Easy-to-use tools upgrade ClassNK CMAXS to assist with onboard machinery maintenance
The drive towards data-gathering and digital lifecycle management is bringing shipping into line with other sectors in the transition to the Internet of Things (IoT). However, the growing amount of data and information being generated by fuel-efficient, electronically controlled marine engines and other equipment is also increasing the workload for many shipping companies, requiring ship operators and crews to give precious time to assessing the data monitored.
Remote machinery monitoring, condition-based maintenance, data analytics and preventive maintenance can significantly improve and optimize numerous functions in operations and ship management, ensuring safety and reducing lifecycle costs of onboard machinery.
In response to the growing need for systems that understand the condition of onboard machinery and manage maintenance to keep costs down, ClassNK developed comprehensive software solutions to support safe ship operations and prevent machinery troubles.
Implemented in cooperation with DIESEL UNITED, LTD., IMC Co., Ltd., MES TECHNOSERVICE Co., Ltd., and Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., ClassNK CMAXS now consists of five systems which collect and analyse sensor data, with maintenance work results input manually: CMAXS PMS, CMAXS SPICS, CMAXS ABLOG, CMAXS LC-A and CMAXS e-GICSX.
Solutions for optimising daily crew work
ClassNK CMAXS PMS (Planned Maintenance System) is a user-friendly interface for managing maintenance work input by crew members on board ship. The complete and simple system manages the maintenance work schedule and monitors work progress, as well as issuing and managing work reports on the completion of maintenance work.
To alleviate the burden of ship-to-shore communications, the system has been augmented by a simple and integral e-mail function that synchronizes data between ship and shore, with the main screen automatically highlighting the functions required at each step of operation. The system can be operated without the need for instruction manuals, with a simple explanation being enough to ensure handover to relief crew members.
By showing the work progress rate in real time, the system supports compliance with (Tanker Management and Self-Assessment) TMSA2 requirements, while the link between ClassNK CMAXS PMS and ClassNK CMAXS LC-A (Life Cycle Administrator) allows the two systems to interact. This makes it possible to view the manufacturer’s instruction manual and recovery essentials in the ClassNK CMAXS PMS system, ensuring highly reliable maintenance work.
With the addition of ClassNK CMAXS SPICS (Spare Parts Inventory and Control System), the cloud-based spare parts management system offers a simple and efficient tool which can manage spare parts and automatically calculate a ship’s needs, allowing a better understanding of the status of the ship’s inventory and easily identifying shortages.
A recent adoption on two ships managed by Manila-based Rosy Star Ocean Vessels Management Co., Inc. marks the first time the ClassNK software has been deployed by clients outside of Japan, with both the CMAXS SPICS and CMAXS PMS systems connected and ship information shared. In this way, it is possible to update the spare parts inventory directly from the work report in the CMAXS PMS.
By using CMAXS SPICS, the ship’s crew can forward their needs to the managing company as spare parts requests so that the ship’s manager can directly issue a quotation request to suppliers.
New solution for compiling log data
To relieve the ship’s crew of form-filling and report-managing burdens, CMAXS ABLOG (Abstract Log) was introduced as a new tool to manage deck and engine Abstract Log Data. By entering simple information (such as the ship’s position, weather conditions, sailing distance, bunker quantity, port arrival/ departure, etc.), the system automatically performs the necessary calculations and creates different types of reports and graphs for performance analysis and performance reporting.
In response to the increasing needs of monitoring ship’s fuel oil consumption and engine performance, ClassNK developed CMAXS ABLOG as a new tool to assist crew and ship masters in their daily responsibilities, reduce the administrative burden and deliver better decision support.
Solutions for utilising big data from engine rooms
Meanwhile, CMAXS LC-A is an abnormal-state diagnosis system to maintain machinery in optimal operational shape, using enhanced condition diagnosis technology and innovative sensor data analysis algorithm. By collecting data from several sensors rather than just one, correlations can be identified and abnormal relations can be detected. This is a key feature of CMAXS LC-A which distinguishes it from other CBM systems to date. CMAXS LC-A can identify optimum fuel injection and cylinder oil feed rates onboard ship in response to the condition of the machinery, supporting optimal operations. The effects of such reductions in fuel and cylinder oil have been confirmed with the cooperation of shipping companies, and in one example of a container vessel a 13% reduction in cylinder oil feed rate resulted in more than $USD40,000 in savings per year (2014 price level).
CMAXS LC-A is an example of new software developed by ClassNK to help users overcome inefficiencies in operations and maintenance management, therefore increasing the efficiency of the entire ship. The system has the potential to simplify surveys in the future by enabling ClassNK to monitor the condition of the machinery in the engine room remotely and dispatch surveyors only when necessary.
Providing early detection of abnormalities using a sophisticated algorithm, CMAXS e-GICSX completes the CMAXS package and provides high accuracy condition analysis of not only data collected by the main engine sensors but also navigation data, such as weather and sea conditions.
By merging together two surveillance stages, onboard sensor abnormality (which identifies sensors that are in the early stage of malfunction) and performance analysis (which compares the brand-new condition and the actual condition of machinery to identify how much its performance has deteriorated), CMAXS e-GICSX can provide a detailed condition analysis detecting which parts or components have been affected.
ClassNK CMAXS e-GICSX was created to combine e-GICS (Electronic Global Internet Customer Support), a cutting-edge technology developed by Mitsui, with ClassNK advanced Big Data analysis experience to provide a support system for preventive maintenance on ships. This technology makes it possible to conduct early countermeasures to prevent critical, time-consuming repairs and extend the frequency of overhaul intervals, in turn helping ensure the safe operation of the ship and reduced lifecycle costs.
The software is also able to share information such as main engine and voyage data between ship management companies and ship owners, as well as main engine manufacturers through the ClassNK Ship Data Center. Established at the end of 2015, the Data Center consists of a secured shipping operations database which will serve as an information hub to independently manage the utilisation of large volumes of information and to help the maritime industry to reap the benefits of big data with minimum cost and burden.
Providing a common interface connecting ClassNK CMAXS LC-A and ClassNK CMAXS e-GICSX is the CMAXS Web Service – set up to offer shipping companies a platform to understand their fleet information quickly and easily, and to identify trends in machinery condition across the fleet.
This feature was originally published in the ClassNK Magazine 76th Edition – Click here to access
Ship Efficiency Review News
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