An Intelligent Assistance System for Controlling Wind-Assisted Ship Propulsion Systems

Ship propulsion concepts which use energy harvested from wind as an additional source of propulsive power are of great interest for the shipping industry, addressing both environmental and business considerations. Usage of such hybrid propulsion concepts is dependent on seamless integration with current systems and processes on board. An intelligent system, monitoring the wind-assisted propulsion system, assisting the vessel’s crew in its use and enabling automated, energetically optimized operation makes more widespread use of such technologies feasible. This article describes the design of such an intelligent assistance system, using an ECO Flettner rotor (which uses the Magnus effect to generate an aerodynamic thrust force) installed on the MV Fehn Pollux as an example of a wind-assisted propulsion system. Special focus is given to the approach used in the system architecture’s design for data acquisition, processing and storage as well as visualization using the system’s human machine interface (HMI). Ultimately, the presented system helps further increase the fuel-saving potential of wind-assisted propulsion systems.