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Monitoring & Control able on the high seas. Consider that the main engine for a tanker costs between $6-$7 million, or about 10 percent of the tanker cost with a lifetime of 15 to 20 years. To guarantee an optimal life-span, Wartsila NSD has set out to provide onboard engine operators with as much assistance as possible. Sensor-based operating systems con- tinuously monitor the engine, mainly the piston running behavior and its wear. They warn the operator before problems might occur. But those surveillance sys- tems themselves can break down with- out warning. Advanced Help Desk System Wartsila NSD asked Kaidara to devel- op a diagnostic system that could be used at sea. The project focused on two of the most sold monitoring tools of the Mapex product family. Kaidara created a case database from 120 carefully doc- umented cases. Now, when an engine operator at sea encounters a problem, he calls a technician in Switzerland. To get information on how to fix the current breakdown, the technician just checks off a series of boxes on the screen. The diagnostic system then searches the case database for the previously solved prob- lems that most closely match the current case, and the system gives the techni- cian precise repair instructions. "Some of our low speed diesel engines are equipped with additional monitoring systems," said Karl Svimbersky, Head of the Engine Diagnosis Division, Wart- sila NSD. "These tools indicate the fit- ness of the engine and permanent infor- mation of the engine operator is essen- tial. Thanks to Kaidara Advisor, a failure in such a tool can be located and repaired within a very short time, avoiding heavy and costly engine breakdown." Today, the diagnostic is available on the laptops of the maintenance staff. On- board a ship, they can access the engine's entire history and the data on previous repairs. Data captured on- board the ship is used to update the cen- tral case database. Highly satisfied with the results of this project. Wartsila NSD is studying the possibility to apply the technology to the entire maintenance process. Circle 198 on Reader Service Card www.maritimereporterinfo.com Selco Offers Analogue Alarm Annunciator Selco has released an improved and updated version of its M3000 product, which is a compact 24 channel Ana- logue Alarm Annunciator. The M3000 is now delivered with a simple, flexible and user friendly programming tool. The M3000 is touted as ideal for those November, 2001 with needs for monitoring with sensors for instance; temperature sensors, pres- sure sensors or any other kind of sensors providing a signal within the range of 0- 20 mA or 0-24 VDC. Selco's M3000 includes 48 programmable alarms. Each alarm can be allocated to survey any one of the 24 inputs. The alarms can be programmed to control one of the 24 LEDs on the front panel and one of the 14 open collector outputs. Several alarms can control the same LED and/or output. Furthermore there is one common open collector out- put for general alarm and output for siren control. Selco's M3000, a compact 24 channel Analogue Alarm Annunciator ABEKING & RASMUSSEN But we can make you much more independent of it! Above sequences were taken from a video of a comparison seatrial against 9 ft waves at 16 kts. P.O. Box 11 60 0-27805 Lemwerder • Germany Phone: Fax: 49 (0)421-67 33-0 49-(0)421-67 33-112 www.abeking.com e-mail: mv@abeking.com SWATH TECHNOLOGY Circle 202 on Reader Service Card or visit www.maritimereporterinfo.com 69 We can't change the weather