A former chief engineer at Maersk has developed a new revolutionary system that prevents sludge from clogging cylinder bores and drainpipes. The Automatic Drain Cleaning System – ADCS – has an environmental and oil saving impact on 2-stroke marine engines reducing wear on vital components and time spent on oil sampling.

The Automatic Drain Cleaning System solves the hidden problem of clogged cylinder bores and drainpipes on 2-stroke marine engines. On most large vessels clogged drainpipes are just accepted as a part of everyday life. But our system changes that. It is hardly visible, but the effect is significant savings on fuel/lube and the clean pipes improve combustion and working environment, says Thorbjørn Thade Petersen, CEO of Smart-Marine.

The Danish company Smart-Marine has developed and produces the Automatic Drain Cleaning System. It has been thoroughly tested on MAN-ES 2-stroke engines, and the result of having augers continuously rotating and cleaning the pipes is striking.

Almost immediately, we saw a reduced fuel consumption due to the engine operating at correct high Pmax and higher mechanical efficiency. The augers make it much faster to do samples for Scrape Down Analysis (SDA) and with more precise and instant iron readings, the system simply prevents unnecessary operational expenses, Thorbjørn Thade Petersen explains.

The fast and better SDA samples also reduce the use and optimize the dosage of cylinder lube oil. Saving both fuel and cylinder lube oil, the Automatic Drain Cleaning System reduces the CO2 impact of the vessel.

Samples in a Matter of Minutes

As a former chief engineer at Maersk, Thorbjørn Thade Petersen wondered why sampling of SDA oil took hours to fulfil. This led him to the development of the Automatic Drain Cleaning System:

When the pipes are clogged, the oil must be pressed through a plug of solid sludge, making the samples unprecise and very slow to extract. This is completely unnecessary. With the Smart-Marine system performing automated and continuous cleaning of the pipes, the oil will pass easily and make samples in a matter of minutes, he says.

Work environment for the marine engine crew will also be improved by the Automatic Drain Cleaning System. They will no longer on a regular basis have to dig out harmful hard sludge from drainpipes and bores below the piston.

The Automatic Drain Cleaning System is suitable for retrofit and new engines and the reliable installations are well-tested and proven to run trouble-free for years. The augers rotate extremely slowly, and the free-flowing oil prevents them from wearing the drainpipes.

Marex Media