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such as the Converteam Advanced • Medium speed diesel engine versus gas
Propulsion Motor (APM), there is a wide turbine engines for power generation
choice of electrically-based drive
combinations which may offer specific • Podded drives versus conventional
advantages over conventional direct-drive propellers
engine solutions. Future interest will focus
on smaller, more power dense, motors such • Propellers versus conventional or
as the active-stator motors and High submerged waterjets for 25 to 30 knots
Temperature Superconducting (HTS)
designs, to create electric P&PS solutions for • Fixed pitch versus controllable pitch
a wider range of ships. propellers
The increase in the ships’ service electrical • Hybrid versus simple propulsor
loads has led to a power station concept arrangements
whereby power generation output is
common to both propulsion and the ship; the The tool created by BMT Defence Services
Integrated Full Electric Propulsion (IFEP) can allow such debates to progress with a
concept. This introduces increased more complete set of information and will
flexibility and better use of running assets if allow the best match to the ship’s own needs
matched to a high service load and a variable to be found.
propulsion operating profile. Ship electrical
loads are likely to increase further in the Propulsion System Analysis Tool
future as the trend to replace fluid power
systems with electric actuation gathers pace, Often, ship owners want to have early broad-
leading to the All Electric Ship. brush assessments of the benefits of different
P&PS systems for their future projects. In
The key driving force for change is therefore the past this would have been undertaken
the electric argument and the benefits it can through automated spreadsheet methods.
provide. Although such methods were successful,
they still required a significant amount of
Assessments and Decisions effort to adapt them to new P&PS
arrangements.
All these developments lead to a burden of
choice for the ship operator looking to Tools do exist which are applied to P&PS
upgrade their fleet or purchase new definitions to derive performance data. The
platforms. best established of these is the USN’s
Advanced Surface Ship Evaluation Tool
To deviate from current practice often will (ASSET). In the past the UK MoD have
require a commercially viable argument made use of a BAE Systems package which
supported by a technical justification so that is spreadsheet-based and benefits from the
the necessary agreements can be obtained RN’s actual operating experience and cost
from the fund holders. data.
The technical agencies within an The P&PS system analysis tool was
organisation have to decide which way to developed by BMT Defence Services in the
proceed from some form of assessment of MATLAB™ software environment for use
the options. There are today active debates in-house. Ptool is constructed in a modular
over the following points: arrangement so that new P&PS
arrangements (or cases) can easily be added
• Electric drive versus direct engine drive to the existing ones. This flexibility allows
novel applications to be treated in a
The following questions are examples of The approach is therefore one of matching
topics where Ptool has permitted customers the propulsion solution to the ship’s
to make a system design decision. operating speed profile. Ptool is most
valuable for ship’s with varying electrical
• What is the outline Unit Purchase Cost loads across ship’s speeds and those with a
(UPC) of a range propulsion packages? wide range of operating speeds.
Figures
Ptool outputs over 50 standard figures showing a wide range of analysis information. Other data
generated by Ptool can also be formatted into graphic output. Some of the figures are shown here.
This plot shows the engine load and the number of running engines at each ship speed, in harbour
(after the top speed on the x-axis) and at the endurance condition (similarly after the harbour
condition data). This allows the engine set-up to be assessed at each speed so that the suitability
of an engine installation to the speed profile can be viewed.
The plot also provides the estimate of annual fuel consumption and the required endurance fuel
demand. The annual engine running hours for each engine are identified together with the time
averaged load of each type of engine.
Engine specific fuel consumption (Sfc) at different engine loads. This shows where the engine is
operating across it load range. The plot allows the Sfc to be verified after allowances for engine
driven pumps and other factors such as tropical de-rate are taken in account. The characteristic
will also enable the effects of a change of fuel to be identified, ie for ships with dual-fuel engines
which can operate with MDO or LNG, for instance.
Annual engine running hours at the percentage running load of each engine. This shows the
auxiliary engines’ running hours per year for different loads which correspond to the ship’s
operating profile. Such a plot shows how the engine are being used and may indicate where they
are running too lowly or highly loaded for extended periods of time.
This plot shows how the fuel consumption varies with increasing ships speed. The changes in the
number of running engines alters the characteristic to allow decisions to be made on the best
operating speed for each ship condition.
This plot shows the endurance distance for each ship speed across the speed range. For the
electric propulsion ships, there is a trade off between:
a. the time spent at sea and its increase in overall 440V consumption, and;
b. the ship’s speed, where the faster the speed, the higher the fuel consumption.
The time-averaged load is shown for different sizes of principal and auxiliary engines. The
darker red colours show where best use is made of the installed engine combination. This graph
allows engine installations to be matched closely to the ship’s operating profile and the loading at
each ship speed within that profile.
endurance speed and a user-selected factored to permit the arctic and tropical
reference speed. The parameters include conditions to be found.
component percentage, and specific power,
loadings as well as performance efficiencies. The endurance resistance is defined. This
The number of running engines is also may be achieved by:
provided.
a. Applying a factor to the delivery
The key output from this report is the condition or a specific characteristic;
endurance fuel load. As this feature has a
significant effect on the fuel tank volumes, b. Defining the effective power or the
the derivation is clearly presented. resistance by a polynomial.
The report provides a crude estimate of the The propulsor performance can be user
maximum achievable speed for endurance defined or the propulsor type identified and
and delivery conditions for fully loaded the performance data taken from the
propulsors. propulsor library which includes pods,
azimuthing thrusters and waterjets.
Reference Speed Data
There are three different methods for the
Often users wish to be aware of equipment modelling of waterjets [6]
loadings at fractional speed values. The
generation of such data is provided through A questionnaire lists the set of input data
interpolation of the data set generated required for an analysis. Where data is
through the step-by-step approach. The data omitted, assumptions can be made before
provided is similar to the performance report specific effort is applied to a sub-set of
above and contains data on the power selected options.
transmitted at any point in the P&PS. The
power information is established through a Propulsion Options
step by step analysis of the power train from
Each propulsion option can be distinguished
the propulsor to the engine output shaft.
by the selection of engines, propulsors or
configuration. A set of different options can
Inputs be established very quickly and this facility
The Ship offers a powerful means of undertaking
rapid assessments so that studies can
The ship data input file comprises a converge to the best sub-set of propulsion
definition of the ship’s resistance: This can options for a more detailed consideration.
be defined through either:
Examples are attached of the data input
a. The use of standard models such as sheets and the reporting sheets.
Holtrop & Mennen (1984)
Engine Combinations
b. Known resistance as a set of
polynomials There is a supplementary tool which allows
the user to enter a figure for the required
c. A linear interpolation from a set of installed power. The engine tool then uses
resistance data for similar ships. the library of engine data to select realistic
engine combinations to meet this installed
Temperate, arctic and tropical resistance power. This is a powerful feature when
conditions can be studied with different generating power generation options.
ship’s 440V loads. The ship’s resistance is
Developments
John Buckingham
With each application, Ptool will continue to Chief Mechanical Engineer,
be developed so that its library is extended Naval Engineering Dept.
and its functionality increased. It is hoped BMT Defence Services Limited
that Ptool will permit propeller noise 210 Lower Bristol Road
assessments and reliability performance [7] Bath BA2 3DQ
to be generated in the near future.
References
[1] R. H. McFadden, Advanced
Integrated Electrical Marine
Propulsion Systems, MER, April
1995.