INNIO Jenbacher designs and manufactures
gas engines and
cogeneration
Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to generate electricity and useful heat at the same time.
Cogeneration is a more efficient use of fuel or heat, because otherwise- wasted heat from elec ...
modules in the Austrian town of
Jenbach
Jenbach is a municipality in the district of Schwaz in the Austrian state of Tyrol.
Etymology
Many inhabitants of Jenbach believe that the name "Jenbach" is derived from "Jenseits des Baches", which means "Beyond the brook", however earlier ve ...
in
Tyrol
Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...
. It is part of the INNIO portfolio of products and is one of their gas engine technologies; the other being
Waukesha Engines
Waukesha is a brand of large stationary reciprocating engines produced by INNIO Waukesha Gas Engines, a business unit of the INNIO Group.
For 62 years, Waukesha was an independent supplier of gasoline engines, diesel engines, multifuel engines (g ...
. Jenbacher emerged from the former Jenbacher Werke, which was founded in 1959 and manufactured gas and
diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...
s, and locomotives. The company was bought out by
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...
in 2003. In November 2018 the company became part of INNIO as part of an acquisition of Advent International and was renamed INNIO Jenbacher GmbH & Co. OHG.
History
Although the company itself has a relatively short history, its origins go far back. In 1487, a mine and foundry was founded by the
Fugger family. In 1657, all Fugger properties in Tyrol were taken over by the state. Due to exhaustion of the copper and silver deposits, the mine changed its focus to iron. The company was acquired by Julius and Theodor Reitlinger in 1881. In 1909, the mine ran out of iron as well, and after a boom during the First World War only the foundry was left. At the beginning of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, all of Tyrol was seized and Aryanized, and the company was to 'work for the benefit of the country'. The plant made
brake pad Brake pads are a component of disc brakes used in automotive and other applications. Brake pads are composed of steel backing plates with friction material bound to the surface that faces the disc brake rotors.
Function
Brake pads convert the kin ...
s for the
Deutsche Reichsbahn
The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'', also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regiona ...
, and from 1939 they made
airframe parts and rocket motors in
Jenbach
Jenbach is a municipality in the district of Schwaz in the Austrian state of Tyrol.
Etymology
Many inhabitants of Jenbach believe that the name "Jenbach" is derived from "Jenseits des Baches", which means "Beyond the brook", however earlier ve ...
(some to liquid-fueled
aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...
rocket engine designs from
Hellmuth Walter KG) for
Heinkel as the licensee. After the collapse at the end of the Second World War the factory was placed under public administration. It had to be converted to civilian production, and started out with
cookware
Cookware and bakeware is food preparation equipment, such as cooking pots, pans, baking sheets etc. used in kitchens. Cookware is used on a stove or range cooktop, while bakeware is used in an oven. Some utensils are considered both cookware ...
, but also started with the repair of railway wagons.
Because of the availability of appropriate specialists and skilled workers, it was decided to concentrate on the production of
diesel engine
The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...
s. The first product was a 15 hp two-stroke engine, which was very successful and was manufactured in large quantities. This was followed by more two-stroke and four stroke models of engine. The JW 15, 8 TO 15 Hp; the JW20, 15 to 20 Hp; and the JW20M, the same engine, but with inertial mass damping to counteract the vibrations of the single cylinder. The company was now pushed to develop generators, compressors and pumps of the same quality.
In 1959 the company was constituted as Jenbacher Werke AG, the main shareholders being
Creditanstalt
The Creditanstalt (sometimes Credit-Anstalt, abbreviated as CA), full original name k. k. priv. Österreichische Credit-Anstalt für Handel und Gewerbe (), was a major Austrian bank, founded in 1855 in Vienna.
From its founding until 1931, th ...
with 35% and
Mannesmann
Mannesmann was a German industrial conglomerate. It was originally established as a manufacturer of steel pipes in 1890 under the name "Deutsch-Österreichische Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG". (Loosely translated: "German-Austrian Mannesmann pip ...
with 26%, the rest being
free float
In the context of stock markets, the public float or free float represents the portion of shares of a corporation that are in the hands of public investors as opposed to locked-in shares held by promoters, company officers, controlling-interest inv ...
. Creditanstalt increased its share steadily and after the purchase of Mannesmann's share through the CA-controlled
Andritz AG
Andritz AG is an international technology group, offering plants, equipment, systems and services for various industries. The group's headquarters are in Graz, Austria. The group gets its name from the district of Andritz in which it is located ...
they acquired a vast majority of the share capital. In 1979, 1,550 people were employed at the plant. In 1988 the majority of the company was acquired by Auricon Beteiligungs AG. In 1991 it was organized into the Jenbacher Energy Systems AG (JES) and the Jenbacher Transport Systems Ltd. (JTS) divisions. In the same year, JTS acquired 29.9% of the British company Telfos Holding, which gave the company an influence on
Ganz
The Ganz Works or Ganz ( or , ''Ganz companies'', formerly ''Ganz and Partner Iron Mill and Machine Factory'') was a group of companies operating between 1845 and 1949 in Budapest, Hungary. It was named after Ábrahám Ganz, the founder and th ...
