Experts explain why condition monitoring will continue to play a vital role in ship maintenance
An expert panel provided insight into what is required for advanced vessel maintenance during Riviera Maritime Media’s recent Ship system condition monitoring for smart vessel maintenance webinar.
This Wärtsilä-sponsored webinar was held on 3 February 2022 during Riviera’s Vessel Lifecycle Maintenance Webinar Week.
On the panel were Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BMS) Hellas group technical superintendent Theodore Ioannou, Wärtsilä Marine Power general manager for product management Patrik Strand, MOL LNG Transport (Europe) project technical superintendent Daniel Popa and Geislinger sales manager for digital services Florian Zeitler.
They discussed different pathways and technologies for adopting smart vessel maintenance to reduce the downtime of onboard systems and ship off-hire periods.
The experts examined the potential of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and sensor networks for better maintenance management, real-time condition monitoring, predictive diagnostics and optimising onboard processes.
Mr Ioannou explained how and why BSM uses condition monitoring for optimising its maintenance strategies for owners.
“It helps us know the health condition of our machinery, without the need for opening them up,” he explained. This is part of BSM’s digitalisation strategy, as it adopts new technologies. “Digitalisation has already started and will grow exponentially in the coming years,” he said.
Condition monitoring enables BSM to collect data with non-invasive techniques. “And like a good medical doctor, we are able to diagnose a treatment outside the fixed boundaries of a planned maintenance system (PMS),” Mr Ioannou said.
BSM can improve planning of its maintenance routines using condition monitoring. “We can achieve better spare prices since we will order them in a timely manner,” he continued. “We can perform corrective actions to expand the asset’s life and increase the time between overhauls.”
Ongoing condition monitoring also helps BSM “avoid unnecessary openings that lead to sudden break downs, soon after closing the equipment, due to improper mounting,” said Mr Ioannou.
To implement condition monitoring into the PMS, BSM’s crew take measurements using portable devices and this data is combined with sensor information. This is all transferred through a cyber-secure connection to the cloud and to shore
“Our fleet teams get notified of any warnings or alerts so they can follow-up with the vessel,” said Mr Ioannou.
The PMS system interprets the data, providing diagnosis of issues. “It can automatically trigger an inspection or overhaul, or suggest extensions to the crew,” he added. “This way we minimise manual labour for our crews.”
“Our fleet teams get notified of any warnings or alerts so they can follow-up with the vessel”
Through condition monitoring, BSM has identified imminent sudden breakdowns and avoided them, “which resulted in potential savings of US$47,000 for one vessel,” said Mr Ioannou. On another ship, condition monitoring resulted in savings of US$30,000 by skipping opening of certain machinery.
BSM has receive a CM notation from a classification society. “This proves our processes are going in the right direction,” he said.
The shipmanagement group is moving towards gaining PM notation, “which requires big data analytics and hence permanently installed sensors, and a more advanced level of maintenance,” said Mr Ioannou.
In the future, BSM will invest in other technologies as part of its smart-maintenance vision.
“We will also incorporate remote support and mixed reality aspects, diagnostic algorithms for fault identification, big data analytics and machine-learning techniques to provide decision support tools to our fleet teams and crew,” said Mr Ioannou.
Resource planning
Mr Popa said a complete enterprise resource planning system for ships and fleets should include multiple interlinked modules for managing machinery maintenance, drydocking, purchasing, accounting and crewing.
These should also include certification, health, safety, quality and environmental modules.
“Modules are all linked and need to be kept up to date,” said Mr Popa. They are used for “managing operations on board, keeping spares updated and analysing data to prevent machinery failures,” he said.
Data from engineroom and bridge systems can be combined for condition-based maintenance and “for improving overall efficiency and reliability,” said Mr Popa.
An integrated approach should be used for digitalising planned maintenance systems and sharing lessons learnt and reporting.
Onshore expertise
Mr Strand said smart maintenance should also involve onshore experts to provide insight to chief engineers and technical superintendents.
“With increasing complexity, more maintenance solutions should have experts involved,” he said. “Key to success is close co-operation between clients and partners to enable smart maintenance.”
Experts can use data and analytics to provide actionable support and verify condition monitoring. “Deviations in operations are highlighted to the expert using both AI- and rule-based detection methods,” said Mr Stand.
Then, experts can provide recommendations to shipowners, managers and crew for onboard maintenance actions.
“We can continue to learn through condition monitoring and enable proactive maintenance,” said Mr Strand.
“With more sensors, we do not want to overflow crew with vast amounts of data. They need advice from experts and advances in AI and analytics,” he said.
Wärtsilä provides daily direct contact to experts in technical operational issues for 24/7 remote support. It has a range of collaborative tools and capabilities for supporting case resolution.
Drivetrain monitoring
In his presentation, Mr Zeitler explained the digital services available from Geislinger, including monitoring of powertrain components, such as dampers and transmission.
Sensors on this equipment produce data, which is transferred to junction boxes on the ship. These combine data and send it to a processing unit, which feeds information to onboard operator panels and Geislinger’s digital platform.
Ship operators gain remote access through the analytics platform to “powertrain data, trouble shooting of warnings and alarms and anomaly detection,” said Mr Zeitler.
They can visualise key performance indicators and implement predictive maintenance.
Condition monitoring will be increasingly needed as shipowners and operators slow ships to reduce fuel consumption and emissions.
“New rpm ranges on powertrains will increase wear,” said Mr Zeitler. He expects regular monitoring and AI-drive analytics will enable owners to detect issues and act to reduce wear on components.
Why BSM invests in condition monitoring
(Source: BSM/ Theodore Ioannou)
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