Development of a Simplified Performance Monitoring System for Small and Medium Sized Ships

Abstract

Regulations on emissions from ships are being strengthened, and emission reduction systems and alternative technologies are being developed. In addition, the amount of emissions is closely related to the performance of the propulsion systems of the ship; however, performance measurement systems have mainly been developed for large commercial ships. For small and medium-sized ships, although the output of the propulsion system is rather low, the number of vessels sailing in the coast is very high. Therefore, a performance-monitoring system is required for small and medium-sized ships. However, for small and medium-sized ships, there are no suitable performance and emissions calculation systems. Conventional performance-measuring and analysis systems for large ships have difficulties in terms of their cost and installation when applied to small and medium-sized ships. In this study, a new system was developed that is able to calculate the speed, power, fuel consumption, carbon dioxide emission assumptions, and efficiency of a ship by receiving simple key data such as GPS, fuel flow, and rpm data rather than checking the ship’s condition using massive forms of data. The system transmits data to the shore’s remote-monitoring center in real-time through a communication network. Using these data, it is possible to estimate a ship’s aging factor, engine performance, amount of exhaust gas, etc., and the accumulated data of all coastal ships in a country can be used as basic data for governments to use to support eco-friendly ship policies.