Method for automatically controlling the speed of a ship

• US 8,265,810 B2
• Filed: 07/09/2009
• Issued: 09/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH (Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc)
• Original Assignee: MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH (Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc)
• Inventors: Hehle, Marc, Freisem, Hans-Gerd, Kammertoens, Olaf
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Khoi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Amin, Bhavesh V
• Application Number:
  US12/499,991
• Publication Number:
  US 20100076632A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,160 Days
• Field of Search: 74/2, 74/3, 74/32, 701/1, 701/21, 701/208, 340/984, 342/357, 367/909, 367/99, 367/128
• US Class Current: 701/21
• CPC Class Codes: B63B 79/15 for monitoring environmental variables, e.g. wave height or weather data
• CPC Class Codes: B63H 21/22 the propulsion power units being controlled from exterior of engine room, e.g. from navigation bridge; Arrangements of order telegraphs
• CPC Class Codes: B63J 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2041/1419 the control loops being cascaded, i.e. being placed in series or nested
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 2200/501 Vehicle speed
• CPC Class Codes: F02D 31/001 Electric control of rotation speed
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 70/00 Maritime or waterways transport
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/11 Tripping mechanism
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/111 Speed controlled
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 74/113 Valve gear trips [e.g., steam engine "Corliss" type]

Abstract

A method for automatically controlling the speed of a ship, in which the engine speed (nMOT) is automatically controlled by a closed-loop engine speed control system as an inner closed-loop control system, the ship'"'"'s speed (vS) is automatically controlled by a closed-loop ship'"'"'s speed control system as an outer closed-loop control system, and the ship'"'"'s set speed (vSL) is influenced as a reference input of the closed-loop ship'"'"'s speed control system as a function of an external signal source. The ship'"'"'s set speed (vSL) is corrected as a function of the underwater topography (TOPO).

Claims

1. A method for automatically controlling speed of a ship, comprising the steps of:

automatically controlling engine speed (nMOT) by a closed-loop engine speed control system as an inner closed-loop control system;

automatically controlling the ship'"'"'s speed (vS) by a closed-loop ship'"'"'s speed control system as an outer closed-loop control system;

influencing the ship'"'"'s set speed (vSL) as a reference input of the closed-loop ship'"'"'s speed control system as a function of an external signal source;

determining underwater topography (TOPO) using an electronic river chart; and

correcting the ship'"'"'s set speed (vSL) predictively as a function of the underwater topography (TOPO).

2. The method in accordance with claim 1, including increasing the ship'"'"'s set speed (vSL) with increasing water depth or reducing the ship'"'"'s set speed (vSL) with decreasing water depth.

3. The method in accordance with claim 2, further including computing a reserve time as follows:

in a first step, computing a desired average speed (vWD) based on distance and a desired arrival time;

in a second step, computing the ship'"'"'s set speed (vSL) between two way points and correcting the ship'"'"'s set speed (vSL) based on the underwater topography (TOPO);

in a third step, iteratively computing the ship'"'"'s set speed (vSL) as in the second step for other partial distances;

in a fourth step, summing the corrected ship'"'"'s set speeds; and

in a fifth step, relating the sum to the desired average speed (vWD).

4. The method in accordance with claim 3, including prompting a ship'"'"'s navigator to correct an arrival time when there is an unsafe reserve time.

5. The method in accordance with claim 1, including storing the corrected ship'"'"'s set speed (vSL) as a function of the underwater topography, and adjusting the current ship'"'"'s set speed (vSL) by the stored values of the topography-specific ship'"'"'s set speed (ADAP) when passage is again made through the same section of the route.

6. The method in accordance with claim 1, including correcting the underwater topography (TOPO) by a current water level.

7. The method in accordance with claim 1, including determining a deviation of a set flow rate from an actual flow rate and/or a deviation of a set water depth from an actual water depth, and determining the ship'"'"'s set speed (vSL) as a function of the deviation.