PROPULSION PLANT SYSTEMS AND DRIVE
TRAIN EQUIPMENT
As a GSM, you will primarily operate and maintain
important for the effective operation of propulsion plant
equipment and systems. All of the FO service systems
the GTEs. You will also be tasked with the maintenance
and repair of other major equipment and their related
you will encounter on gas turbine-powered ships are
basically the same. For this reason, we will discuss the
systems, such as the fuel oil, lube oil, and controllable
normal operations, common malfunctions, and general
pitch propeller systems.
troubleshooting and maintenance procedures associated
This chapter will focus on the maintenance and
with a basic FO service system. This information is
repair of these main propulsion systems needed to
designed to help you to recognize normal operations and
support the operations of the main propulsion gas
to identify and handle some of the more common
turbine engines.
problems you may encounter in the operation and
After studying the information in this chapter, you
maintenance of a typical FO service system.
should have a basic understanding of the propulsion
plant systems and drive train equipment in gas
NORMAL OPERATIONS
turbine-powered ships in terms of normal operations,
some common malfunctions, and the general
A typical FO service system on a gas
maintenance responsibilities that you, the GSM, may
turbine-powered ship has one or more service tanks that
encounter.
are replenished from the ship's FO storage tanks via the
FO transfer system. From the FO service tank, the fuel
PROPULSION PLANT SYSTEMS
passes through a suction strainer (in some cases)
immediately before entering the FO booster pump. The
The main propulsion plant could not operate
pump then delivers the fuel to a heater. In most cases,
without fuel oil for the engines and lube oil for the main
the fuel flows from the heater, through a prefilter, and
reduction gears. These systems and others are part of the
then to the filter/coalescer. From the filter/coalescer, the
overall main propulsion plant and are in your areas of
fuel reaches its final delivery point-the engines.
responsibility. You will likely be assigned to perform or
supervise the PMS and repairs and to maintain the
Normally, the fuel is delivered to the engines at a
nominal pressure of 45 to 55 psi. To deliver or maintain
equipment and components associated with these
systems.
the fuel at the ideal pressure, however, several different
pieces of equipment must work in harmony. These
As you advance in the GSM rating, you may be
equipment units cannot always perform as designed
assigned as a work center supervisor. At this level, it will
without routine maintenance, some repairs, or even
become increasingly important for you to be able to
component replacement. As a GSM, you should be able
identify reoccurring system and equipment problems
to recognize some of the basic problems and understand
and be able to initiate timely repairs. You should also be
the steps you will need to take to solve them.
proficient at troubleshooting so you can also identify
less common malfunctions. In this chapter, we will tell
MAINTENANCE AND
you about some of the common problems you may
TROUBLESHOOTING
encounter during system operations. We will also give
you some troubleshooting and maintenance tips that
From studying the information in GSE3/GSM3,
should help you handle these problems more effectively.
volumes 1 and 2, on FO service systems, you should
have already learned about basic system layouts, local
SHIP'S SERVICE FUEL OIL SYSTEM
operations, and remote console operations from the
As you are likely aware, your ship's fuel oil (FO)
CCS. If you do not remember the basic design and
service system is vital to propulsion plant operations.
operation of a typical FO service system, we
Care and maintenance of this system is equally
recommend you take time to review these references
