21/10/2023

AST Networks IRAMS Engine Maintenance Analysis

Summary

• Gardline, part of the Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. engineering department, utilised IRAMS to monitor engine performance data for their offshore workboats.
• The platform showed increased fuel consumption on one of their twin engine workboats servicing the offshore renewables sector. In near real time, the onshore engineering department clearly identified a substantially lower boost pressure on the port engine, indicating either a boost leak or turbo fault.
• The subsequent physical inspection discovered that the inducer wheel tips on the port turbo had fractured and broken up. This prompt action alerted by IRAMS enabled preventative repairs to be carried out – avoiding a new turbo at a replacement cost of £50K or, worse still, a complete engine rebuild leading to several weeks of lost income.

David Coull, Engineering Supervisor, stated AST Networks alerts were:

invaluable in this instance as the turbo could have failed completely resulting in an expensive engine replacement including the downtime to repair.

Key benefits

• IRAMS provided savings of £50K by providing an early fault warning – covering its own cost within a single year.
• This avoided the need for an expensive replacement part or a complete engine rebuild and weeks of lost income.
• This leading-edge technology established for many years in the land transport sector has been proven to drive down vessel fleet costs, improve efficiencies, reduce emissions and unplanned breakdowns, and improve the safety culture of your company.