The River Douro is one of the most beautiful and economically significant rivers in Portugal, supporting a thriving tourist industry based on river cruises that explore the upper reaches of the Douro valley. One of the leading companies operating these cruises is Barcadouro, who have operated a fleet of river cruisers from their Porto base for nearly 20 years.
The latest addition to the fleet, ‘’Independencia’’ is a flagship catamaran and the first vessel of its kind to operate on the River Douro. However, in preparing the vessel for river operation, a significant problem arose, in cooling the ship’s two on-board diesel powered generating sets.
Marinising industrial engines
Two John Deere industrial engines were installed to drive the two generators that provide electricity for all areas of the ship. However, poor ventilation in the engine room saw ambient air temperatures rise to over 50 °C when the engines were run and the high air temperatures that built up led to a significant loss in engine power!
Barcadouro called in Bowman heat exchanger stockists, Transdiesel S.L. to come up with a solution that would take some heat out of the situation.
A solution to reduce the heat
Transdiesel’s engineers proposed a highly efficient cooling system based around Bowman FH200 header tank heat exchangers for cooling the engine jacket water, plus Bowman FG100 charge air coolers for the engine inlet air. Once installed, the new system successfully reduced engine room temperatures to just 25 °C, restoring the engines full power. It also eliminated the possibility of having to replace the John Deere engines with alternative engines, had a suitable solution not be found, which would have incurred significant extra cost! The new cooling system has proved extremely efficient, enabling the catamaran to go into full service on the river, giving pleasure to the many tourists that flock to the region every year.
