The cut and thrust of ship operation
SuperyachtNews.com attended a session of the Ship Efficiency Conference, being staged as part of the London International Shipping Week 2015, which evaluated the detrimental effect certain factors can have on a vessel's operation.…
SuperyachtNews.com was in attendance at day two of the Ship Efficiency Conference, being staged as part of London International Shipping Week 2015.
In the morning session VAF Instruments' Edwin Schuirink delivered a presentation on the power of monitoring systems to deliver efficiency, which may pique the interest of some in the superyacht industry.
Schuirink's assertion was that thrust represents the key metric in the quest for optimal vessel operation. While variables such as the quality of coating, fouling, prop shaft condition and human operation are difficult to regulate, thrust represents a tangible measure of performance, he explained.
When asked about the potential for the myriad monitoring systems on board a vessel to features wireless sensors, thereby reducing the vast quantity of cabling carried by ships, he said the lack of guaranteed reliability of measurement meant their development is still not being pursued vehemently by OEMs, and estimated instead, that it will be five to 10 years before they begin to replace cabling on board.
But on the disputable topic of increasingly powerful propeller systems causing residual hull damage, he said the guilty party was invariably controlled pitch propellers, or more to the point, their misuse by operators.
Schuirink declared that, despite the significant advancements made in the field, continually pronounced acceleration and deceleration creates significant peaks and troughs in pitch and causes reverberating damage.
In the morning session VAF Instruments' Edwin Schuirink delivered a presentation on the power of monitoring systems to deliver efficiency, which may pique the interest of some in the superyacht industry.
Schuirink's assertion was that thrust represents the key metric in the quest for optimal vessel operation. While variables such as the quality of coating, fouling, prop shaft condition and human operation are difficult to regulate, thrust represents a tangible measure of performance, he explained.
When asked about the potential for the myriad monitoring systems on board a vessel to features wireless sensors, thereby reducing the vast quantity of cabling carried by ships, he said the lack of guaranteed reliability of measurement meant their development is still not being pursued vehemently by OEMs, and estimated instead, that it will be five to 10 years before they begin to replace cabling on board.
But on the disputable topic of increasingly powerful propeller systems causing residual hull damage, he said the guilty party was invariably controlled pitch propellers, or more to the point, their misuse by operators.
Schuirink declared that, despite the significant advancements made in the field, continually pronounced acceleration and deceleration creates significant peaks and troughs in pitch and causes reverberating damage.
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