Research and development of electronic speed control strategies for medium-speed marine diesel engines

Modern diesel engine systems rely more and more on electronic control systems. The benefits of such electronic control systems include reduced fuel consumption, limited emissions and enhanced performance. Following the trend, this article aims to derive an appropriate methodology for improving the performance of the speed regulation by upgrading an existing mechanical governing control system to an electronic one for the marine diesel engine. Hardware-in-loop simulations and the diesel engine test-bed experiments are applied to realize a V-type mode study of the speed control strategies for the marine medium-speed diesel engines. First, the algorithm of the strategies and the functions of the electronic control unit are verified through hardware-in-loop test bench which is established using hardware devices and a software tool chain from ETAS GmbH. Additionally, the specific parameters are modified and calibrated finely on the test bed with an online debugging system. Finally, to demonstrate the performances and the generality of the proposed control strategies, the test-bed results of the two types of marine diesel engines are illustrated. The experimental results indicate that a better performance is achieved by replacing the original controller with the proposed controller. And the methodology of the control strategies development is proven to be efficient.