-Hunslet, the former Hungarian locomotive works Ganz-
MÁVAG
MÁVAG (''Magyar Királyi Államvasutak Gépgyára''; ''Hungarian Royal State Railroads' Machine Factory'') was the largest Hungarian rail vehicle producer. MÁVAG company was the second largest industrial enterprise after the Manfréd Weiss Steel ...
. On December 12, 1991, JTS attained majority share capital of Telfos, and bought out
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...
's remaining share in 1993. In 1997, Jenbacher attempted to enter the
tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
market with help from
AEG through a Jenbacher daughter company called Integral Verkehrstechnik AG Jenbach. Integral lost over 22 million
Euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
s from 1997 to 2001, and led to the sale of the Jenbacher rail car division to
Connex. In 1998 Jenbacher started its relationship with
Clarke Energy
Clarke Energy is part of the Kohler Co., Kohler Company and is a multinational specialist in the sale, engineering, installation and maintenance of power plants that use gas engines. Clarke Energy is an independent company with its global head ...
which is now one of its largest gas engine distributors, The remaining gas engine-energy division was acquired by General Electric in 2003. In 2018 GE sold its Jenbacher and Waukesha brands to the private equity company Advent International which created the new company INNIO.
Rail cars
Jenbacher's railway activities started in 1945, when they started performing repairs of
rolling stock
The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can ...
for the French occupation forces.
In 1949, they started making diesel engines,
power car
In rail transport, the expression power car may refer to either of two distinct types of rail vehicle:
*a vehicle that propels, and commonly also controls, a passenger train, multiple unit or tram, often as the lead vehicle;
*a vehicle equipped ...
s, trucks and compressors powered by the aforementioned engines.
In addition, they made rail cars for the
Austrian Federal Railways
Austrian may refer to:
* Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent
** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law
* Austrian German dialect
* Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
and other railroad companies.
Jenbacher Werke designated their locomotives according to a system derived from the type of power transmission, approximate performance, wheel arrangement or application and the operating weight. The ÖBB series 2060 was therefore the work designation DH200B28. The other models carried the name JW.
The Railway engineering department was taken over by
Molinari Rail.
Company profile and products
Jenbacher currently specializes in
lean burn
Lean-burn refers to the burning of fuel with an excess of air in an internal combustion engine. In lean-burn engines the air:fuel ratio may be as lean as 65:1 (by mass). The air / fuel ratio needed to stoichiometrically combust gasoline, by cont ...
gas engines, including
cogeneration
Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to generate electricity and useful heat at the same time.
Cogeneration is a more efficient use of fuel or heat, because otherwise- wasted heat from elec ...
plants and
containerized power generator sets utilizing said gas engines. Jenbacher began producing gas engines in 1957.
Jenbacher's main facility still resides in Jenbach in Austria, and employs over 1400 workers. Jenbacher manufactures the gas engines from the ground-up at this facility, including in-house
crankshafts.
Jenbacher gas engines are exclusively
Otto cycle
An Otto cycle is an idealized thermodynamic cycle that describes the functioning of a typical spark ignition piston engine. It is the thermodynamic cycle most commonly found in automobile engines.
The Otto cycle is a description of what hap ...
units with industrial grade
spark plugs providing ignition. Smaller models utilize
stoichiometric
Stoichiometry refers to the relationship between the quantities of reactants and products before, during, and following chemical reactions.
Stoichiometry is founded on the law of conservation of mass where the total mass of the reactants equ ...
combustion, while the larger engines are
lean burn
Lean-burn refers to the burning of fuel with an excess of air in an internal combustion engine. In lean-burn engines the air:fuel ratio may be as lean as 65:1 (by mass). The air / fuel ratio needed to stoichiometrically combust gasoline, by cont ...
engines with prechamber ignition.
Jenbacher engines run on
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
,
landfill gas
Landfill gas is a mix of different gases created by the action of microorganisms within a landfill as they decompose organic waste, including for example, food waste and paper waste. Landfill gas is approximately forty to sixty percent methane ...
,
sewage gas,
biogas
Biogas is a mixture of gases, primarily consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste and food waste. It is a ...
,
mine gas
Firedamp is any flammable gas found in coal mines, typically coalbed methane. It is particularly found in areas where the coal is bituminous. The gas accumulates in pockets in the coal and adjacent strata and when they are penetrated the releas ...
