Maritime Energy Systems (MES) | Awarded on 18 Jul 2013

Projects awarded:

• Development of adhesive mimics for anti-fouling coatings and adhesion testing in the marine environment
  

  Maritime Energy Systems (MES) | Awarded on 18 Jul 2013
  Development of adhesive mimics for anti-fouling coatings and adhesion testing in the marine environment

  Sessile marine organisms rely on their adhesive secretions to glue themselves onto virtually any hard substrates. Barnacles are major foulers, with larvae locating suitable sites to metamorphose into their adult form. Biofouling, the unwanted attachment of marine organisms on submerged manmade structures, poses financial and environmental issues, but it is an inspiration to develop novel adhesive technologies in a wide range of applications.

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  Involved Researcher(s): Ali Gilles Tchenguise Miserez

• Investigation into the Development of Biodiesel Generator for Marine Engines
  

  Maritime Energy Systems (MES) | Awarded on 18 Jul 2013
  Investigation into the Development of Biodiesel Generator for Marine Engines

  The aim of this proposal is to research and develop Singapore Polytechnic’s patented technology work that can aid production of bio-fuel from waste cooking oil based on energy and resources available in the third world countries.

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  Involved Researcher(s): Andrew Kon

• Analysis of Energy Consumption and Emissions by Shipping Lines
  

  Maritime Energy Systems (MES) | Awarded on 18 Jul 2013
  Analysis of Energy Consumption and Emissions by Shipping Lines

  Ocean liner service is the major transportation mode for international trade and exchanges.
  Fuel is the major component of operating cost for liner service operators. Consequently current models for managing operating costs have implicitly focused on fuel consumption. Yet governments and international organizations are developing regulations and guidelines to protect the environment that impose caps on exhausts gas emissions. We therefore propose in this project to analyse the consumption and exhausts gas emissions and to develop models and methodologies to optimally manage energy consumption and exhaust gas emissions.

  This project includes two levels.

  The first level will aim to develop specific models to manage and operate a ship fleet. The models will leverage the global consumption and emission models developed in our other work. A significant outcome of the present work is to provide shipping industries/ academics with new insights on energy consumption and exhaust gas emissions and propose reference models. Independently from the application domain, the proposed level will create new research findings with practical significance. The first level will devise a novel stochastic optimization approach to strategic and operational planning under operational uncertainty.

  The second level will aim to optimise the operating and fuel management strategies for each vessel to follow, for meeting its schedule time as prescribed by the second level, its shipping load, and the latest weather and sea and plant conditions, and minimize its fuel and other costs and emission. Vessels can however experience adverse weather, cargo-load variations and plant deterioration during voyages; which could prevent vessels from achieving their target time schedules. The present level will help each vessel best meet its time schedule, energy efficiency, emission and cargo-safety requirements under these scenarios; and report to the first level for any voyage time delay even after taking the above control effects.

  This project will develop several software modules to be detailed later, which will enable fleet managers and ship masters to optimize energy consumption and exhaust gas emissions at the planning and operational levels. This project will benefit Singapore’s maritime sectors, including shipping lines and port operators.

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  Involved Researcher(s): Chang Che Sau

• High Performance Lithium-Ion Battery Power System for Long Endurance Deep Water Operation
  

  Maritime Energy Systems (MES) | Awarded on 18 Jul 2013
  High Performance Lithium-Ion Battery Power System for Long Endurance Deep Water Operation

  In this project, a large format lithium-ion battery stack power system is designed for long endurance tasks using electric-propelled underwater robotic vehicles (URVs): manned, remotely-operated and autonomous for various deep water applications. The large format lithium-ion battery stacks are chosen for their high energy density, modularity and ready availability. To increase their output power rating, many battery stacks can be connected in series and/or parallel in an enclosure. We propose to design and develop a smart battery management system (BMS) with high efficiency active cell balancing technology and intelligent self-learning battery state of charge (SOC) and state of health (SOH) estimation for the lithium-ion battery. The proposed active cell balancing technology will lead to 25% longer endurances and lengthens the lifetime of the battery for underwater applications. Besides, the 2kWh battery stack module with BMS system is scalable and swappable to provide higher power capacity and increase flexibility in usage. A built-in pressure-resistance enclosure will eliminate extra battery pressure chamber and associated risks, thereby increasing power system reliability amidst high pressures down to 6000m of sea water.

