with hundreds of thousands of tons will consume two or three million dollars in bare fuel.

If you run fast, the fuel consumption will eat up a lot of the owner's profits.

Therefore, large freighters generally have another economic balance point, and this balance point is the most cost-effective when the speed is 20 knots.

At this time, the speed of the freighter is fast enough, the fuel consumption is also the most economical, and the profit of the ship owner can also be maximized.

For LNG ships, the general maximum speed is set at 19.5 knots.

It's not that it can't be faster, but it's not allowed, because if the speed exceeds this standard, the stability of the boat is not good.

And when LNG is shaken violently in the warehouse, it is very prone to danger.

Therefore, the engines used by LNG ships are all low-speed engines.

For LNG ships, the best economic speed is 10 knots.

Therefore, the LNG ship is a special kind of ship that never seeks speed, but only seeks stability.

And the people of the Southern Dynasties, based on this characteristic, conducted research on marine diesel engines.

After all, burning diesel is also burning, but there is still so much LNG on board. This thing is also fuel!

And diesel is definitely a more expensive fuel than LNG, of course, most of the time, more expensive than LNG.

If it is winter, when the LNG market is tight, and the world is in short supply, it is naturally cost-effective to burn diesel.

However, if it is normal, or when the international oil price is high, it is naturally cost-effective to burn LNG.

After all, this kind of ship does not require a fast speed. Usually, the cruising speed is basically 10 knots. At this speed, the LNG with relatively low heating efficiency is enough.

Moreover, burning LNG also meets the environmental protection standards of the latest measures of the International Ocean Organization...

This is not a joke, this organization is actually mainly composed of European and American members.

Two years ago, because Europe came up with a sky bill, which means that if the emissions of any aircraft do not meet their required standards, they will not be allowed to enter European airspace.

In fact, it is to change the law, play a rogue, and forcefully promote their environmentally friendly products.

And the marine exhaust emission standards issued by the International Ocean Organization in the past two years are almost the same.

Anyway, just thinking of ways to make money from environmental protection.

For example, if your ship runs a European route, if your ship's exhaust emissions do not meet local standards, you will either install environmental protection devices or pay a fine.

And using LNG as a fuel, there is no doubt that it must meet the standards in terms of exhaust emissions.

Because this thing itself is a clean energy source, the exhaust gas emitted is not a big threat to the natural environment.

So using this kind of engine saves a lot of trouble for the ship owner.

This is also the main reason why many European and American shipowners are not afraid of the expensive LNG ships in the Southern Dynasties. Even if the price is a quarter higher than our HD shipbuilding, they are still willing to place orders in the Southern Dynasties shipyards.

Because in the later stage, it can really save them a lot of trouble.

On our side, it is naturally not that we do not know the benefits of this dual-fuel engine, and we have tried to tackle key problems many times before.

But unfortunately, our basic technology in the field of engines is too weak.

Let's not talk about the gasoline engine for the time being, let's just say that this diesel engine has a big gap between us and the world's first-class.

Now let them engage in dual-fuel engines, which is really a bit difficult.

Because it involves a lot of high-tech things, the first is finishing.

And then there's the diesel injection system...

In fact, diesel engines used carburetors at the beginning, because diesel is very viscous and easy to condense.

All require electric heating to dilute and enhance fluidity before they are injected into the cylinder, and then use compression ignition to convert chemical energy into mechanical energy.

In the 1990s, with a series of breakthroughs in technology, major European and American manufacturers broke through the shackles of direct injection.

In-cylinder direct injection technology can be used in diesel engines.

It is to add a set of high-pressure common rail system to the diesel engine, and use the sensor to detect the engine speed, crankshaft position, camshaft position, and process it through the computer according to the sensor data.

Then, the corresponding current signal of each cylinder injector is given to control the fuel injection timing and fuel injection quantity of the injector, so that the engine can be adjusted in real time according to the specific working conditions to meet the work requirements.

This series of technical actions is very simple to say, but it is very difficult to actually do it.

This requires you to accumulate the data of the diesel engine work in daily life. When the data is accumulated to a certain extent, you can design the best electronic control scheme.

And this is exactly what our domestic engine companies lack the most.

Then there are the high-pressure probe nozzles and the high-pressure common rail system, which we cannot do because of the gap in finishing.

These core technologies are in the hands of Germany, the United States, and Japan.

Even if we want to buy it, no one wants to sell it to us.

But for the Southern Dynasties, that's not a problem.