Danish Railway (DSB) Relies Upon Markisches Werk GmbH, Halver (MWH)
In 2004, more than 160 million passengers relied upon the Danish Railway (DSB) to serve their transportation needs. DSB had an aggressive modernization program in place with two critical goals: 1) Invest in new and modern trains and 2) Work with external partners to help them modernize their existing locomotives. Dedicated to completely modernizing its train portfolio by 2007, DSB turned to Märkisches Werk GmbH, Halver (MWH) to help them achieve their goals.
Palle Klitgaard, Mechanical Engineer at the Danish Railway (DSB), together with his colleagues, is technically responsible for the maintenance instructions for the existing diesel ME and MZ locomotives. He has been working with valve manufacturer and solution provider, Märkisches Werk GmbH, Halver (MWH), to solve an unforseen problem: valve burning, particularly on ME locomotives. He has just reviewed status reports on valve failures in these locomotives and the results have exceeded his expectations. These locomotives are fitted with EMD 645 E3B engines, a two-stroke diesel engine with four exhaust valve spindles per cylinder.
Fig. 1:DSB locomotive ME 1534 fitted with 16 cylinder EMD 645 engine.
Fig. 2: Exhaust valve spindle showing deposits of Calcium Sulphate on under head radius and seat surface.
Just a few years ago, at the beginning of 2003, the reliability of these locomotives was a different story. 37 locomotives of this type within the DSB train portfolio were equipped with EMD 645 engines. Since many of them had been in use for more than 25 years, the maintenance intervals goals for the cylinder head, to follow the rest of the engine, in DSB maintenance setup with 800.000 km could no longer be achieved. The cylinder heads typically lasted only 200.000 km before they needed to be changed. Some lasted less than 60.000 km. The primary reason for the reduced time between overhaul was due to blow byes at the valve seat. The reason for the valve burning was established to be deposits of Calcium Sulphate on the valve seats. DSB was investigating the problem and looking for a method to remove these deposits or better to prevent them from being created. After learning that MWH constructed valve rotating devices, Palle Klitgaard contacted MWH to help him find a solution.
I had been familiar with MWH’s solid reputation for many years.” comments Palle Klitgaard“. In addition to their competence as a manufacturer of valve spindles, they have a strong reputation as a solution provider in the field of cylinder heads. The technicians at MWH are familiar with almost every diesel engine and are quite attuned to the strengths and weaknesses of each type. In addition, MWH has many years of experience in the field of valve rotators.
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