CONTROL METHODS OF VESSEL’S THRUSTER AT CHANGING OPERATING CONDITIONS

It has been substantiated that in order to improve the operational characteristics of the vessel thrusters, it is necessary to use the torque and power control. It has been shown that torque and power control are feasible solutions for high-performance thruster control only if special precautions are taken during extreme environmental conditions, when the propeller may be subject to ventilation and in-and-out-of water effects. Therefore, an anti-spin thruster controller has been designed. The results have showed that the torque and power controllers with anti-spin have comparable performance to that of a well-tuned shaft speed PI controller during ventilation, without compromising the superior performance of torque and power control in normal conditions.