Carnival UK deploys Amos/Mimic solution

Like many owners and operators today, Carnival UK has traditionally carried out maintenance on its cruise ships according to fixed periodic scheduling of maintenance tasks and elapsed running hours. In partnership with Lloyd’s Register, Carnival UK wanted to migrate to condition based maintenance to maximise the contribution of each asset over its lifetime. A key component of this approach was to measure and monitor changes in patterns of machinery behaviour through parameters such as vibration, pressure, current and heat, for which James Fisher Mimic was invited to submit a proposal.

However, Carnival UK quickly recognised that condition monitoring alone is not a replacement for traditional planned maintenance but should complement an existing system. James Fisher Mimic worked closely with both SpecTec and Carnival UK to develop a unique integration of maintenance and condition monitoring systems. The marrying of Amos and Mimic technology has allowed Amos to become a fully-fledged condition-based maintenance system that enables planning of CBM tasks, their conduct and the results of the task to be fully incorporated into maintenance planning.

Carnival UK fully supported this unique development and, starting this year, the integrated Mimic/Amos solution was deployed fleet-wide. To-date, all nine cruise ships have successfully implemented this system.

Vibration data as well as process parameters such as pressure, temperature and load current are being collected on up to 90 assets on each vessel. The collection of vibration data has been optimised by the use of quick release couplings for vibration measurement. The data is then uploaded into the Mimic condition monitoring system and fully accessible through Amos, thereby allowing condition monitoring to influence the day-to-day maintenance programme.

As part of Carnival UK’s maintenance strategy, outsourcing the diagnostics and monitoring of machinery also go towards maximising asset availability and vessel operational efficiency. James Fisher Mimic provides monthly analysis reports by skilled and experienced analysts that report machine condition back to superintendents and chief engineers. MEC