Introducing the 4MW Caterpillar C175 Engine

Today I investigated the introduction of the 4MW Caterpillar C175 engine for use in power generation.

Closely related to the 16-cylinder 3MW C175-16, the C175-20 has a stand-by rating of 4.0MWe at 60Hz.

The complete electrical packages from Cat Power Generation are only available at medium voltages of 4160V and 12470V.

This is to keep the current flow and cabling sizing requirements more reasonable.  At 600V this unit would be producing 4000 Amps!

The units are initially earmarked for use in data centres, hospitals,  and water treatment plants.  All are centres that require a massive amount of emergency stand-by on-site electricity generation in case of a power failure on the grid mains.

Larger internal combustion engine driven gen-sets like this are very interesting to me.  Most of my own projects are only up to 49L displacement, 1.2MWe.

These larger units are real feats of engineering.  And imagine the noise this thing makes.

Some of the important specifications:

V-20 / 4-Stroke / Common Rail Fuel Injection System

105.8L Displacement: 175mm bore x 220mm stroke

4000kWe Stand-by / 3600kWe Prime / 3250 kWe Continuous ratings at 60 Hz – Here is a review of generator-set power ratings.

Some more interesting specs:

Full load full consumption: 1039.3 L/hour – 274.6 USGal/hour

Exhaust gas flow:  30771 CFM (This is more exhaust flow that the entire cooling air flow for many smaller gen-sets)

Generator heat rejection to atmosphere: 171kW – 9733 BTU/min

Lubrication system volume of 675L – 178.3 US Gal

These are just a few of the specs from the data for the 4MW Caterpillar C175 engine that I found interesting.  Mostly because most of the specifications that I have in my head are from engines five times smaller than this one.

A Stand-by Generation Power plant

This engine is certainly geared towards the standby, on-site power generation industry.  It has a very high power density when compared to the 4MWe generator that it replaced.

However, it is an 1800rpm engine – very fast for a unit this size.

The other four meg unit the Caterpillar offers is driven by a 900rpm, 222L V-16.

For a stand-by gen-set, this is ok (though still very fast for an engine of this size).  But in a prime power application, engine durability and fuel consumption will be drawbacks vs. a larger, slower engine.

I would love to hear your experiences with this 20-cyl, 4MW Caterpillar C175 Engine, or even the C175-16 units.

Particularly if you are running them as prime or continuous power units.