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Shell develops real-time engine oil condition monitoring
Oil major’s real-time monitoring system for engine lubricants aims to help seafarers address engine performance issues as they arise
Shell has introduced real-time condition monitoring of onboard ship equipment, especially engines, to prevent unplanned downtime.
The energy major has developed a sensor-based monitoring service to help seafarers manage and maintain propulsion and power equipment across a vessel, in what it calls a “digital deckhand”.
Shell Marine Sensor Service (SMSS) was designed to continuously monitor lubricant oil and equipment to enable ship operators to improve vessel uptime and operational resilience.
It helps the crew to detect issues and act on insights before these lead to machinery damage or failure, or to identify performance degradation, enabling actions as a remedy.
SMSS also helps operators to optimise oil top-ups and extend oil drain intervals in high-speed engines.
It requires two onboard components – an inline sensor and a preconfigured display with a simple traffic-light interface.
SMSS works offline, providing readings on equipment condition and gives instant alerts when issues such as water ingress and oil degradation occur.
Alerts and sensor data can be shared with Shell’s onshore technical team for deeper analysis and trend monitoring, and to help Shell provide tailored recommendations on maintenance and lubricant renewal.
“One of the biggest challenges our customers face is how to keep operations resilient while managing costs,” said Shell Marine president Houda Dabboussi.
“SMSS helps operators and crews address that challenge by enabling them to act on issues earlier, extend equipment life and reduce the risk of costly downtime.”
SMSS uses a vessel’s existing maintenance practices and complements sample-based oil condition analysis. It provides continuous oil condition data, flags up anomalies that occur between samples and highlights issues that might otherwise go unseen until it is too late.
“While the sensor may be a simple two-component device, the beauty of this solution lies in the advice that our technical experts provide,” said Shell Marine general manager for technical services, Marcus Schaerer.
“With our vast database of lubricant test results, we can provide customers with invaluable insights for safer and more efficient voyages.”
SMSS is available to use for all engine types. It adds to Shell’s existing oil condition monitoring portfolio, including Shell LubeAnalyst and Shell LubeMonitor.
“Together, they offer a full suite of solutions designed to help operators improve vessel uptime, reduce maintenance costs and optimise oil drain intervals”, said Shell Marine.
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