SB Broneske Enhances Service Portfolio

Schwingungstechnik Broneske GmbH (Ltd.) from Hamburg, Germany has enhanced its service portfolio within the field of elastic support for the exhaust pipe systems on board of maritime vessels in order to guarantee the best possible results for shipyards and ship owners.

General Introduction

The exhaust pipe system channels exhaust fumes from ship's engines to its flue. The engine and fumes produce structure-borne noise and vibrations which are emitted by the vessel's walls and ceilings and directed to its constructional systems such as passenger or crew cabins. As a consequence the vibration and airborne noise level can go up to 85 to 90 decibel and damage or even destroy engines, parts of the exhaust pipe, or electrical devices onboard. But also the human being is not exempted as the body can not rest properly, concentration and communication is hindered, and the risk of heart diseases increases.

The solution or rather abatement to this problem is the so-called elastic support of the exhaust pipe system which circumvents the transition of noise and vibrations to the ship. By means of a professional calculation and subsequent installation of elastic support for the exhaust pipe system the soundlevel on board can go down below 60 decibels.

SB Broneske was founded in 1972 and significantly impacted the development of elastic support of the exhaust pipe system (vibration mounts, expansion bellows, flexible pipe penetrations, and rain caps) ever since. As a result numerous patents carry the seal of the company from Northern Germany and its products have passed the worldwide test uncountable times. However, the change of the competitive environment induced the quality-conscious company to reconsider and upgrade its business model.

Managerial director Dr. Broneske reports; “The sole provision of vibration mounts, expansion bellows or pipe penetrations is not timely anymore. In order to achieve the best possible result and minimize defects during the operation phase of the ships a complete layout design and calculation of the elastic support is absolutely inevitable. Due to increased competition construction offices call for customized products and solutions."

"In order to cope with the strongly increased number of enquiries during the last couple of years we have developed a very complicated data base, which assists us in the detailed layout and calculation of the exhaust pipe systems", Dr Broneske further explains. “Just for the development of the technical data base we invested more than 7.000 hours of work. There are several links between the technical data base and our SAP system in order to ease the transition of data to the commercial system. This was a very important step for our company as it enables us not only to make detailed calculations but also offer extra services for our customers."

Layout Proposal

SB Broneske works out the technical configuration of the products in the exhaust pipe system which can be adjusted to the ideas and concerns of the yards or construction offices. Being very experienced the engineers at SB Broneske work out hundreds of projects every year and guarantee the most efficient and prime partition of the individual pipe sections.

Vibration Analysis

The information emerging from the layout proposal is processed in the vibration analysis as vibrations and noise of the exhaust pipe system can only be effectively reduced through the inclusion of engine details, the exhaust fumes' characteristics, as well as the particular vibration mounts and pipe sections in the vibration analysis. For this the frequencies of the different noise emitting parts are calculated and attuned to each other.

Design Office Check List

The construction process of an exhaust pipe system is a very complex issue and requires the adjustment of further details besides the layout proposal and vibration analysis. Since almost every shipbuilding process is one-of-a-kind, the design of the exhaust pipe system needs to follow certain rules. Not following these rules may cause delays of the construction process or even damages during the vessel's operating phase. This is why SB Broneske developed its design office checklist in order to identify the most frequently recurring mistakes and foreclose them in advance. Once again their experience benefits the engineers as it enables SB Broneske to identify new sources of defect and include them in the design office check list.

Labelling System

Big exhaust pipe systems can consist of some hundred individual parts which vary by kind and quantity and their correct allocation can be very time and cost consuming. In order to solve this problem SB Broneske worked out a labelling system supporting the most efficient configuration during the construction phase by printing positioning numbers on the individual devices. On customer request individual identification numbers can also be attached to the parts.

Installation Instructions

SB Broneske composed installation instructions for its vibration mounts and expansion bellows. These are very detailed and explain step by step how the different parts are installed properly and comprise more than 100 pages.

Yards and ship owner's benefit from SB Broneske's revision of its business model as the products and additional services lead to the best possible result and are included in the scope of a free of charge commercial offer.