Permanent PD monitoring: The on-board solution to prevent failures for propulsion, distribution and generation systems in marine applications

The paper will present an advanced technique for increasing reliability of power system apparatus in vessels by means of a permanent Partial Discharge (PD) monitoring with a DataBase application and Smart Alerts logic. Recent failures on cruise vessels have raised expectations on possible diagnostic systems to be applied directly on-board, able to raise alerts in case of major problems. Consequences of an unexpected stop of cruise vessels or warships are incommensurable economic losses due to reimbursements, penalties and unscheduled maintenance. The PD Monitoring system described in this paper has been implemented successfully in several cruise vessels, and case studies are presented.