,
coal gas,
syngas and
hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ...
. Due to this flexibility they are often used in applications where gas would normally be
flare
A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala in some Latin-speaking countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illumination, ...
d off or released into the atmosphere, to turn waste into energy.
Methane
Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Ea ...
has a much higher
global warming potential
Global warming potential (GWP) is the heat absorbed by any greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, as a multiple of the heat that would be absorbed by the same mass of carbon dioxide (). GWP is 1 for . For other gases it depends on the gas and the time ...
than CO
2, and it is therefore interesting for operators to burn gas in engines instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. Further applications include data centers, greenhouses or heat & power units for industrial use. They are also offered as containerised units.
Jenbacher J920 FleXtra
The Jenbacher J920 FleXtra is Jenbacher's newest product, a
V20 gas engine delivering up to 9.5 MW (12,915 PS). When it is put into production it will be Jenbachers most efficient gas engine available with an
electrical efficiency
The efficiency of a system in electronics and electrical engineering is defined as useful power output divided by the total electrical power consumed (a vulgar fraction, fractional Expression (mathematics), expression), typically denoted by the Gr ...
of 48.7%,
and a
combined heat and power thermal efficiency
In thermodynamics, the thermal efficiency (\eta_) is a dimensionless performance measure of a device that uses thermal energy, such as an internal combustion engine, steam turbine, steam engine, boiler, furnace, refrigerator, ACs etc.
For a ...
of over 90%.
The J920 uses
Miller cycle
In engineering, the Miller cycle is a thermodynamic cycle used in a type of internal combustion engine. The Miller cycle was patented by Ralph Miller, an American engineer, dated Dec 24, 1957. The engine may be two- or four-stroke and may be r ...
valve timing and
two-stage turbocharging, along with a 'three-module' construction consisting of the engine itself, the
electrical generator
In electricity generation, a generator is a device that converts motive power (mechanical energy) or fuel-based power ( chemical energy) into electric power for use in an external circuit. Sources of mechanical energy include steam turbines, g ...
and the turbocharging unit consisting of both
turbocharger
In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...
s and
charge air cooler
An intercooler is a heat exchanger used to cool a gas after compression. Often found in turbocharged engines, intercoolers are also used in air compressors, air conditioners, refrigeration and gas turbines.
Internal combustion engines
Most ...
s along with intake and exhaust piping and bypass valves. In common with most current
marine diesel engines
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
* Marine biology
* Marine debris
* Marine habitats
* Marine life
* Marine pollution
Milita ...
, the J920 has a segmented
camshaft, along with combining individual
cylinder head
In an internal combustion engine, the cylinder head (often abbreviated to simply "head") sits above the cylinders and forms the roof of the combustion chamber.
In sidevalve engines, the head is a simple sheet of metal; whereas in more modern ...
s, the
cylinder liner
In a reciprocating engine, the cylinder is the space in which a piston travels.
The inner surface of the cylinder is formed from either a thin metallic liner (also called "sleeve") or a surface coating applied to the engine block. A piston is se ...
,
piston and
connecting rod into one easily removable
modular
Broadly speaking, modularity is the degree to which a system's components may be separated and recombined, often with the benefit of flexibility and variety in use. The concept of modularity is used primarily to reduce complexity by breaking a s ...
'power unit' for ease of
maintenance and overhaul.
See also
*
Clarke Energy
Clarke Energy is part of the Kohler Co., Kohler Company and is a multinational specialist in the sale, engineering, installation and maintenance of power plants that use gas engines. Clarke Energy is an independent company with its global head ...
References
Literature
* Franz Mathis: ''Big Business in Österreich''. Verlag für Geschicht und Politik, Wien 1986,
*
Sepp Tezak: ''Die Jenbacher Werke''. In: ''Schienenverkehr aktuell''. 1988/4, S. 12
* Helmut Petrovitsch: ''Lokomotiven aus Tirol. Chronik des Schienenfahrzeugbaues der Jenbacher Werke AG''. In: ''Schienenverkehr aktuell''. 1987/12 – 1990/6 (20 Teile)
External links
INNIO Jenbacher GmbH & CO OGJenbacher J920 - New Power Generation Technology - INNIOClarke Energy - GE Jenbacher Distributor and Service Partner
{{Authority control
Electrical generation engine manufacturers
Gas engine manufacturers
Engine manufacturers of Austria
Manufacturing companies established in 1959
1950s establishments in Austria
2003 mergers and acquisitions
General Electric acquisitions
Austrian brands
Economy of Tyrol (state)
Former General Electric subsidiaries
2018 mergers and acquisitions