Page 37: of Marine News Magazine (December 2014)

TECHNOLOGYprior to and after every outside job.? Obviously, a solution needed to be found.Following the advice of a local OEM service provider, Solent Towage committed to its  rst GP Link system in December 2013 and had it up and running on board in January. And, following a two month trial with the gp- link running in parallel with cargo surveys, the client ? in this case, Exxon ? of cially adopted it as the agreed means to prove fuel consumption. Since then, Solent has never looked back.Notably and following the success of the installation aboard Lomax, the client pushed for gplink to be installed on the other three Solent vessels involved in the contract. Axcell adds, ?We have been working closely with gplink to develop a system to suit these vessels. We are also currently working with gplink to develop a more in-depth package to accurately monitor vessel movements and work pat- terns, something we hope to have up and running shortly.? More than Engine Monitoring Beyond the success enjoyed by customers like Solent Towage, the gplink system boasts multiple applications for marine users. For example, pleasure craft customers use the data as a tool to monitor the health and wellness of their engines. When there is an engine issue, they share the reported codes with their technician which reduces re- pair costs. Some, like Solent Towage, use the engine logs to keep an eye on fuel consumption and  nd sweet spots. The use of ?geofences? to identify when and where boats are operating, and the RF monitoring system to alert own- ers in the event of high water or smoke aboard the vessel, are also popular features. Commercial customers use the data for everything from making sure their ferry boats leave the docks on time, to offshore delivery vessels who are using touchscreen track- ing and downloading of precise fuel consumption which is then used for invoicing. Still others hone in on details to assist with trouble spots. For example, a customer had workboats that were speeding in no wake zones and, as a result, they now receive real time text alerts with the boat name and speed when a vessel exceeds set parameters. An- other operator whose ferry captains were pushing docks (instead of shutting engines down) was creating headaches for the front of ce. In response, gplink created an alert which sends a text message and e-mail to supervisors when a vessel is at a dock with rpm?s over 1500 and speeds of less than 1 knot.Solent Towage, says Axcell, started using gplink for one function, but ended up taking advantage of several oth- ers. ?Although we monitor basic engine data such as oil pressure, boost pressure and JCW temp, the main interest has always been to trend fuel consumptions. All engine parameters are fully backed-up by a third party monitoring system  tted from build so data collection was an added bonus but not the driving force behind the decision, he said, adding, ?We do however use the gplink Geofence fa- cility which has proved quite useful in automatically alert- What Can You Monitor & Archive with gplink? Source: gplink (this list only a sample of what can be tracked) LatitudeAlert tripped time/date Time in alert state SpeedLongitudeAlert cleared time/date Engine hoursHeadingAlert type Alert logs archive (7 years) Coolant tempEngine RPMBattery strength Fuel usage (any interval)Intake manifold tempsOil Pressure Oil tempFuel burn rate (by engine)Compressor inlet temp Total fuel used Engine loadAverage fuel burn rateGeofence historyAlert history www.marinelink.com MN 37MN Dec14 Layout 32-49.indd 37MN Dec14 Layout 32-49.indd 3711/25/2014 11:08:16 AM11/25/2014 11:08:16 AM