A ship’s propulsion engine is what keeps the ship going at sea.

Considered as the heart of any

vessel, the marine engine of the ship takes the entire load to propel the ship forward. Of course,
without an engine a ship is almost a “dead ship.”

Throughout its life, the propulsion engine of the ship goes through various loads and stresses
from rough weather to harsh manoeuvring and breakdowns.

To avoid any major loss or damage to the marine engine, several protective devices are fitted to
safeguard the engine from major damages and breakdown.

Different Types of Protections on a Ship’s Marine Engine

Basically there are four main types of protection systems used to safeguard propulsion
engine:

1. Alarm: In case of deviation of engine parameters from a set value, an audible and
visual alarm will sound which will give an early warning of the problem.

2. Slow down: It is the next stage of protection when actions taken are not sufficient to control
the ongoing problem; hence engine slow down is done to counter the disturbed parameter.

3. Shut down: When there is a higher fluctuation in the engine parameters which can harm
other systems of the engine, the shut down protective devices cut off the fuel supply and the
engine stops.

4. Starting Interlock: This will not allow the engine to start from the stand-still condition if
some important system within the engine has not been operated or arranged properly.

Different Engine Slow Down Situations

In this situation the main engine will come to dead slow RPM i.e. below 30 RPM as the slow
down protection gets activated. Following are different slow down situation for main engine:

 Lube oil pressure falls to 1.5 bar

 Cam shaft pressure falls below 2 bar

 There is no flow of piston cooling media (water or oil)

 Oil mist detector or Main bearing sensors has been activated

 Lube oil temperature at the inlet of engine is high > 60 deg C

  Piston Cooling temperature is high > 75 deg C

 Jacket water Temperature is high > 88 deg c

 Engine cylinder exhaust temperature is high > 450 deg C

 Scavenge air temperature is high > 65 deg C

 Thrust block temperature is high > 75 deg C

 Low flow of Cylinder lube oil

 Control air pressure is low < 5.5 bar

Different Shut down Situations:

 Lube oil inlet pressure to engine is very low <1 bar

 Cam shaft Lube oil pressure is very low < 1.5 bar

 Very high Jacket cooling water temperature >95 deg C

 Low Jacket cooling water pressure < 0.1 bar

 No flow of Cylinder lube oil

 Thrust block temperature very high > 90 deg C

 Lube oil inlet pressure for turbocharger is low < 0.8 bar

 Over speed of the engine which activates shut down at 107 % of Max. continuous rating
MCR

Different Starting Interlocks are:

 Turning gear engage interlock

 Auxiliary blower off interlock

 Lube oil and other important pump not running interlock

Apart from safety protections on a ship’s engine, various other systems to ensure that various
other operations are not affected.
 ENGINE SAFETY DEVICES
Engine Safety devices
The main engine safety devices are provided in the system to safe gaurd the main engine in case of any damage in
the system Mainly are fitted in engine when all the alarm and trips fails to work then the last means for safe gaurding
the engine and components is these safety devices fitted in the main engine .These are mainly of the type of
pressure relief valve which release the excess pressure built in case of malfunctioning of the engine and no action is
will in advance to rectify or to avoid the situation
SOME OF THE MAIN ENGINE SAFETY DEVICES FITTED IN THE MAIN ENGINE :

 Crank case Relief Door

 Scavenge Space Relief Door
 The Starting Air LIne Relief valve .
 Cylinder head Relief valve
 Flame trap.
 Oil mist detector.
 Running Direction Interlock
 Turning gear Interlock.
Main Engine Slow Down
Main engine slow down automatically when there is problem in the system and to avoid the greater damage in the
later stages when these defects are rectified the engine automatically tunes to the sea speed .This is the primary
stage to rectify the defects and it also indicates there is a great damage to be taken place so rectify the defects as
early as possible .

Main Engine Safety Trips :

Main engine safety trip which trips the main engine when no corrective action is taken to the alarm and in certain
cases the main engine is triped manual .
Manual tripping of main engine is done in chance of the collosion or grounding of the ship when sailing in conjusted
water and in navigation of the ship in restricted visibility .
So when any main engine trips are activated the Main engine stops and again it should be started with the help of
starting air after correcting the faults .
SOME OF THE MAIN ENGINE TRIPS ARE :
1. Over Speed Trip
2. Low Lube oil pressure Trip
3. Cam shaft Lube oil low pressure Trip
4. Jacket cooling water low pressure Trip
5. Piston cooling water low pressure Trip
6. Thrust Bearing High pressure Trip
7. Main Bearing high pressure and temperature Trip.
8. Oil Mist Detector
9. Spring air pressure Low Trip
10. Emergency Manual Trip.