AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH

© 2017, Science Huβ, http://www.scihub.org/AJSIR

ISSN: 2153-649X, doi:10.5251/ajsir.2017.8.1.1.7

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Inland Waterway Automation Aryan Chadha and Bonny Kurian

Dept. of Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering

Amet University, Chennai, India, aryan.chad3515@gmail.com Dept. of Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering, Amet University, Chennai, India

kurian.bonny@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

this paper aims at designing a completely autonomous battery operated ballast free ship meant for plying in the inland waterways of India. Thereby, increasing the profit margins in the longer run in a cleaner and more efficient manner. This project is conceptual as of now with respect to the marine industry however automation is the need of the hour as shown to us by various other industries like aviation and road transport.

Keywords—automation; ballast free; inland waterway; battery operated ship; inclined keel

INTRODUCTION India is endowed with a variety of navigable waterways comprising river systems, canals, back waters, creeks, and tidal inlets. However, navigation by mechanized crafts is possible only over a limited length covering about half of the reported navigable waterways. The navigable waterways are confined to a few States and are location specific. The Inland Water Transport (IWT) is functionally important in regions covered by the Brahmputra and the Ganges in the North East and Eastern parts of the country, Kerala, Goa and in the deltas of the rivers of Krishna and Godavari where IWT offers natural advantages. IWT has an important role to play in many parts of the country since it offers an economic, energy efficient, employment intensive and almost pollutant free mode of transport service.

INLAND WATERWAYS

National Waterway I (NW 1): The Ganga Bhagirathi Hooghly river system between Haldia (Sagar) & Allahabad (1620 km) was declared as National Waterway No.1 (NW1) in 1986. Haldia, BISN (Kolkata), Pakur, Farrakka, Patna, Varanasi, Chunar and Allahabad. This is the largest operable waterway. National waterways 2,3,4,5&6: Other waterways are NW 2 –Sadiya to Dhubri (891 km) and NW 3 – Kottapuram to Kollam (205 km) , NW 4 - Kakinada to Pondicherry ( 1095 km ), NW 5 - Talcher to Dhamra ( 623 km ), NW 6 – Lakhipur to Bhanga (121 km ).

Cargo movement on National waterway: With reference to the data published by the Ministry of Shipping (India), certain facts were taken into consideration i.e. maximum cargo movement route, nature and quantity of the cargo even conventional load transport per ship.

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From table 1 it can be seen that NW 1 has the most movement of cargo and has also shown growth in the same. Over the years the overall demand in all national waterways have risen which makes this an area of emergence. Also building materials, food items and coal were found to be the commodities which have the maximum demand. Preliminary Specifications

The route chosen is NW 1. The commodities selected are building materials, food items and

coal which are both containerized and bulked. Therefore, a base model in accordance with the limitations published in the annual report by the Ministry of Shipping was generated. This model measured 60 m in length, 14.5 m in breadth, with a draft of 5m and having a deadweight of 1300 tonnes.

The need of the hour (automation): The data produced by the ministry of shipping for inland waterways is alarming. The safety record of inland waterway transport is relatively poor with an average of 200 fatalities every year. About 255 persons died and 179 persons were critically

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injured in the year 2014 itself. Most of these incidents are caused due to human errors.

Hence, introduction of automation in order to support or replace the human element would drastically reduce such occurrences. Further the margins in this industry are low due to human resource expenditures and various other maintenance charges. The concept of automation is to reduce these expenditures thereby increasing the revenue earned by the transport companies.

Inland waterway Automation Project – X (IWA-X): The main aim of the design is to eliminate certain factors which require maintenance or need physical human interaction to work. A base model was studied and the various components were automated in an orderly manner.

Following are the elements chosen for automation-

• Ballast Tanks – During the de-ballasting process the local ecosystem may adversely be affected due to sudden temperature changes also due to foreign particles and micro-organisms present in the de-ballasted water. Such threats to the marine biodiversity can be avoided by eliminating ballast tanks. Furthermore, the maintenance of such tanks will be eliminated.

• Rotating machinery – These have an increased chance of break down and require continuous maintenance.

