Influence of nozzle defects on fuel consumption and modern methods of fuel equipment control

Abstract

The basis of improving the vessel energy efficiency is economical operation of its power units - the main and auxiliary diesel engines, steam boilers. There has been described the smart control system for ship operation. The main parameters listed below are under constant control: fuel consumption of the main and auxiliary steam diesel engines, auxiliary steam boiler, operating time of the main and auxiliary diesel engines, auxiliary steam boiler; fuel level in consumable, settling and bunker fuel tanks; vessel speed, vessel position, weather conditions. The system includes flow meters, temperature, speed, power, and pressure sensors, GPS-station, digital converters, controllers, marine computer industrial design, monitors for parameters in the engine control room and on the bridge, special software for ships and offices. There has been determined the main goal of developing and assembling the system: to develop a reliable working tool for the crew and the main ashore office, to evaluate and control the quality of the vessel operation, to supplement the existing control methods with an improved and more understandable scheme of monitoring various parameters of the ship's operation, including fuel consumption. The results of developing and introducing the system help increase the actual energy efficiency of the vessel operation. An example of real-time fuel consumption control using the smart control system - ShipSmartView - is presented. The functionality of the system is quite wide. Graphs of the current fuel consumption which indicated the defect in the fuel equipment are given. Based on the data, overhaul of the fuel equipment was carried out and a malfunction of the nozzle - a crack - was defined. It has been proved that due to untimely detection of a malfunction, a loss of fuel was allowed.