Keywords: marine power plant, diesel engine, import replacement, designing, design manager's status, long-term scheduling, design reviewing, home-made parts, manpower development, upgrading of educational standards.

The article discusses the system problems engine building in Russia that account for stagnation of the above industry. In the authors' view, the following measures are essential for the revival of engine building in Russia: to enforce tight control over implementation of import-substitution programs; to limit the scope of engine models certified for marine application; to provide engine builders with stock of orders sufficient for their sustainable development; to organize manufacturing of engine parts and units at dedicated facilities; to upgrade status of design managers at leading engine builders; to enforce effective expert supervision over implementation of state-financed programs; to reform the manpower development system in power engineering.

Keywords: middle-speed diesel engine, thermal stresses, cooling system, nucleate boiling, numerical modelling, reducing temperature of combustion chamber components.

Increasing boost pressure in middle-speed diesel engines leads to higher thermal stresses in cylinder heads and liners, which, in turn, results in thermal fatigue crack in combustion chamber components, as well as scuffing of cylinder liner and piston surfaces. Alleviation of thermal conditions for combustion chamber components may be achieved through intensification of heat exchange in coolant cavities due to nucleate boiling of coolant. Mathematical simulation of heat- and mass-exchange in coolant cavities of type D500 engine showes that temperature of liquid in coolant cavities of cylinder heads and liners reaches saturation point. Surface boiling (nucleate boiling of the coolant) results in lower maximum temperatures of combustion chamber components.

Keywords: diesel engines, gas engines, fuel combustion phase, heat release rate, heat removal rate, reduction of NOx emissions.

Reducing NOx emissions from high-powered middle-speed diesel engines without compromising fuel economy is one of the prime challenges for engine designers. The authors offer later fuel injection as a method of reducing maximum cycle temperature, in such a way that time points of maximum combustion velocity and maximum rate of heat removal from gas to cylinder liner walls would coincide. Their experiments confirmed feasibility of reducing NOx emissions by 40–60 % without compromising fuel consumption. The method have been already implemented in middle-speed engines types D49 and D500 (both in diesel and gas engine versions) powering various off-road vehicles.

Keywords: aircraft engines, thin-walled parts, rebuilding, residual stress, non-stationary gas flow, gas-impulsive treatment, reliability improvement.

Such technologies as building-up welding and attaching thin insertions with argon arc welding are widely used for rebuilding of aircraft engine components. However, this method entails residual stresses, which cannot be relieved by heating a part in question without detrimental effect upon its metallic structure. As shown by this research, gas-impulsive treatment without heating is an effective means to control residual stress in metal parts. In particular, it enables removal of unwanted tension stresses on metal part surfaces, thus reducing the risk cracks formation.

Keywords: diesel fuel, ethanol-fuel emulsion, surfactants, stability of emulsion, maximum size of droplets, diesel bed tests.

Based on the theory of disperse droplets' movement, these authors derived mathematical expression for stability of ethanol-fuel emulsion (EFE). Furthermore, they calculated maximum size of droplets (d = 0,058 mm) of water solution in EFE, whose minimum life before coalescence exceeds 60 min. The results of analysis are supported by experimental data. Based on the above analysis, a method was offered to define optimum composition of ethanol-based fuel mix with higher performance.

Keywords: reliable power supply, stand-alone energy consumers, engine-generators, hybrid power plants, solid-state energy converters, cogeneration, accumulation, intellectual automatic control.

The article discusses issues of uninterrupted power supply for stand-alone energy consumers based on mobile modules containing hybrid power plants with engine-generators, accumulators, solar batteries and solid-state energy converters. A workable specimen of such module has been developed based on diesel-generator rated at 16 kW, equipped with automatic system for remote control of power sources, convertors and energy storage devices. All the above equipment features Russian make components.

Keywords: power-generating boilers, high-temperature fluidized bed, off-gas recirculation, solid fuel, coal, milled peat, variable load, transients.

The results are presented of the research on transients in a boiler with high-temperature fluidized bed and off-gas recirculation. The transients have been initiated by controlled load (fuel flow) disturbances in the range of 80–100 %. The boiler was fired with milled coal (particle size 10–25 mm) and peat. It is shown that off-gas recirculation considerably improves transient characteristics of solid fuel boilers, including time to achieve steady state. The difference between experimental and calculated transient curves does not exceed 5%.

Keywords: smart engine, automatic control, diagnostics, troubleshooting, universal diagnostics platform, open software, safe communication channels.

Recent advancement in IT-technologies and computer performance have been bringing us closer to the development of «smart engine», automatically adapted to operating conditions. Functions of Engine Control Systems (ECS) include online engine diagnostics, troubleshooting and online generating manuals on fault detection & rectification. «AVAT Automation GmbH» in cooperation with «Bachmann Electronic GmbH» developed universal diagnostic platform openECS based on various PLC (Programmable Logic Controllers) adapted to gas engines. The scope of the system functions includes online diagnostics of engine systems, prevention of detonation and misfires, and preventing the engine from exceeding critical limits. «Diesel United Ltd» (Japan) based on «Big Data Analysis» developed universal diagnostic platform CMAXS LC-A, which provides diagnostics, troubleshooting and fault rectification for marine main diesel engines and other equipment installed in a vessel. Cloud computing technologies are combined with the improvement of the communication environment between the ship and land through safe channels, which contribute into equipment reliability and timely support of operators.