MARINE PROPULSION TECHNOLOGY — MONITORING SYSTEMS
Modern Prop Equipment Keeps Pace
With New Technology
by Rodney Lanz, contributing writer
A combination of increasingly
complex ships and dwindling crew
numbers has increased the work-
load for ships' staffs. For this rea-
son the monitoring and control of
main and auxiliary machinery sys-
tems has now largely been taken
over by sophisticated systems that
undertake continuous surveillance
of shipboard power generation.
The introduction of the ubiqui-
tous microchip and digital technol-
ogy has aided the development of
very reliable and versatile ship-
board monitoring systems, particu-
larly those covering the monitoring
and control of prime movers and
auxiliary power generation sys-
tems.
Among the latest and well tried
systems on the market is Litton
Industries' Decca Isis 250.
The microprocessor-controlled
system comprises a series of stan-
dard type-approved units and mod-
ules that can be configured to meet
a wide range of control and moni-
toring duties. In the system, up to
96 channels of data can be collect-
ed by local scanning units (LSU) or
scanning and control units (LSCU)
which are connected to loop proces-
sors (DCU) via RS485 serial com-
munication loops. These in turn
are connected to the main proces-
sor unit located in the engine
room, from which up to eight
remote workstations can be net-
worked.
In addition to the workstations, a
multi-purpose alarm system which
incorporates an annunciator to
give the duty engineer brief detail
of the alarm alert is provided.
Once the alarm has been accepted,
all the alarm units remain on with
a steady light, which is only extin-
guished when the alarm is accept-
ed in the engine control room.
Autronica of Norway is using a
PC-based monitoring system in its
KD10-W unit. Operating through
MS Windows, the system can be
linked to up to 500 sensors via
twenty input boards.
The central processor, known as
"basic central" compares signals
from these sensors with pre-set
alarm limits, which then transmits
group messages to the vessel's
bridge and other selected alarm
annunciators. Alarms are
acknowledged using a local key-
board with information presented
in various forms on the operator's
VDU.
In addition to general alarm
monitoring, bearing and exhaust
temperatures are shown as bar
graphs with deviation and alarm
status also in bar graph form for
instant comparison.
STN Atlas Elektronic of
Germany has introduced a new
version of its Geamot and Geamar
integrated control and monitoring
systems. The newly developed
Geamot 40M is based on a new
range of control modules which
have been specifically designed to
work with main engines. The
functions include stopping and
starting main engines and a
smooth running up procedure;
avoidance of critical speeds; speed
maintenance function with shaft
generator operation; automatic
reduction of power in a heavy sea-
way and three different operating
modes for harbor, sea and emer-
gency; and full interfacing to ship's
alarm system.
Based on a MS Windows presen-
tation, the Geamar 200 ISL allows
for full integration of the machin-
ery monitoring and control system
with an integrated navigation sys-
tem on a ship's bridge. According
to STN Atlas, in this latest version
the monitoring and control func-
tions of the system have not been
changed, while the user interface
has been updated using the latest
technology.
U.K.-based Vosper Thornycroft is
continuing to market its Vicam
engine monitoring and control sys-
tem that has been developed over a
number of years in the defense
market. The system allows for the
monitoring and control of both
analog and digital sensors, detec-
tion and annunciation of alarms,
information display in full color
graphics as well as logging, trend
analysis and diagnostics.
The system has been fitted into a
new fast ferry built at the U.S.'
Pequot River Shipyard in
Connecticut. The system will mon-
itor and control about 400 points
within the craft's machinery,
including electrical power genera-
tion and distribution, and fuel,
ventilation, water and bilge sys-
tems. The information is relayed
to the central display workstation
(CDW) on the bridge, and shown
using high-resolution graphics.
High-speed craft have also been
targeted by Servowatch Systems of
the U.K.
Orders announced this year have
included systems to be installed on
four new FBM Tricats to be built in
the Philippines by FBM Aboitiz.
Pictured is Caterpillar's new electronic remote
monitoring and control system for 3600 marine
propulsion engines.
The systems will be used to mon-
itor and provide integrated control
of the main engines and electrical
systems.
In addition, Servowatch systems
are available for Caterpillar 3500B
series engines, utilizing the
ECM/CCM protocol. Caterpillar
has announced it is planning to
introduce, during the third quarter
of this year, the capability to mon-
itor three propulsion sets or eight
generators using one CCM module.
These will allow the Caterpillar
Gateway system to monitor the
engines and transfer the data to
the Servowatch Winmon/Mondis
systems.
In Germany, MTU's latest engine
monitoring system — MCS-5 —
includes a range of standard mod-
ules for the monitoring and control
of main and auxiliary plant. The
modularization of the system
means that it has few basic compo-
nents, which simplifies the main-
tenance problem, reduces spare
parts stock requirements and sub-
stantially reduces the training ele-
ment.
The system uses a data bus
arrangement with local data acqui-
sition and actuator control. There
are serial links to other devices
and process data transmission to
remote control stations and operat-
ing levels. The remote operating
stations are located in the engine
control room and on the bridge,
with alarm annunciators located
throughout the accommodation.
The main components in Japan's
Kawasaki Heavy Industries'
machinery surveillance and con-
trol system comprise an engine
monitoring unit which is fed by
sensor inputs, and linked to a data
communications and collection
computer, and operator keyboard.
Machinery trends and analyses
are monitored and displayed on
the system and compared with
trial data.
The system includes the KIS II
(Kawasaki Inference System),
which is used for diagnostics. A set
of simple questions reportedly
allows the operator to conduct an
accurate assessment of the
engine's state.
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66 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News
Digital Wave Publishing