Whenever I Think Of Car Or Bike Engines,

I always think about 2 or 4 stroke petrol engines,

until I saw a picture of this 2 stroke engine, which happens to be a diesel engine, this is RT-flex96C - a two-stroke turbocharged diesel engine designed by the Finnish manufacturer Wärtsilä and it also happens to be the largest and most powerful diesel engine in the world, standing at 13.5 meters high and 26.59 meters long, it is almost as big as a small apartment, it weighs over 2,300 tonnes and its largest 14-cylinder version produces 80,080 kW of power,

the 14-cylinder version was put into service in September 2006 aboard the Emma Mærsk, a container ship – the largest at that time, the design is based on the older RTA96C engine, but revolutionary common rail technology has done away with the traditional camshaft, chain gear, fuel pumps and hydraulic actuators, the result is better performance at low revolutions per minute (rpm), lower fuel consumption, and lower harmful emissions,

pictured above on the right is the massive 300 ton crankshaft, 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,  


for the technical at it's maximum of 102 RPM it produces 7,603,850 newton meters (5,608,310 lbf·ft), power produced is up to 5,720 kW per cylinder, 34,320–80,080 kW (46,680–108,920 BHP) total, this is interesting, at least a fact that is easy to understand, at full load each cylinder is injected with 160 g (about 6.5 ounces) per cylinder per cycle, even at its most efficient power setting, the big 14-cylinder engine consumes 1,660 gallons of heavy fuel oil per hour, can you imagine pulling into a dock and shout to the gas tank attendant, 'she's a bit low on fuel, fill her up Joe and here's my credit card!