A performance degradation evaluation method for a turbocharger in a diesel engine

Area of Science:

• Marine engineering
• Mechanical engineering
• Condition monitoring

Background:

• Turbochargers are critical for marine diesel engine power, but prone to failures due to harsh conditions.
• Current fault diagnosis methods for marine turbochargers are insufficient, often relying on 'ex post diagnosis' and struggling with nonlinear failure symptom analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce gas-path diagnosis for marine turbocharger condition monitoring.
• To propose novel dimensionless indicators for evaluating turbocharger health status.
• To establish a new method for assessing turbocharger performance degradation.

Main Methods:

• Introduced the concept of gas-path diagnosis to marine turbocharger condition monitoring.
• Proposed flow capacity index and isentropic efficiency index as dimensionless health indicators.
• Studied the nonlinear relationship between health parameters and measurable gas-path parameters.
• Developed a novel performance degradation evaluation method.

Main Results:

• Successfully applied gas-path diagnosis to marine turbocharger condition monitoring.
• Established a new method for evaluating turbocharger performance degradation.
• Demonstrated accurate isolation and quantification of degraded components through case studies.

Conclusions:

• The proposed gas-path diagnosis method effectively monitors marine turbocharger health.
• The novel evaluation method accurately identifies and quantifies component degradation.
• This approach enhances the reliability and maintenance of marine power plants.