In mid-May, the conference will attract the international engine industry and its customers to Shanghai and probably see new records in visitors.
The Chinese Society for Internal Combustion Engines has organised this year‘s CIMAC World Congress on Combustion Engines as the national[ds_preview] member of the Council on Combustion Engines. Being the 27th summit of its kind, the internationally well reputed CIMAC Congress will deal alongside ship propulsion also with power generation and rail traction.
By now, the event has become a special undisputed tradition: Players in the engine industry and users from all over the globe will gather again, this time in Shanghai from 13 to 16 May, to look back on »60 years of diligent, effective and valuable work,« as Donghan Jin, President of the 27th CIMAC World Congress, said. This time, nearly a thousand domestic and foreign experts and scholars are expected to take part. CIMAC is a worldwide non-profit association consisting of national member
associations, national member groups and corporate members in 28 countries in Europe, America and Asia. The congress is held every third year. In May, delegates from science as well as suppliers, classification societies and the industry will meet and consult with each other to share concerns and ideas. But they will also look at the future of the engine. There will be many innovative concepts again among the lectures and 194 papers presented to be published during the conference’s 48 presentation
sessions. Predominant topics will be product development at diesel engines as well as for gas and dual-fuel engines, environment, fuel and combustion-related issues for those three types of engine but also fundamental engineering (piston engine) or aftertreatment, tribology, maintenance technology, integrated systems (also EC), and, of course, users’ aspects in marine applications.
In detail, »new bearing concepts to fulfil application-related challenges for future engines« will be highlighted, for example. But also new injection systems, innovation in gas turbines and gas engines at sea or the effects of alternative marine fuels contribute to the multifaceted programme.
»Hot topics« environmental regulations
According to the preliminary programme the conference also features many classification and environment-related aspects. Such are emission monitoring or the impact of waste heat recovery in diesel engines, to name but a few. Other well represented issues are turbocharging, lubrication, injection and superlong engines. Many Chinese companies are supposed to seize the opportunity to market their products in green shipping. Since the event takes place between the enactment of IMO Tiers 2/3 and the nomination of Emission Control Areas, the conference acts as an indicator how the engine market reacts to these regulations. In light of the dramatic NOx-emission reduction enforced by 2015 in the Baltic Sea, all forms of technical improvement and monitoring which altogether help to decrease emission and build more efficient engines will be in focus this year.
The rise of such holistic solutions as a dominant trend was also indicated by recent CIMAC Circle held on SMM trade fair in Hamburg last September. Lectures given by ABB Turbo Systems, MAN Diesel & Turbo, MTU and Wärtsilä all focused on the »integrated drive system«. Lecturers agreed that under this premise effiency savings »in some cases up to 50 %« could be achieved. Such prospects will certainly be on the congress visitors’ minds.
Shipowners and operators who want to stay in touch with the latest trends on global emissions compliance, new fuels and developments in engine and turbocharger products will get the chance to do so in Shanghai at the very heart of the Chinese industry. In the country’s biggest industrial and commercial city, Shanghai Exhibition Center in downtown will host the event. As China claims to have become the world’s largest internal combustion engine manufacturing country in recent years, it seems only logical to hold the conference in the Far Eastern country.
More than 300 papers to be presented
In addition to the already named 194 papers, experts across several industries from CIMAC’s 28 member countries worldwide will also witness 125 papers presented in three poster sessions. These sessions are individually arranged presentations which are not part of the regular lectures but may be attended during the conference breaks. The presentations will cover some 2,500 m² to be held simultaneously during the event at a total exhibition space of 10,000 m². CIMAC therefore promises new records beyond specific insight into Chinese engine development.
The organization’s Secretary General Markus Heseding announced: »CIMAC
remains a focal event for engine builders, engine users and regulatory bodies looking for a definitive overview of both the technical and commercial aspects of the business.« This specific insight into China‘s engine manufacturing plants is further provided by excursions and technical tours. The programme lists excursions to Wärtsilä Qiyao Diesel and CSSC-MES Diesel, both manufacturers of low-speed marine diesel engines, as well as Shanghai Volkswagen. All this renders CIMAC an attractive event for customers today.
Origin of congress
Taken the conference’s beginnings in the year 1951, this status as first address for both the engine industry and its customers is everything but self-evident: The International Council on Combustion Engines started as an exclusive industry meeting for the engine industry to promote the sharing and exchange of information and expertise.
The initial spark ignited when Paul Tharlet and Jean Messiez-Poche of the french »Syndicat des Constructeurs des Moteurs à Combustion Interne« encouraged a new forum on a supranational level after World War II. Tharlet managed to make associations from nine other countries join the new forum. So in June 1950, members from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands formed the »Conseil International des Machines à Combustion« (CIMAC) with Tharlet as President.
The first congress was held in Paris the following year. A total 89 papers was accepted for this event headed by Jean Messiez-Poche while 505 delegates from 15 countries attended the meeting which lasted almost two weeks. As a result, the attendees agreed to meet again while a permanent committee was established to organise work in the
intervening period. To encourage further
co-operation national organizations were founded, and this profile helped that the conference »was gradually becoming recognised as one of the most important technical congresses in the field of internal combustion engines … anywhere in the world,« later CIMAC historian Matsutaro Shibata said. In 1955 rotary piston engines and gas turbines were included into CIMAC.
Keeping discussions alive
The next decisive step towards today’s status was made some 30 years after: »We left home in our thirties and moved to London at a time when our Working Groups were becoming very active and were getting better organised,« parting President Stephen G. Dexter explained at 50th anniversary in 2001. Since then, »in the interim between congresses, we keep those discussions alive through other events, such as the CIMAC Circle and Cascades,« says today’s Secretary General Heseding. These interim activities are fuelling CIMAC’s course today as they have been enhanced during the 1990s.
In this period national member associations attracted a wider group of interested parties than the national manufacturers associations from the early days. The working groups were given more influence. To date these have risen to ten: Classification Societies, Crankshaft Rules, Exhaust Emissions Control, Fuels, Marine Lubricants, Users, Turbocharger Efficiency, Unified Rules for Vibration Analysis and Measurement, Electronics and Software Systems and finally Gas Engines. The mission has also changed: Beyond the exchange of scientific expertise CIMAC is now trying to improve understanding between engine manufacturers and users but also between manufacturers and suppliers. Publications on various engine-related issues have also much increased with easy access for members at CIMAC’s technical paper database.
China promotes energy savings
Now that the congress comes to China, a country proud to have developed the rocket engine as an early kind of internal during the 13th century already, CIMAC will meet a self-confident host. The Chinese market may soon play an even bigger role in internal combustion than ever. An appreciation of the Chinese market may also be based on the latest official policy. According to a guideline issued in February by the State Council, China will step up efforts to develop energy-saving internal combustion engines and promote their use. However, customers will exert pressure on engine prices on the background of the ongoing crisis in shipping while manufacturing and development costs will probably grow following the rapid ecological regulations imposed by IMO.
Sverre Gutschmidt
