Tug Malta has specified the Royston ”enginei ‘fuel consumption monitoring system
Maltese towage operator Tug Malta has specified the Royston ”enginei ‘fuel consumption monitoring system for its newest tug, currently under construction at the Zamakona yard in Spain.
The enginei(which is how the companyasks for the name to be written)system will supply data from all five diesel engines aboard the tug. These comprise two Caterpillar 3516 main engines, two Caterpillar 6.6 auxiliary engines and one Deutz BF4M1013M harbour genset. The enginei datataker will receive and process both digital and analogue data from sensors and flow meters on each of the engines. Royston says that this represents an advance in the technology that is enabling it to offer a more compact and cost effective product.
The Royston enginei system can be applied to any diesel-powered vessel and works by measuring fuel flow and matching the data with its GPS location. Fuel consumption reductions of up to 20% have been achieved by enabling the operator to continuously calculate a vessel’s “miles per gallon” and to correlate the information with its activity and speed. Because enginei is a measurement system it does not impose itself upon the vessel’s controls in any way. However, by providing a simple and easily interpreted bridge display it enables masters to be continuously aware of fuel consumption. They are then able identify priorities and achieve an optimum balance between speed and fuel consumed.
Operations managers ashore can be provided with a more sophisticated display that is claimed to make it easier to deploy vessels in a timely and cost effective way. The data that is being used on the vessel and its GPS location are relayed ashore where a satellite map display provides managers with a real-time presentation of the vessel’s fuel consumption. Managers benefit from a graphic overlay that shows the amount of fuel being consumed by the tug at any point along its track. This enables them to deploy vessels more efficiently and to avoid issuing instructions that lead to unnecessary fuel consumption.
Enginei was originally developed by Royston for monitoring the condition and performance of engines. Sensors can be attached to any part of an engine to provide shore-based managers with real time data so any potential faults can be identified. Sensors can be fitted to record such details as engine temperature and emissions, exhaust and coolant temperatures to boost and oil pressure, heat exchanger efficiency, load and rpm, while turbocharger and shaft vibration can be measured.
The data can be presented in any way requested by the user but shore-based technical staff tend to favour the Google Earth display that shows the real-time track of the vessel within its surroundings. A graphical presentation of the data being monitored can then be superimposed on the track to create a display that shows, at a glance, the status of the feature being monitored when the ship was at a particular location. This evolves as a continuous bar graph that follows the ship’s route.
Source: The Motorship
