Against my preference for Kawasaki diesels (see PART THREE) sourced through Naval Group’s European partner, MAN, is MTU/Penske/ASC’s promotion of the MTU 4000 for Australia’s future submarine.
“Australia’s sovereign submarine company, ASC, and Penske Power Systems have announced their intention to enter into an agreement to put MTU engines through their paces at ASC’s engine test facilities in Adelaide as part of an ongoing research and development activity.”
On September 9, 2017 Penske was more specific, reporting:
“In a world first, Penske Power Systems will unveil the much anticipated MTU 12V4000U83 submarine engine at Pacific 2017 on [October 3, 2017].
This will be the global reveal of MTU’s next generation of submarine charging unit engines, suitable for projects such as the upgrade of the current Collins class and inclusion within the Australian future submarine.
With a well proven pedigree, the 12V4000U83 boasts greater power ([only] up to 1,500 kW) than its 16V396SE84 predecessor while being IMO Tier II compliant and compact.”
COMMENT
With only an output of 1.5MW 12V4000U83 diesels fall short of the 2MW required in a 8MW total, 4 diesel arrangement for the Australian Future Submarine. The option of further developed more powerful MTU diesels may deserve consideration - though this is risky.
An unhelpfully blurry MTU diesel chart, with the very narrow power range MTU 4000 for submarine 3rd from bottom. See chart a little larger and clearer here http://www.mtu-online.com/mtu/applications/marine-defense/?L=eyeusejkvzrfvkp .
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In a January 6, 2018 commentMHalblaub suggests MTU 4000 diesels for submarine more powerful with more cylinders than the current with MTU 4000 12V (2185mm Height x 1850mm Width x 2870mm Length (without gearbox).
Those larger maybe 2MW, more cylinder, MTU 4000s are:
- 16 V: 2185 x 1850 x 3510 or
- 20 V: 2240 x 1470 x 4040
But there may be risks of developing specially Australia Only (therefore potentially orphan) MTU diesels for submarine. The precedent of selecting untried Garden Island-Hedemora V18B14SUBs (with turbocharger) for the Collins submarines should be remembered. The most unique, orphan part of the Garden Island- Hedemora V18B14SUB was the turbocharger, the precursor to over reliance on Australian technical solutions and exorbitant maintenance rather than relying on a large industrial development base like Kawasaki, MAN or MTU 12V4000s.
Additional issues are unstealthy vibration from diesels causing excessive noise as n the Hedemora V18B14SUB [source?].
High power Kawasaki diesels already used on Japanese submarines may be a less risky and more efficient choice.
Pete