Wilhelm Laudahn (engineer)

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Wilhelm Laudahn (born November 11, 1875 in Frankfurt ad Oder ; † October 31, 1932 in Berlin-Lankwitz ) was a German mechanical engineer. He began his career as an imperial naval construction officer and was, among other things, significantly involved in the development of large diesel engines with an output of 12,000 hp for the imperial navy from 1910 onwards .

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Born in Frankfurt ad Oder in 1875

Born on November 11, 1875 in Frankfurt ad Oder, Laudahn completed an internship at the Kaiserliche Werft Kiel after graduating from secondary school and began studying marine engineering at the Technical University of Charlottenburg (today TU Berlin). He passed the exam in 1900, started as a naval construction supervisor, passed the second state examination in 1904 at the Imperial Shipyard in Wilhelmshaven and was promoted to naval master builder. Because of his particularly successful examination results, he received a travel award that took him to Austria, Italy and America as part of a study trip. He was then assigned to the Reichsmarineamt (RMA) in Berlin and was responsible for the development of the diesel engine.

1907 Reichsmarineamt in Berlin

SMS Prinzregent Luitpold

With diesel engines, they were called oil engines at the time, the submarine became a reliable naval ship and the cooperation of the Reichsmarinamt with the German mechanical engineering companies enabled enormous increases in performance in a short time. When MAN offered the Imperial Navy a 1,000 hp diesel engine in 1909, they asked for a six-cylinder 12,000 hp machine that was to be installed as a mid-engine in the ships of the line in the Imperial Class .

Construction and testing of 12,000 horsepower diesel engines

Laudahn received from his superior Rudolf Veith , the chairman of the mechanical engineering department of the RMA, the task of supervising the construction and testing of these engines by the office. After the war, Laudahn was busy developing light four-stroke engines for the cruises of the small Königsberg-class cruisers . This was followed by the motor drive of the artillery training ship Bremse , on which double-acting MAN two-stroke engines with eight cylinders, and of the armored ship Germany, on which eight engines of this type with nine cylinders were used. Four of these motors acted on a shaft via a Vulcan fluid transmission. The significantly lower specific fuel consumption compared to the steam turbine drive enabled enormous ranges, and the engines were more maintenance-friendly than the complicated superheated steam turbines.

Scientific works

From 1908 Laudahn was a member and from 1919 until his death chairman of the committee for scientific works of the academic hut association. He played a major role in the engineering paperback books “Hut”. He wrote technical and scientific essays and gave remarkable lectures before the Association of German Engineers and the Shipbuilding Society . Laudahn died on October 31, 1932 in Berlin.

1909 double-acting two-stroke diesel engines with an output of 12,000 hp

Rudolf Veith as head of the machinery department and Wilhelm Laudahn as representative of the Reichsmarinamt were significantly involved in the secret development of the 12,000 hp machine that MAN and the Germania shipyard were supposed to supply as central motors for the cruise of the ships of the line of the imperial class . Separate contracts were concluded with both companies in which the respective development of the prototypes with the milestones and acceptance services was specified with the consortia (Reichsmarineamt - MAN and Reichsmarineamt - Germaniawerft).

Development at MAN

MAN started with a three-cylinder machine in 1910, the piston diameter was 850 mm and the stroke 1050 mm, which on the test stand was max. 165 rpm should produce 6000 hp. Then the engine, which was intended for SMS Prinzregent Luitpold , was to be expanded to six cylinders. The Navy could reject the machine if it made less than 9/10 of 12,000 hp.

Cylinder outputs of MAN two-stroke engines

During test runs of the three-cylinder engine at 3,000 PS, thermal overloads resulted in heat cracks in the cylinder , cylinder cover and piston , which led to a redesign. The coincidence of various unfortunate circumstances led to an explosion of the scavenging air in the test engine in 1912, which destroyed the machine and key equipment on the test bench. This accident left 10 dead and 14 seriously injured. In order to cope with the high thermal loads, investigations were then carried out on a single-cylinder machine and the working cylinder was subsequently redesigned six times. At the same time, a new three-cylinder machine was built and the tests continued. The required underperformance was achieved (it remains unclear whether with the single-cylinder machine or the three-cylinder machine) and in February 1914 the six-cylinder machine was tested with little success.

This experimental machine was abandoned and the experiments with a new six-cylinder machine were not continued until January 1917. At the end of March 1917, 12,000 hp were achieved, but continuous operation could only be tested to a limited extent because the infrastructure of the test bench was insufficient. There was a lack of sufficient cooling water, which could only be made available at times when all other workshops in the Nuremberg plant were not receiving water. There were also problems with the fuel (coal tar oil mixed with pitch) and the lubricating oil.

