ABS and Capital Ship Management Corp. (Capital), have joined forces to install an advanced condition monitoring system on the Capital managed vessel M/T Agisilaos.
The 36,700 DWT, Ice Class 1A International Maritime Organization (IMO) II/III Chemical/Product Tanker, built in 2006, will feature the ABS Smart Bearing solution that has been developed as part of an ABS research project supported by the National Technical University of Athens and Metrisis Ltd.
The purpose of the conditioning monitoring system is to provide the earliest warning of shaft misalignment, such as an overloaded or under loaded bearing system or an excessive misalignment angle of the shaft inside the bearing.
The ABS technology works by using non-destructive testing sensors on the bearing pedestal and housing to measure and display the force exerted by the main propulsion shafting system onto the bearings.
This converts the pedestal into a permanently installed weighing machine. By monitoring the bearing load, the alignment of the shaft can be seen and if there are unaccounted forces acting upon it and the bearings, which can put the system at risk of failure, can be determined. Furthermore, because the delivery of the data is immediate, the solution enables constant monitoring that can prevent the need for shaft realignment checks.
Typically, alert of shaft bearing failures only occur through excessive temperature rise in the bearings. However, by the time the temperature is this high, severe damage that immobilises the vessel has already taken place.
ABS and the National Technical University of Athens and Metrisis Ltd. will continue with further development of the sensor compactness and connectivity with the engine control room.
Ship Efficiency Review News
To contact the reporter responsible for this article, please email editor@fathom-mi.com