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  Involved Researcher(s): Jia Junbo

• Drag reduction for marine vessels using air filled dimpled surfaces
  

  Maritime Energy Systems (MES) | Awarded on 18 Jul 2013
  Drag reduction for marine vessels using air filled dimpled surfaces

  We study the drag reduction for the marine vessels using air-filled dimpled surfaces. Air-filled dimpled surfaces beneath the vessel hull reduce the effective wetted area of the water and the vessel surface. Therfore, better fuel efficiency and reduction of CO2 emission to the environment could be achieved.

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  Involved Researcher(s): Jorg Uwe Schluter

• Reduction of Resistance on Ship Hull by Thin Film Ice Lubrication (TFIL) Technology
  

  Maritime Energy Systems (MES) | Awarded on 18 Jul 2013
  Reduction of Resistance on Ship Hull by Thin Film Ice Lubrication (TFIL) Technology

  Recently, environmental issues such as green-house effect caused by the carbon dioxide emission from burning of fossil fuel are hotly discussed. The carbon footprints left by the shipping activities are one of the many sources with increased awareness by the public. The overall aim of the proposed project is to determine the resistance reduction between a thin film layer of ice formed on the surface of the hull and water. The success and impact of the concept will eventually lead to improvement of fuel consumption as well as a reduction of greenhouse gases of all sea-going vessels. The concept has to be backed by a successful proposal of cooling system which can generate cooling and refrigerating effect on low cost or waste energy at sea for typical marine vessels.

  The specific objectives of the project to achieve this aim are:

  • To demonstrate and determine the reduction of resistance between the thin film of ice on ship hull and water.
  • To test and collect data of this reduction of resistance with various ambient and water temperatures as well as ship velocity under controlled environment.
  • To propose a cooling system with the use of low cost or waste heat system to produce and sustain the thin film of ice on hull surface.
  • To demonstrate this system on a ship model in a tank test to show the reduction of resistance and power consumption.

  The success of the project will mitigate the rising fuel costs towards the ship operators and ship owners. The project will meet the stringent requirements from Regulators such as the International Maritime Organisation on the growing consciousness on energy efficiency in maritime operations. The project is expected to be of high interest from ship builders, ship owners, ship operators, technology providers as well as classification societies.

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  Involved Researcher(s): Kwee Tiaw Joo

• Two issues on a novel air lubrication system for the ship drag reduction
  

  Maritime Energy Systems (MES) | Awarded on 18 Jul 2013
  Two issues on a novel air lubrication system for the ship drag reduction

  We aim to investigate the performance of a novel bubble generator. Consisting of a hydrofoil and an air duct, this device is able to naturally entrain airflow through negative pressure induced by water flow behind the hydrofoil, and hence produce small size air bubbles through the wave breaking mechanism. As such, it can save energy for bubble generation compared with conventional bubble generation methods.

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  Involved Researcher(s): Li Hua

• Intelligent Power Management System for Electric Propulsion based Marine Vessels for improving Reliability, Operational cost, Performance and Efficiency (ROPE) operating under different operating conditions
  

  Maritime Energy Systems (MES) | Awarded on 18 Jul 2013
  Intelligent Power Management System for Electric Propulsion based Marine Vessels for improving Reliability, Operational cost, Performance and Efficiency (ROPE) operating under different operating conditions

  Electric propulsion is considered as the leading research area in the marine technology. The state-of-art propulsion technology employs AC grid with bulky line-frequency based transformers followed by power electronic converters to provide the variable voltage and variable frequency AC supply to vary the motor speed which is directly coupled to the propeller. The presence of power semiconductor controlled electric drive system introduces low-order harmonics in the marine propulsion system. Harmonic distortion in the electrical power system network is an important factor for safe and reliable operation of the marine vessels, as it adversely affects the electric and electronic sub-systems connected to it. Any failure or malfunction of the sub-system such as propulsion or navigation system can result in accidents at sea or close inshore with serious consequences. Therefore, marine regulating bodies have imposed stringent limits on voltage total harmonic distortion (THD) and individual harmonic distortion at the point of common coupling.

