Wireless technology for real-time temperature monitoring of

crank pin and crosshead bearings in diesel engines.

------00-----By: Dr. Ing. Steinar Fossen, Managing Director, SensIT AS, Norway.
Surveys aiming to isolate the main causes of severe marine diesel engine damages clearly
indicate the need for crank pin and big end bearing instrumentation to reduce the number of high
cost damages on medium and high speed engines. However, both the hostile environment inside
the engines and the need for a highly flexible system that can easily be installed and adjusted to
different mechanical tolerances have kept existing solutions from being reliable methods of
temperature monitoring on these bearings. Using wireless technology the electronics company
SensIT AS in Trondheim, Norway has developed a sensor system named Sentry, that provides
real-time temperature monitoring of rotating bearings in diesel engines.

1. Introduction
Developments in wireless
technology have created an
opportunity for new sensor systems
that make it easier to provide endto-end wireless telemetry solutions
both in maritime and industrial
applications. These solutions act as
a layer of technology easing the
management of a process by
monitoring data and alerting to
situations that can be hazardous or
costly, such as operating problems
of high cost machinery. This
represents a situation that should be
detected as early as possible.

Figure 1: The Sentry wireless sensor GBW-100

This is especially true for marine diesel

engines, as a serious malfunction is likely
to develop very quickly and may even
threaten the general ship safety. Since
serious bearing damages always cause
temperature increases monitoring of
bearing temperature represents a valuable
indicator in a monitoring system, enabling
timely action to protect vital engine parts

against expensive damages. At this time a new

system named Sentry, having the needed
functionality in terms of fast response and
installation flexibility is in its test phase. The
final developments and tests of this system are
done in cooperation with Wrtsil Technology
Ltd.

2. Engine damages
Main engine damage statistics collected
by Det Norske Veritas in the periode from
1990-96, show that crank pin and big end
bearing damages in diesel engines are the
second most important cause of damages
in 4-stroke engines. In total, such damages
are responsible for 14,2% and 16,9% of
all reported damages on medium and
high-speed 4-stroke engines, respectively.

(IACS) have also highlighted the importance of

bearing temperature monitoring by formulating
a new SOLAS (Safety of life at sea) regulation,
demanding an equivalent device [to oil mist
detection] (SC133/1998). This indicates that
also IACS promotes new innovations in the
field of bearing monitoring.

Main engine damages reported to DNV from 1990 to 1996

Slow speed
<250 RPM

10,6
10,9
10,9

Cylinder liner

13,3
12,5

Piston
Cross-head bearing &
guides

15,5

7,9

0
0
6,3

Crank bearing & pin

14,2

Main bearing & journal

Medium speed
250 - 1000
RPM
High speed
1000 RPM >

16,9
15,7

5
10
15
Percentage of all reported damages

18,4
20

25

Figure 2: Main engine damages reported to DNV from1990 to 1996

To date, oil mist detection has been used

as a warning signal of an imminent
bearing seizure. However, it can be
questioned if this method has the fast
response time that is needed to protect the
engine against damages caused by ruined
big end bearings. The International
Association of Classification Societies

3. System description
One major advantage of the Sentry system is
the high flexibility in arranging sensor and
antenna both with respect to the gap, angle and
lateral position between these units. The system
is in its core based on a specialised radar
technology.

This is a time consuming process and it has to

be done in close relationship with the engine
builders. One main reason for this is that the
wireless temperature sensor needs to be placed
in a carefully drilled hole in the connecting rod.

This enables the possibility of using high

quality wireless passive sensors with no
need for external power sources. Figure 3
shows the principal design of the system.

Figure 3: Technological principle and system functionality

As illustrated in the figure the signalprocessing unit generates a low energy,
high frequency radar pulse, which is
transmitted to the wireless sensor via the
stationary antenna. When the wireless
sensor passes the stationary antenna the
radar pulse is transferred. The sensor will
then immediately reflect a pulse signal,
which is received by the signal-processing
unit via the stationary antenna. The shape
and characteristics of the received signal
is then used to uniquely determine the
temperature of the sensor. This
information is then communicated to the
engine control and monitoring system.

The stationary antenna is installed in such a

way inside the engine that the wireless sensor
passes the antenna with a maximum distance of
50 mm. This shows that the installation of the
stationary antenna related to the wireless sensor
is extremely flexible and non-critical. The
embedded self verify functionality makes any
other configuration superfluous.
The SENTRY
GBP100 Signal
Processing Unit

Plug

Monitoring and
Control System

Multicable
Coaxial Cable
Gland

The SENTRY GBS100

Stationary Antenna

4. Mechanical design and installation

Diesel engines have different design and
number of cylinders. Each engine type
therefore needs to have specific
instructions and drawings for the
installation of the Sentry system.

The SENTRY
GBW100 Wireless
Sensor

Plug

Inside engine

INSIDE ENGINE

Figure 4: Mechanical design and installation

shown graphically in figure 5. The bold black

curve shows the temperature in the connecting
rod monitored by the Sentry wireless sensor.
The hairline dotted curve is a reference
temperature monitored by a thermocouple
sensor that was placed 12 mm under the surface
of the crank pin. The main conclusion from the
seizure test is that the response time of the
system is fast enough to save the crank pin
from being damaged.

5. Big-end bearing seizure test

The final developments of the Sentry
system have been done throughout a
technical cooperation between SensIT,
Kongsberg Maritime Ship Systems and
Wrtsil Technology Ltd. As a part of this
technical cooperation Wrtsil has
performed a series of functional tests,
including a big end seizure test on a
Wrtsil W4L20 engine. Figure 5 shows
the results from the seizure test.

Big-end bearing seizure test on a Wrtsil W4L20

200,0

35

SENTRY sensor in con-rod

Thermocouple ref.

180,0

30

Engine speed (/10)

Lub.oil flow bearing

25

140,0

20

120,0

15

100,0

10

80,0

60,0
0

30

60

90

120

150

180

210

240

270

300

330

360

Lub. oil flow [litres/min]

Temperature (C)

160,0

0
390

Time (s)

Figure 5: Test results from big-end bearing seizure test performed by Wrtsil
The seizure test was conducted by cutting
the supply of lubrication oil to one of the
cylinders of the engine. This was done
while the engine was running on
approximately 1050 rpm. Both the engine
speed and the flow of lubrication oil are

6. Market launch
Currently the system is being tested on pilot
installations to verify long-term stability on
both 4-stroke and 2-stroke engines. The results
from these tests and the timetable for the type
approval by the major classification societies

will impact on the decision to make the

system available on the market. Following
these plans a limited market launch is
planned later this year. Kongsberg
Maritime Ship Systems AS will
coordinate the market introduction of the
Sentry system, as they will be responsible
for the sales and marketing to the
international maritime markets.

For further information, please contact:

SensIT AS
Phone: +47 7382 6970
Fax: + 47 7382 6951
Mail: marketing@sensit.no
www.sensit.no