• Rudder – Choice of vector thrusting over unidirectional propulsion systems increases efficiency significantly.

• Anchor and Mooring lines – Removing anchors and associated machinery reduces weight.

The Process: The conceptual design methodology has been implemented for this project :

Design Evaluate Redesign

A number of 3D modelling and marine design softwares were used to design and do various calculations.

Softwares used-

• AutoCAD - Generation of lines plan

• Rhinoceros – Surface and Contour preparation

• Delft ship pro – Hull form optimization, resistance and power calculations.

• NAPA – Hydrostatic study

Ballast free design: The Base model was put into DELFT ship and following a design philosophy of raked keel which is generally used for warships which reduces the need of ballast and even gives the vessel a design trim towards aft. They are applied to improve the pulling power of fishing vessels and tugboats. Since the hull form optimizations are done keeping the displacement constant, the amount of area removed from forward was added at the aft stations. In this process the longitudinal center of floatation (LCF) which is the center of the water plane area was brought aft ward making the ship trim toward aft while in lightship condition and again come back to even keel position when cargo is loaded. The sectional area curve was plotted to check that the volume does not differ from base model.(In appendix)

As the ship is to sail on the NW 1 where ports are set up at the points where depths change,

therefore the loading can be configured to suite the route’s depth in order to maintain the ground clearance and even wave loading is minute in this area.

Longitudinal Stability is a concern when such changes on hull are done and therefore to check we used NAPA for hydrostatic calculation for fully loaded and lightship conditions.

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The results were found to be satisfactory as in both cases the metacentric height was found to be positive and thus all the loading conditions in this range are safe and applicable.

On the basis of these facts and figures the necessity of ballast is removed seeing that the ship is stable is all conditions , the propeller has sufficient immersion and as wave loading is minute in the area of operation hence dynamic stability will not be problem. Further benefits of this are the Reduction in Resistance which contribute to power saving properties of the hull form.

Straight Bow & the Transom: A straight bow was chosen over the conventional raked bow to support the ballast free design in order to get the same shape or angle of entrance at all loading conditions. The straight bow is also efficient in alluvial rivers where the current is the major factor. The stem is designed in a “U shape” to keep waterlines and flare almost same at all trims. Since the area of operation has very less wave loading and the speed of the vessel is also low the use of straight bow is justified.

In the aft the transom was again designed on basis of the trim conditions the idea was to put a transom stern and obtain better flow patterns in the aft region.

Resistance & Powering

Delft ship was used to calculate the calm water resistance of the hull using delft series (’98). The following graph is the representation of the results –

Formulae –

Wind Resistance was calculated taking into consideration the worst case scenario with the formulae-

The time taken by IWA- X in port is lesser than the other vessels and hence the speed was reduced to 6 knots from an initial speed of 8 knots as this was found more efficient for the given constraints.

PROPULSION & MANUVERING

In order to automate the propulsion system and reduce the use of rotating machinery which increases the chance of break down, a system with vector thrusting and outboard operability is to

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be selected. The use of azipods will be ideal for the situation. So, to meet the demand of propulsion two azipods of the Rolls-Royce US range comprising standard Z-drive units with input powers from 250 – 3,700kW to deliver a bollard pull ranging from 11 to over 120 tonnes were chosen. Also the modular design allows the configuration, mounting type and size to be closely matched to user requirements. They are available with contra-rotating propellers for high propulsive efficiency with shallow draft propellers, open or ducted, with diameters to suit the vessel application. Since the optimized hull is of inclined keel nature the Diameter of the propeller blades can be increased while reducing the number of blades by which we can achieve higher thrust power and reduce the occurrence of cavitation. A retractable bow thruster will be attached to the keel for better maneuverability. The Rolls-Royce UL type provides fast hydraulic lifting and lowering of the unit, enabling it to retract into the hull when not in use, reducing the vessel’s drag.

