Control system for fuel consumption minimization–gas emission limitation of full electric propulsion ship power systems

Abstract

Environmental pollution caused by ships’ green house gas emissions and worldwide concern about air quality and oil supplies have led to stricter emissions regulations and fuel economy standards. In this regard, respective limits are set, while efforts to provide general guidelines for the achievement of economic and green ship operation with an urge to ship operators to apply them and return feedback. Also, specific design and operation indicators have been proposed in order to ensure compliance with new emissions regulations and fuel economy standards. Up to now, these indices are limited to ships comprising conventional propulsion systems, while full electric propulsion systems are not examined. In this article, an integrated control system that attains economically optimized and environmentally friendly operation is proposed. Moreover, appropriate reformulation of energy efficiency operation indicator is proposed for real-time assessment of gas emissions. The study is supported with the presentation of results obtained from the simulation of the operation of a ship power system comprising full electric propulsion.