  In this proposal, novel propulsion architecture for high voltage (11 kV) and high power marine applications is proposed to use front end active rectifier or shunt active filter along with conventional diode-bridge rectifier to reduce harmonic distortions at the bus-bar. Besides harmonic distortions at the bus-bar level, high voltage power semiconductor devices with low switching frequency cause low order current harmonics manifestation in the motor windings. In this proposal, an Optimal Pulse Pattern (OPP) control at low switching frequency to alleviate the lower order current harmonics thereby reducing the cooling requirements of the propulsion system leading to reduction in size, space and cost is also proposed.

  The AC power based propulsion system has been widely used for marine propulsion. However, in the conventional AC power based propulsion system, the prime movers such as diesel/LNG based engines operate at a fixed speed because of the need for synchronization and the need to maintain constant frequency of the AC voltage at the bus-bar. In order to overcome the synchronization problem and easier integration of other power generating sources such as fuel-cell and battery, the proposal also investigates the possibility of using Medium Voltage DC (MVDC) grid application for the marine vessels. Such an arrangement reduces the size as well as weight of the propulsion system due to the total absence of the line frequency transformer. Besides these, the overall operation of the MVDC grid makes the operation of the propulsion more compact and reliable.

  Furthermore, SAFE, SECURE AND EFFICIENT SHIPPING ON CLEANER OCEANS has become the necessity of the marine industry. As it is known, necessity is the mother of all inventions; therefore there is a need for development of intelligent solutions which can further enhance the performance of the marine vessels without loss of quality of service. Power Management System (PMS) can play a crucial role in achieving these goals. Therefore, an Intelligent Power Management System (IPMS) which aims at improving/tightening the ROPE (Reliability, Operational cost, Performance and Efficiency) of the marine vessels is proposed. The IPMS for modern marine vessels must be able to solve various complicated operational tasks where the control objectives differ depending on the particular kind of operation and environmental circumstances.

  The proposed research is in the leading edge of the current developments in marine technology and the outcome of the project is anticipated to be of significant contribution to the marine research, and can provide operators of marine vessels with powerful decision-making tools for optimum operation of the vessel. If successfully implemented and proven in the laboratory environment, the proposed concept and component technologies could be transitioned to a platform undertaken by Singapore Technologies Marine Ltd. for their Green-shipping project.

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  Involved Researcher(s): Sanjib Kumar Panda

• Concept and Feasibility Study of Marine Electrical Power System Architectures and Development of Advanced Control Strategies for Optimal Performance
  

  Maritime Energy Systems (MES) | Awarded on 18 Jul 2013
  Concept and Feasibility Study of Marine Electrical Power System Architectures and Development of Advanced Control Strategies for Optimal Performance

  Recent advancements in electrical system technologies, mainly power electronics and control techniques, has allowed marine electrical power systems to evolve from the conventional AC distribution systems to other types, such as variable frequency AC and DC systems. The availability of electrical technologies has also allowed marine systems to replace conventional mechanical modules with electrical, such as propulsion systems.

  In this research project, an investigation to evaluate the performance of different types of marine electrical systems will be conducted to observe and quantitatively identify the optimal architecture, in terms of fuel consumption, efficiency, and emission produced. Typically, marine electrical systems are designed to meet the maximum load profile, which may lead to over-design. In marine vessels, where volume becomes a constraint, the extra space gained from properly sizing of the electrical systems could be better utilized for cargo or fuel.

  Advanced control strategies will also be considered in this research project to ensure the shipboard electrical systems operate at or near the optimal operating point for increased efficiency. When diesel engines, for example, are operated sub-optimal, it burns more fuel and produces more NOx and SOx emissions. The control techniques here may consider a hierarchical control architecture, agent based control, or other advanced control strategies.

  Lastly, it is proposed in this work that the marine electrical systems can be further optimized according the mission profile and load profile that the system is subjected to. The design parameters in this case may include the quantity and size of engines, energy storage devices, and system configuration for fault tolerant and redundancy.