BATTERY

For a long time, the battery has been used in ships as a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) for emergency situations. As technologies have developed, taking them a step further, the battery has been widely regarded as an auxiliary or main power source because of the following benefits- • Fast response & peak saving • Reducing mechanical noise • Less maintenance time & costs • Low emissions & fuel saving • Redundancy available • More energy-efficient • Easy to apply new & renewable power sources Based on the above benefits, the battery can help to meet the marine environmental regulations of the IMO and policies employed nowadays in major world ports (Long Beach in the U.S., Rotterdam in the Netherlands, etc.) that require eco-friendly solutions, as shown below,

For IWA-X three units of Saft Marine IM 20E High energy plus batteries are compatible based on the previous calculations.

The specifications of the battery are following-

The charge time of 4 hours is calculated found to be sufficient at an optimum power of 150 kW. AUTONOUMOUS OPERATION: IWA-X is an ideal candidate for unmanned operation. By being battery powered and ballast free the ship has been designed to minimize the need for continuous maintenance. IWA-X has a minimal need for rotating equipment, with the only rotating equipment on board being the propulsion pods and the bow thruster which in turn are located outside the ship hull.

The propulsion system, with two 360deg turn able stern pods and a 360deg turn able and retractable bow thruster allows for dynamic positioning capabilities. This can be implemented as a fail to safe strategy in case of emergency, where the

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ship would put itself in Dynamic Positioning mode if safe navigation is threatened.

Navigation: A specific flow of control is to be followed in order to achieve the goal.

1) Input of destination on GPS – Global Positioning System which will be corrected via DGPS – Differential Global Positioning System.

2) Processing will take place using AIS – Automatic Identification System and VTS – Vessel Tracking Service

3) Reference for route condition can be made through RIS – River Information System and onboard cameras.

4) Critical Decision making can be done by the

shore based operator using visual and technical data.

5) Prompt signaling can be done by nearby ships

for indications. 6) Output achieved shall be the delivery All the technologies mentioned exist today. The flowchart of control-

Mooring and loading: Due to IWA-X’s low service speed, it’s important not to waste unnecessary time at port, and a quick turnaround time in port is of the essence. By using state of the art technology in automatic mooring systems, like grip arm or vacuum-based mooring, the IWA-X will be moored fast and without the need of ropes and winches which are highly dependent of manual assistance and are subject to regular maintenance.

Automatic hopper loading systems for bulk carriers are available today which by means of pipes and suction arms load or unload bulk cargo. The time span at port-

CONCLUSION

Comparision: On comparing the results with that of the current operating vessels which was taken as base for optimization the following results were obtained-

The operational profile comparison on the basis of time, power and energy is done to specify the

energy demand and work output of the vessels.

From the calculation it can be seen that although IWA-X covers a greater distance than the base vessel on a yearly basis, the energy requirement is much smaller than the energy consumed the base vessel.

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Further it is clear from the results that although the capacity of the vessels are same, IWA-X produces significantly more work output than the base vessel. The power being used for the IWA-X is electricity via battery storage method over the conventional fossil fuel being used for the base vessel the emissions of harmful gases is eliminated making it suitable for future standards and codes. The mechanisms for IWA-X reduce human effort and even the need of maintenance making it fit for autonomous use. By doing so, factors such as human safety, time consumption and the even the energy requirements which play a major role in the shipping industry have been optimized in a considerable manner.

The work output of the industry can be increased based on this study increasing the margins in a significant manner.

The optimization of the hull form which was found ideal for implementation on vessels on the national waterways can be used to improve operations over the current designs.

As a result, the objective of the project has been achieved and the future use of the same can be expected.

REFERENCES

Various textbooks, guideline books for softwares, data published by the ministry of shipping (India) and Intellectual sites were used to develop this paper.

The following are the notable references

[1] Wikipedia for basic information

[2] Saft marine battery brochure.

[3] Rolls Royce Thruster brochure.

[4] Annual report (2014-2015) published by the ministry of shipping (India).

[5] Data published by the ministry of shipping (India) on national waterways.

[6] Ship design for efficiency & economy, H Schneekluth.

[7] Basic ship propulsion,Ghose and Gokarn.

[8] Principles of Naval Architecture, volume II, Edward Lewis.