A new green Dynamic Positioning (DP) System has been developed by RH Marine for optimizing fuel consumption of generators and thrusters.
According to RH Marine, the green DP system has been developed for naval vessels, dredgers, research vessels, work vessels and yachts, among others. The new system can help vessels to sail more efficiently and saving fuel. It also enables ships to sail more quietly in DP mode by switching completely to batteries.
The new DP system is connected to the Power Management System (PMS) and Energy Management System (EMS) and all those systems communicate with each other in a smart way. If the DP system knows its operational time and the acquired kilowatt-hours, the EMS can predict and calculate how much power needs to be generated over time. After that, it allocates on the various sources in the most optimal way based on an operational goal.
RH Marine’s consultants Ehab el Amam and Despoina Mitropoulou explained how the new DP system works with the EMS:
“If the DP system can indicate how much energy it will consume, then the EMS can calculate the most optimal energy generation allocation to minimize the fuel required”
“The benefit is that the required load can be distributed in a smarter way, but also control the consumption using a priori knowledge, which means vessels can save significant fuel.”
The EMS can also store power from the generators in batteries or – in the future – in other forms of storage such as fuel cells or flywheels. In that case, the thrusters run on battery power and the generators can be switched off. Then the ship can DP silently and sail with strongly reduced emission. This is mandatory in some Emission Control Areas (ECA’s).
El Amam and Mitropoulou also explained how the optimization of energy consumption can also be extended to other functionalities on board,
“For example, it is possible to connect the temperature or air conditioning on yachts or other ships. With even more of this priory knowledge on the required energy consumption, vessels can also optimize maintenance, on-board noise and other operational tasks on all kind of vessels,”
Credit: RH Marine
