Ship Control and Automation System

SHIP CONTROL AND AUTOMATION SYSTEM
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Introduction

There are very many parameters that need to be controlled on ship including pressure,
temperature, viscosity, level, position of the vessel, voltage, speed, torque, machinery status
among others. There is a general pressure from the market demands which requires the ship
owners to be more and more efficient as well as have reduced number of staff who is on board.
This is basically refered to as automatic control system. This kind of the system allows the
operation to continue with unattended machinery operation. The vessel thus is capable of being
operated at any period of the time.
Literature review
How Control Systems Work(Steering gear system, Control valves, boiler water level control
(1,2,3 - element system), PID)
This is usually treated as the vessels brain. The control system of offshore vessel is made up
of other several sub-systems whose functions are coordinated to give a specific result. The
subsystem of the marine control system comprise of the following:
 Steering system
 Control valves
 Control system of the water level
 PID

Figure 1: Sample of control system(Hou, Sun & Hofmann 2015).
This re normally regarded as the solutions to the directions of the vessel tasks. These two
types of solutions are normally found in most kinds of vessels. Control functions that are used
for the activities like ballast control, emergency shutdown, HVAC control, offloading control,
fire and gas detection, engine control among others. Failure of the steering system would mean
that the directional control of the entire vessel would not possible. The steering gear system is
connected to the power management systems.
The PID is normally responsible for handling blackout prevention, generators, power
limitation, load shedding and finally loads sharing. There may be an application of more
sophisticated systems of energy management for the case of advanced vessels. This component
will tend to utilize intelligent power planning and allocation. The user interfaces for the operator

to the system of automation is normally provided through Human-Machine Interface that has
operator panels and display systems.
Control system of the water level determines the level of sailing of the vessel while in
water. By the use of sensors, the level of the water is constantly monitored. This system is
connected to centralize Computers with scalable I/O capacities and CPU processing that are
commonly denoted as process control stations or controllers. Distributed computers that are
commonly known as PLCs that have interfaces and local control to be used in the processing and
centralizing other computers. Failure of the Control system of the water level would mean the
vessel knocking itself on the icebergs and rocks underneath which will to accidents.
Control valves usually communication buses at different control levels. This is also associated
cabling, cable routing, and segregation. The control values ensure that pneumatic system and
thus the entire control system function effectively.
How control system fails
Steering gear failure:
Steering system failure is usually as a result of the malfunctioning of the valves that are usually
meant for safety. These valves are commonly called pass valve system. In case any problem is
noted is realized in the control system, the lever will have unsatisfactory steering.
Solution of the steering gear failure
The issue of the steering gear failure can be effectively controlled by having the pass valve as
well as safety valve effectively checked at regular intervals. The adjustment of the repeat back
lever as well as the turn buckle lever is adjusted accordingly.