Marine Control & Automation

1. Marine Automation:

Introduction, development of ship board automation, advantages of marine automation, degree of automation in engine room of motor & steamships, essential safety requirements for unattended machinery spaces, centralized control station, control console, centralized control room panel boards, layout, controls, alarms, visual displays, data loggers, mock up assembly.

2. Control Systems:

Introduction, control terms, closed loop, feedback, block diagrams, open loop control, comparison of closed loop & open loop, feed forward control, feed forward modification, regulators & servo-mechanisms.

3. Instrumentation:

Introduction, basic characteristics of instruments - accuracy, reproducibility, sensitivity, responsiveness & fidelity, factors affecting speed of response, sensors, transducers & measuring elements for temperature, pressure, level, flow, humidity, analyzers for specific gravity, viscosity, pH value, conductivity, oxygen, carbon dioxide, combustibility & chromotography, instrument selection for marine application.

4. Transmission:

Pneumatic & electric transmission, suitability for marine use.

5. Processor:

Basic process, characteristic process, load, sources of load change, capacitance, resistance, time constant, process lags, self regulation, process reaction curves.

6. Control:

Control modes - two position, two position with differential, proportional, floating, proportional plus integral, proportional plus derivative, proportional plus integral plus derivative, use of various control modes.

7. Controllers:

Pneumatic, hydraulic, electric & electronic controllers for generation of control actions, time function controllers.

8. Correcting Units:

Diaphragm actuators, valve positioners, piston actuators, elctro-pneumatic transducers, electro-hydraulic actuators, electric actuators, control valves - plug shapes, valve characteristics, air to close & air to open valves, range-ability, sizing valves, construction & selection.

Applications on Controls on Ships:

1. Marine Boilers:

Automatic Combustion Control - air/fuel ratio control, feed water control - single, two & three element type, steam pressure control, combustion chamber pressure control, fuel oil temperature control.

2. Marine Diesel Engines:

Temperature control of lubricating oil, jacket water cooling, fuel valve cooling water, piston cooling water & scavenge air, fuel oil viscosity control.

3. Geared Diesel, Direct & Turbine Installations:

Bridge control of main machinery, instrumentation for UMS classification.

4. Computers:

Simple computation, data processing computers, wired type & stores programmed type computers, computer control, analogue inputs, analogue outputs, digital inputs, digital outputs, interrupt & priority control, application of computers on merchant ships for performance monitoring & maintenance data prediction.