Ship Electrical and Automation Systems: The Essentials
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A merchant ship is a small power station with no grid behind it. Two to four diesel generators feed a main switchboard, an emergency generator stands by above deck, and an automation layer of alarm, power management, engine control and safety systems keeps it all running, often with nobody in the engine room at night. When a generator trips during manoeuvring, the layout and settings decide whether the ship sheds some reefers or goes dark beside the quay.
This is Part 1 of 3 in DART’s marine automation series for ETOs, electrical officers and marine engineers. You will learn how the system is laid out and why: voltages and frequencies, insulated neutral systems and earth-fault indication, essential and non-essential consumers, preferential tripping, emergency power rules, field instruments, networks and the class rules you will be surveyed against. You will do a full load analysis by hand, get daily switchboard round checklists and run a Python simulation of a feeder ship’s voyage day with a generator trip. Part 2, PLCs, PMS and alarm systems on board, goes inside the controllers; Part 3, Fault finding at sea, puts it all to work on real faults.
What you will be able to do
- Trace a ship's power system from generators through the main and emergency switchboards to essential and non-essential consumers
- Calculate kW, kVA, current and generator numbers for sea, manoeuvring and port, and check the loss of one set
- Explain how the PMS, preferential trips, insulation monitoring and the emergency generator protect the ship, with the SOLAS and IACS figures behind them
- Simulate a voyage day in Python and test PMS and load-shedding settings before trusting them on board
Before you start: Basic AC electrical theory (volts, amps, three-phase) and some time on board or in a marine workshop. Python is optional: every calculation is also done by hand.
Lessons
- The big idea: a ship is a power station that must never go dark▶ VideoFree preview
- How it was invented and its first uses: from DC lamps to networked ships▶ VideoLocked
- Where it is used today: a system-by-system tour of a ship▶ VideoLocked
- The equations: power, frequency and field signals▶ VideoLocked
- Worked demo and checks: a load analysis by hand▶ VideoLocked
- Build your own power-balance calculator, step by step▶ VideoLocked
- Python simulation labLocked
- Practice problems and quizLocked