Friday, 29 September 2017

Rolls-Royce is marking a major milestone on the journey towards the completion of Britain's new polar research vessel the RRS Sir David Attenborough being built by Merseyside shipyard Cammell Laird.

The last of the vessel's Bergen B33:45 engines /gensets have been craned into the ship's hull at Cammell Laird ready to be connected to the RRS Sir David Attenborough's Rolls-Royce propulsion system.

The nine cylinder engines are carefully installed in three separate pieces. The first part of the nine cylinder engine to be craned into place was its double resilient foundation. This huge specialised rigid welded skid, which sits on rubber noise dampers, is an integral part of the vessel's low underwater radiated noise design. The foundation is followed by the engine itself and then the alternators.

Professor Dame Jane Francis, British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Director, said: 'All of our scientists, engineers and support teams are watching the build progress of our new ship with excitement. This latest milestone takes us a step closer towards using this state-of-the-art research facility. Our engineers and scientists need the ship's engines to be quiet during underwater scientific experiments and we are very pleased that the engines are designed for fuel efficiency to help us minimise our impact on the environment.'

John Syvret CBE, CEO, Cammell Laird, said: 'This is a major milestone in the journey towards the completion of this state-of-the-art vessel. It shows what Cammell Laird, one of Europe's most innovative, best equipped and highest skilled marine engineering service providers can do. With our world-class facilities and workforce, we are well on the way to completing the highly complex advanced engineering project which is the RSS Sir David Attenborough.'

Mikael Mäkinen, Rolls-Royce, President - Marine said 'The Rolls-Royce designed RRS Sir David Attenborough is the most advanced scientific maritime vessel ever constructed. We had to meet a very demanding list of design requirements from Cammell Laird and its customer, the National Environmental Research Council (NERC) on behalf of the British Antarctic Survey, and work hand in hand with them to make our vision a reality. I'm proud to think that Rolls-Royce equipment, including the B33:45, will play a role in helping future climate scientists understand how changes in the Arctic and Antarctic will impact the wider global climate.'

The Bergen B33:45 (two nine and two six cylinder) engines provide both mechanical propulsion and electric power generation in a power range from 3,600 to 5,400kW. The engines, together with the unique Rolls-Royce hull shape design, will allow the RSS Sir David Attenborough to cut through the ice, pushing it away and under the ice sheet being crossed. This enables the vessel to break ice to a thickness of 1.5 metres at a minimum speed of 3 knots.

The engines run on low sulphur fuel, have good fuel efficiency down to very low loads and are fitted with a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system and an electronic engine management system with an integrated control unit. This monitors and controls all key engine functions and exhaust after treatment. The vessel complies with both IMO Tier II and Tier III rules.

One of the most stringent design requirements for the vessel was very low levels of underwater radiated noise to allow the undertaking of underwater survey work.

The gensets provide power to the electrical system and 5 MW peak effect battery capacity. Batteries reduce the vessel's fuel consumption, emissions, noise and vibration as well as increasing redundancy and consequently safety. Using electrical winches instead of hydraulic ones where possible also reduces the risk of pollution.

The RSS Sir David Attenborough has been commissioned by the UK's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) for operation by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).This £200 million Government investment secures the UK's position as a world leader in polar research and provides a major boost to shipbuilding in the North West. When it enters service in 2019, the ship will carry out oceanographic and other scientific work in both the Antarctic and Arctic as well as transporting supplies to Antarctic research stations.

The project is the biggest commercial shipbuilding contract currently underway in Britain and one of the biggest for more than a generation.

Rolls Royce's most recent polar research vessel design project, the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research's FF Kronprins Haakon, has successfully passed sea trials and will soon be delivered by the shipyard Fincantieri in Italy.

For high-res images please see here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rolls-royceplc

About Rolls-Royce Holdings plc

  1. Rolls-Royce's vision is to be the market-leader in high performance power systems where our engineering expertise, global reach and deep industry knowledge deliver outstanding customer relationships and solutions. We operate across five businesses: Civil Aerospace, Defence Aerospace, Marine, Nuclear and Power Systems.
  2. Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 150 countries, comprising more than 400 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces, 4,000 marine customers including 70 navies, and more than 5,000 power and nuclear customers.
  3. We have three common themes across all our businesses:
    • Investing in and developing engineering excellence
    • Driving a manufacturing and supply chain transformation which will embed operational excellence in lean, lower-cost facilities and processes
    • Leveraging our installed base, product knowledge and engineering capabilities to provide customers with outstanding service through which we can capture aftermarket value long into the future.
  4. Annual underlying revenue was £13.8 billion in 2016, around half of which came from the provision of aftermarket services. The firm and announced order book stood at £80 billion at the end of 2016.
  5. In 2016, Rolls-Royce invested £1.3 billion on research and development. We also support a global network of 31 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the forefront of scientific research.
  6. Rolls-Royce employs almost 50,000 people in 50 countries. More than 16,500 of these are engineers.
  7. The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills. In 2016 we recruited 274 graduates and 327 apprentices through our worldwide training programmes.

About Cammell Laird

Cammell Laird is one of the most famous names in British industry with roots tracing back to the early 19 Century.

The business is located on the River Mersey, in the Liverpool City Region, on the West Coast of England. It is in the centre of a marine cluster, with direct access to many support services. It has a 120 acre site with four dry docks, a non-tidal wet basin, large modular construction hall and extensive covered workshops.

Cammell Laird specialises in military ship refit, commercial ship repair, upgrade and conversion and heavy fabrication and engineering. It deals with a wide variety of projects ranging from specialist offshore conversions and fabrication, commercial ship-repair through to the refit and upgrade of highly complex naval auxiliaries. It has also recently re-entered the ship-building market.

The business is further active in the energy sector. It has become a hub of the off shore wind industry and it is offering its facilities and highly trained workforce of engineers for work in the civil nuclear sector and the off shore oil and gas sector.

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Rolls-Royce Holdings plc published this content on 29 September 2017 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
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