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Abstract
In this paper, the ship propulsion system is broken down into components to
estimate their individual activities in terms of energy conversion. For common
used propulsion system of merchant ships, the efficiency of each propulsion
component is presented. In the case study, the interaction between all the
propulsion components in energy conversion is investigated by means of
computer model simulation. Based on a selected ferry, the results demonstrate
that, when operating in off-design conditions, the total energy conversion
efficiency is slightly different from that in design condition, whereas, in terms of
the ton-mile specific fuel consumption and energy index, the part loading of ship
and off-design speed of ship scenarios show different impact, but both are much
different from that in design condition.
Keywords: energy conversion, ship propulsion system, off-design operation, ton-
mile specific fuel consumption, energy index.
1 Introduction
Industrialization and technological development cause people to use increasing
quantities of goods and energy. When looking at the whole transportation
system, shipping transportation is a necessary part in the globalization process
and is in many instances the only means of transporting the goods. Over the last
three decades, the shipping transportation has grown on average by five percent
WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 121, © 2009 WIT Press
www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)
doi:10.2495/ESU090411
450 Energy and Sustainability II
every year (measured in ton-miles), and shipping is by far the most used
transportation mode (90% of all goods measured in ton-miles) [1].
Compared with other transportation modes, shipping transportation is
considered the most fuel efficient one [2]. However, with the increase of
transportation demand, both from economical and environmental points of view,
there is an increasing demand in fuel saving and reducing emissions.
This paper will explore the influence of each component in the ship
propulsion system and, by means of computer simulation, present the interaction
between the individual components in terms of energy conversion from fuel to
ship movement.
WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 121, © 2009 WIT Press
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Energy and Sustainability II 451
Two other important efficiencies, which indicate engine performance, are the
indicated efficiency ηi and the mechanical efficiency ηm.
ηi = Win Q = ηcbη qηth (3)
f
ηm =
Wef
=
ηE (4)
Win ηi
The indicated efficiency ηi represents the thermodynamic performance of the
engine including heat and combustion losses, while the mechanical efficiency ηm
indicates the mechanical performance of the engine.
(a) (b)
Figure 2: Diesel engine efficiencies in propeller load operation.
Fig. 2(a) and (b) illustrate the diesel engine efficiencies when operating in
propeller load [4]. Due to the large air/fuel ratio, generally the combustion in a
WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 121, © 2009 WIT Press
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452 Energy and Sustainability II
diesel engine is considered complete, thus, ηcb is 100%, as shown in fig. 2(a).
Also, fig. 2(a) illustrates that both ηq and ηth increase when decreasing the engine
speed. Because of the lower cylinder temperature in low speed operation
conditions, the heat losses due to heat transfer to the cylinder walls during the
combustion become a smaller fraction, which makes the heat input efficiency
increase slightly with decreasing engine speed. Meanwhile, in low speed
conditions, due to the decrease of injected fuel, the total heat input to operation
process decrease, and, since the smaller account of air also results in smaller
compression work, which increase the net output work relatively. So, although
both output work+gas exchange work and input heat decrease in low speed
conditions, in terms of the ratio between work and heat, (ηth), the value increases,
representing better combustion process.
When looking at the overall operation of the engine, due to the improvement
of the combustion process in low speed operation conditions, ηi slightly increases
when decreasing the engine speed, as shown in fig. 2(b). Concerning the
mechanical losses, although in high speed operation conditions, the mechanical
losses is absolutely larger than in low speed operation conditions, however, in
terms of the mechanical efficiency, in low speed operation condition, ηm drops
dramatically, since the mechanical losses account for a larger fraction of total
output power than that in high speed operation conditions. Thus, the benefit of
improved combustion in low speed conditions is counteracted by the deteriorated
ηm, resulting in big drop of ηE.
In this study, the engine efficiencies map is implemented in the simulation
model by means of lookup tables to present the engine operation conditions.
3.2 Gearbox
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Energy and Sustainability II 453
3.3 Shaft
Shafts are used to connect prime mover, gear box and propulsor. They transfer
both speed and torque through the entire propulsion system. The main source of
power loss in shaft transmission is the friction in the support-bearing. Because of
the high transmission efficiency of shafts in all load and speed conditions, the ηS
is set as 99.5% for each single shaft and remain constant in this study.
3.4 Propeller
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454 Energy and Sustainability II
The thrust deduction factor (t) and the wake factor (w) are mainly dependent
upon the ship hull and the ship speed. And also, these two factors could be
affected by external disturbances, such as the sea state, the fouling, the ship
loading and the depth under keel. Based on [8] and [9], Fig. 5 illustrates an
example of the relationship between hull efficiency and ship speed, without any
external disturbances.
4 Model simulation
4.1 Model structure
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Energy and Sustainability II 455
- Ship translation system, which deals with the dynamic balance between
propeller thrust and ship resistance, generating ship speed.
