HAMBURG, Germany, September 23, 2008 – GE Transportation today introduced the L250, a new inline medium-speed diesel engine family, custom designed for a variety of marine applications. The company announced today during the SMM Hamburg 2008 trade show that the new engine will be available in six and eight cylinder configurations.
The new inline design expands GE’s diesel engine product offerings, while providing customers with a variety of design and operational benefits. “As one of the world’s largest manufacturers of medium-speed diesel engines, we listened to our customers’ installation, maintenance and operational preferences. With the L250, we leveraged reliable features of our popular V250 diesel family and designed the new L250 inline engine to address many of these needs,” said John Manison, manager of GE Transportation’s Marine business based in Erie, PA.
Specifically, the L250 provides a fuel consumption savings upwards of 9% when compared to GE’s V228 medium-speed diesels. In terms of emissions, the L250 can be upgraded to meet future United States Environmental Protection Agency Tier III emissions requirements, while adhering to present Tier II standards. In fact, the L250 has already received Tier II emissions certification; other marine class certifications such as American Bureau of Shipping will be forthcoming, as necessary.
Manison added, “The L250’s turbocharger, which can be flexibly mounted at either end of the engine — coupled with a narrower frame — make for easy installation and maintainability, especially if customers are using the engine for repowering applications.”
In its six cylinder configuration, the L250 offers the following continuous outputs: 1498 kilowatts (kW)/2009 horsepower (hp) at 900 rpm; 1664 kW/2232 hp at 1000 rpm; and 1748 kW/2344 hp at 1050 rpm. In its eight cylinder configuration, the continuous outputs are: 1998 kW/2679 hp at 900 rpm; 2219 kW/2976 hp at 1000 rpm and 2330 kW/3125 hp at 1050.
Many design attributes of the L250 can be traced back to GE’s V250 diesel family, which currently boasts 3,000 engines in service worldwide. For example, the L250 features the V250 engine’s camshafts, fuel system, exhaust manifold, power assemblies, bearings and turbocharger. These components carried over from the V-engine platform to the new in-line series offer customers proven reliability. However, this is the first engine designed from the ground up for the marine industry, the company said at SMM.
Using Six Sigma processes, GE designed several new components for the L250 engine. The mainframe has optimized ribs and an integrated air manifold, and the crankshaft has wide webs and tangent fillets. Other components new to the L250 include the engine’s air and oil filters, fuel pump, low and high temperature thermostatic valves, and sea water pump.
Furthermore, the L250 is inherently designed with accessories engine-mounted for ease of maintenance and installation, and comes with a power take-off system already included so a separate auxiliary engine is not required to drive equipment.
In November 2007, GE began development testing of the L250 engines at its manufacturing facility in Grove City, Pennsylvania. According to Manison, “By the time the L250 is available to customers in 2009, GE will have invested $4 million at our Grove City plant to build a new L250 assembly line and to enhance the engine’s test cell capabilities.”
Similar to the V228 and V250 families, the L250 engine series will be available through GE’s global distribution partners. Authorized engine service and support capabilities are also offered through this worldwide network.