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  Involved Researcher(s): Sanjib Kumar Panda

• Condition Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance of Marine Transformers
  

  Maritime Energy Systems (MES) | Awarded on 18 Jul 2013
  Condition Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance of Marine Transformers

  Shipping is responsible for transporting almost 90% of world trade which has doubled in the past 25 years and corresponds to 3.3% of the global CO2 emissions. International Maritime Organization (IMO) projects that CO2 emissions from international maritime activity are expected to rise by 10-26% by 2020 and by 126-218 % by 2050. The demand for global shipping brings with it a host of environmental related problems and therefore, shipping emissions have been recognized as a growing problem for environmental policy makers. Another important concern for shipping industry is safe and reliable operation of the marine vessels. A typical electric propulsion system for a marine vessel consists of propeller shaft that is directly connected to a large electrical motor known as the propulsion motor. Electric power for the propulsion motor is supplied by the ship’s electrical generator and prime mover assembly. The ac voltage produced by the on-board generator is stepped up and supplied to the propulsion motor with galvanic isolation using the power transformer. The transformer is considered as the most important equipment in the integrated electric propulsion and power system network. The electrical equipment used in marine vessels are expensive assets of the marine vessel and cost a lot for their maintenance. Thus, there is no doubt that marine vessel owners/operators would need to find ways to avoid sudden and unscheduled breakdown, minimize down time, reduce maintenance cost and extend the lifetime of operation of the equipment as far as practicable. Traditionally, the Time Based Maintenance (TBM) had been used and are still continued to be used for majority of the marine vessels for maintenance requirements of electrical equipment for a long time. TBM has little information about the current status of the specific equipment. However, Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) also known as Predictive Maintenance in which sensors are installed to monitor the current status of the equipment continuously on a 24/7 basis would be able to provide information about the current state of the machine and indicate when and what type of maintenance is needed so that the equipment would continue to operate optimally and not shutdown accidentally. Thus, CBM scheme would be an optimal maintenance service using condition monitoring (CM) system to provide timely and useful information about the status of the equipment. The CM technique concerns with the application and development of special purpose system that have the function of acquiring the data and development of new techniques to analyze these data to predict the trends of the equipment being monitored and evaluate its current performance. In this proposal, we suggest to implement the CBM based maintenance for marine vessels with advanced state-of-the-art technologies.

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  Involved Researcher(s): Sanjib Kumar Panda

• Reduction of energy demand by reducing resistance of ships by fitting bow wings
  

  Maritime Energy Systems (MES) | Awarded on 18 Jul 2013
  Reduction of energy demand by reducing resistance of ships by fitting bow wings

  Wing-like appendages will be fitted on both sides of the bow of model ship and tested in towing tank. These wings will be fitted above waterline. Optimum position and the angle of the wings with respect to the horizontal will be determined. Effect of these wings on the resistance of the ships will be studied and if effective final design will be recommended.

  These appendages are expected to reduce the effect of bow wave and hence the overall resistance of the ship, which leads to a reduction in fuel consumption for operating a ship.

  Preliminary investigation has shown energy saving of more than 15%. The saving is higher for ships operating at Froude Number higher than 0.25. Reduction is higher for ships without bulbous bow. There is no known device fitted above waterline to conventional ships for reduction of resistance. The proposed device is names as Resistance Lowering Bow Wings (RLBW).

  Operators of container ships are facing great challenges due to high operating cost incurred mainly in fuel bill. Impending rules for reduction of emission of carbon, SOx and NOx makes it more urgent for the operators to reduce fuel consumption. As the present invention reduces fuel consumption without affecting the environment, it serves the dual purpose of reducing operating cost and also reducing environmental pollution.

  RLBWs can be retrofitted to existing ships. The device can benefit container ships, passenger ships and even naval ships significantly. If effective container ships will not have to resort to slow steaming and bigger size for improving fuel efficiency.

  Not only the container ships, RLBW is expected to benefit any ships operating at higher Froude Number, which include passenger ships and naval ships. Extensive experiments will be carried out in towing tank. In addition, attempts will be made to assess the performance using CFD.

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  Involved Researcher(s): Subrata Chanda