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456 Energy and Sustainability II
=∑ =∑
Q Q
IE f f
(11)
∑ (w ⋅ v ) ∑ (w ⋅ Dis)
s
WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 121, © 2009 WIT Press
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Energy and Sustainability II 457
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
Figure 8: Operation profile in design condition.
terms of energy index, based on [2], an extended energy index is used in this
study, with the expression as eq. (11). Thus, in the design condition, the mean
value of the energy index is 0.041.
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458 Energy and Sustainability II
- Ship is part load. Details about ship behaviour and the corresponding fuel
consumption, exhaust emission in part loading conditions are presented in [11].
In this section, the effort is to reveal the impact of ship loading condition on the
energy conversion.
(a) (b)
Figure 9: Ship operation profile in part loading condition.
Table 2: Fuel consumption and energy index in different loading
conditions.
tmsfc (g/ton-mile) IE
steady-state/mean value steady-state/mean value
100% loading 19.34/18.80 0.043/0.041
80% loading 38.06/37.08 0.084/0.082
60% loading 185.73/182.41 0.409/0.402
The results present that, for the selected ferry, in steady-state condition, when
decreasing the ship loading, the ship resistance decreases, resulting in an increase
of ship speed at the same engine speed setting (fig. 9(a)), and a slightly increase
of energy conversion efficiency (fig. 9(b)).
In terms of ton-mile specific fuel consumption and energy index, the results
of steady-state condition and the mean value of the whole simulation voyage are
both illustrated in table 2. It is evident that, the loading condition has a strong
impact on the ton-mile specific fuel consumption and energy index, since they
are both dependent upon the benefit loading conditions. In this study, the
simulated manoeuvring stages, during which the ship is operated in relative low
engine (ship) speed condition, account for 20% of the total duration, accordingly,
the consumed energy (fuel) and covered distance by ship only account for small
fraction compare to steady-state condition, thus, refer to (10) and (11), the mean
value of both the ton-mile specific fuel consumption and energy index are only
slight different from those in steady-state condition, in other words, in analysis
of energy conversion during long voyage, the manoeuvring stage (or transient
operation) could be neglected.
- Off-design speed of engine or off-design speed of ship. It is argued that,
the ship often may operate at low speed for fuel saving or at high speed to meet
WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 121, © 2009 WIT Press
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Energy and Sustainability II 459
(a) (b)
tmsfc (g/ton-mile) IE
steady-state/mean value steady-state/mean value
100% eng. speed 31.52/30.47 0.069/0.067
85% eng. speed 21.73/21.09 0.048/0.046
75% eng. speed 16.84/16.20 0.037/0.036
the schedule. Thus, in real life, the ship is always sailing at off-design speed, say
different speed from the recommend service speed. The impact on energy
conversion is explored in this section.
As shown in fig. 10(a), the low speed operation strategy could save fuel in
terms of the fuel consumption rate, in unit of g/s. When looking at the ton-mile
specific fuel consumption, (ship remains full load in this case) and the energy
index, as shown in table 3, it is demonstrated that, the low speed operation could
improve fuel saving and lead to better energy index, only with small penalty in
energy conversion efficiency, as shown in fig. 13(b), say, 1.5% decrease of
energy conversion efficiency when decreasing engine speed by 15% ( or 13% of
ship speed), and 3% decrease of energy conversion efficiency versus 25%
decrease of engine speed (or 27% of ship speed).
5 Conclusion
The ship propulsion system is broken down into components to estimate their
individual influence in terms of energy conversion. The results demonstrate that,
in off-design conditions, (low brake power condition for the engine, low load for
the gearbox, low speed for the propeller and low speed for the ship), the engine
and gearbox efficiencies are lower than those in design conditions; for the
propeller, the relative rotative efficiency is independent upon operational
condition, while the open water efficiency is dependent upon propeller
revolution speed and ship advance speed; in terms of ship hull efficiency, it is
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460 Energy and Sustainability II
determined by the ship hull and the ship speed, and also could be affected by
external disturbances.
In the case study, by means of a computer simulation model, the interaction
of each propulsion components on energy conversion is presented. When
operating in off-design conditions, the overall energy conversion efficiency does
not change a lot. In other words, roughly, in analysis of ship operation, the
energy conversion efficiency through the entire propulsion system could be
treated as a constant value.
Concerning with the ton-mile specific fuel consumption and energy index, the
simulation results illustrate that, due to they are strongly dependent upon the
weight of transferred cargo, the part loading operation is not recommended, but,
in low speed condition, the results show good fuel economy and energy index,
which agree with realistic ship operation experience. When investigating a long
voyage, in which the transient operation only accounts for a small fraction, the
mean value could be used in analysis of steady-state operation.
References
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WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 121, © 2009 WIT Press
www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)