After the naval acceptance, the machine was dismantled, inspected and accepted, but the aim of installing it in the liner in mid-1917 was unrealistic due to the war situation - the navy could neither do without a modern large liner for a long time, nor were the necessary skilled workers available .

SMS Crown Prince Wilhelm in Scapa Flow

Development at the Germania shipyard

The Germania shipyard began building the machine in 1910/11, which was initially planned as a medium machine for the Kronprinz liner . Due to the delays, the engine was supposed to be installed on the liner Sachsen , but its construction was stopped nine months before completion.

It all started with a single-cylinder machine to investigate cylinder design, combustion and control. In contrast to MAN, the valves were controlled hydraulically.

From 1912 tests were carried out with a three-cylinder machine and after many problems and design changes, some of which were caused by heat cracks, the six-cylinder machine was ready from 1914. This achieved 10,600 hp, but the subsequent, complete dismantling and assessment of the components showed heat cracks on the cylinder undersides. According to relevant expert reports, the causes were most likely seen in the remuneration of the cylinders.

Further developments

Both machines had to be scrapped after the war and Laudahn and MAN were able to apply a lot of experience with the development of the drive for the artillery training ship Bremse and the armored ships of the German class . The Germania shipyard and Krupp engine construction have given up the construction of double-acting two-stroke engines.

See also

literature

  • Lyle Cummins: Diesel's Engine , 2015 Carnot Press, Wilsonville, Oregon, ISBN 0-917308-03-4
  • Heinz Haaker: Slow-running, double-acting two-stroke diesel engines in the German merchant fleet , special edition part 2. In: Deutsches Schiffahrtsarchiv 2015 Oceaneum Verlag e. K.
  • Wilhelm Laudahn: The post-war development of the diesel engine as a ship drive in the German Navy. In: Yearbook of the Shipbuilding Society 33 , 1932, pp. 110–141.
  • Wilhelm Laudahn , In: Shipbuilding Society: 100 Years Shipbuilding Society - Biographies on the History of Shipbuilding , Springer, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-540-64150-5 , p. 263.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Laudahn: The post-war development of the diesel engine as a ship drive in the German Marin . 1st edition. Shipbuilding Society, 1932, p. 115 .
  2. ↑ Eberhard Möller, Werner Brack: Diesel engines for five German navies . 1st edition. Mittler Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-8132-0566-5 , p. 122 .
  3. ↑ Heinz Haaker: Slow-running, double-acting two-stroke diesel engines in the German merchant fleet . 1st edition. Oceaneum Verlag e. K., 2015, ISBN 978-3-86927-036-4 , pp. 292 .
  4. ↑ Heinz Haaker: Slow-running, double-acting two-stroke diesel engines in the German merchant fleet . 1st edition. Oceaneum Verlag e. K., 2015, ISBN 978-3-86927-036-4 , pp. 296 .
  5. ↑ Heinz Haaker: Slow-running, double-acting two-stroke diesel engines in the German merchant fleet . 1st edition. Oceaneum Verlag e. K., 2015, ISBN 978-3-86927-036-4 , pp. 297 .
  6. ↑ Eberhard Möller, Werner Brack: Diesel engines for five German navies . 1st edition. Mittler Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-8132-0566-5 , p. 125 .
  7. ↑ Heinz Haaker: Slow-running, double-acting two-stroke diesel engines in the German merchant fleet . 1st edition. Oceaneum Verlag e. K., 2015, ISBN 978-3-86927-036-4 , pp. 303 .
  8. ^ Lyle Cummins: Diesel's Engine . 1st edition. Carnot Press, Wilsonville, Oregon, 2015, ISBN 0-917308-03-4 , pp. 668 .
  9. ↑ Heinz Haaker: Slow-running, double-acting two-stroke diesel engines in the German merchant fleet . 1st edition. Oceaneum Verlag e. K., 2015, ISBN 978-3-86927-036-4 , pp. 308 .
  10. ↑ Heinz Haaker: Slow-running, double-acting two-stroke diesel engines in the German merchant fleet . 1st edition. Oceaneum Verlag e. K., 2015, ISBN 978-3-86927-036-4 , pp. 309 .
personal data
SURNAME Laudahn, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mechanical engineer
DATE OF BIRTH November 11, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt on the Oder
DATE OF DEATH October 31, 1932
Place of death Berlin-Lankwitz