Page 16: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 2013)

16 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? NOVEMBER 2013 MONITORING IS CONTROL Knowledge is PowerWorld crude production may rise and fall, but the historical trend shows a steady increase in the price of a barrel of oil, and with it, the price of a ton of fuel. Add the demands of shareholders and charterers to increase operational efÞ ciency and pro Þ tability, as well as increasing international pres-sure to reduce fuel consumption and as-sociated greenhouse gas emissions. It is no wonder that ship owners have seen a steady rise, as well, in the availability of technologies ? from ship design to pro-pulsion and HVAC systems to hull coat- ings ? that are purported to reduce fuel consumption. Ship owners are interested in fuel sav-ings technology, but they are under- standably skeptical: How do they know they are achieving the fuel savings and associated payback periods? Can the ship owner or operator measure with any sense of conÞ dence the actual savings they are able to realize from an energy efÞ ciency investment? Unfortunately, ship owners often do not have access to independent performance data for veriÞ cation. For this reason, they expect manufacturers to provide evidence of independent third-party empirical product testing to substanti-ate quality, performance and regulatory compliance. When making a substan- tial energy ef Þ ciency investment, ves- sel owners and operators also expect a fundamental cost-beneÞ t analysis of pro- jected savings and payback.Above and beyond requiring suppliers to provide this fundamental evidence of product quality and performance, a ship owner can only project the savings from an energy initiative and validate its per- formance through independent energy monitoring and veriÞ cation. Moreover, they can derive the full value of this ap-proach when an onshore team of pro-fessional marine engineers and energy analysts leverage existing ship systems to collect the data, remotely monitor and analyze trends, offer recommendations to improve existing systems, and project the costs and beneÞ ts of upgrades. Analysis of Noon Reports, or ... Analyzing a vessel?s noon reports for fuel consumption trends over time is a complex, time-consuming process to which most ship owners simply cannot devote the resources. However, there is a cost-effective alternative: For a minimal capital investment and monthly monitor- ing fee, a ship owner can contract with a third-party marine monitoring and veri-Þ cation service for continuous remote monitoring and analysis of real-time data from a vessel?s onboard machin- ery plant control and monitoring system (MPCMS). Ideally, an energy advisory Þ rm begins with an initial analysis of the vessel?s performance by ship system. The Þ rm should leverage the ship?s existing me- tering devices and MPCMS to the extent possible, testing and validating the ac-curacy of measurement devices already in place, recalibrating as necessary, and installing additional metering devices as required. For example, where fuel mea-surement is not available on board, it is necessary to add fuel meters. All existing and new devices should be integrated into the MPCMS so that real-time data can be pushed to the web at deÞ ned time intervals, ideally, every few minutes around the clock. The mon- itoring system should be built on open system standards that can be tailored to any type of vessel. The global monitor- ing center should itself be a secure, reli-able data center, and the provider should store all operating data in the ?cloud? using a secure Tier 1 collocation center. The monitoring center should be staffed with a team of degreed, licensed marine engineers and energy analysts with the requisite knowledge to analyze and in-terpret operating data. The team monitors detailed ship system data, which may include main engine performance and fuel consumption in-cluding auxiliary generator performance, vessel position, fuel consumption, shaft horsepower, torque vs. revolutions per minute (RPM), and speed over ground vs. RPM. The service may also meter and monitor the ship?s HVAC system and electrical generation for hotel load. The team also integrates real-time data on weather and sea conditions into the monitoring system.Ideally, the team should monitor the ship for a period of time to establish an operational baseline from which optimal operating parameters can be established. From this, the team can set up the moni-toring system to automatically transmit alerts and alarms to ship engineers and operators when equipment and ship sys-tems are operating outside of these pa-rameters. Establishing a baseline also enables the advisory team to compare vessel performance before and after an energy-savings initiative, such as a per- formance hull coating.Results of Real-Time Performance MonitoringIn addition to immediate alerts and alarms when systems are operating out-side of optimal parameters, the provider should issue daily fuel consumption and voyage reports that enable the owner to make informed fuel purchasing deci-sions based on historical and forecasted operations; validate emission regulation compliance ? and validate the perfor- mance of energy-ef Þ ciency initiatives. The team can also recommend mainte-nance and operational adjustments to ex-isting systems and equipment, as well as capital improvements, that will improve the overall energy ef Þ ciency of the ves- sel. For example, one of the key indica-tors of the operating condition of a diesel engine is the exhaust temperature from individual cylinders. Most commercial diesel engines have cylinder exhaust temperature indicators. Older smaller engines have analog reading thermom-eters while the modern larger engines typically use thermocouple pyrometers. \A comparison of individual cylinder exhaust temperatures to one another and to the aggregate engine exhaust tem-perature yields many insights; therefore, monitoring of cylinder exhaust pyrom-eters is one of the most important diag-nostic tools. Abnormal cylinder exhaust temperatures indicate many types of op-erating problems that increase fuel con-sumption, including cylinder imbalance, exhaust valve leakage, incorrect injec-tion and/or exhaust valve timing, poor fuel atomization, low compression pres-sure, and turbocharger issues. The energy advisory service should be able and willing to advise as an unbiased technical consultant to correct equip-ment and/or operational issues. More-over, the service should have the capa- bility to provide a cost-beneÞ t analysis of potential energy-ef Þ ciency initiatives, including equipment upgrades, to enable the owner to make informed purchasing decisions.As it is often said, ?knowledge is pow-er.? With increasing pressure for per- formance and energy savings from all quarters, ship owners and operators re-quire unbiased performance analysis and insights from an onshore team of profes-sionals to evaluate energy initiatives and optimize vessel performance under way. Tim Angerameis Director at utiliVisor, an en- ergy advisory Þ rm providing comprehensive energy moni- toring and advisory services for the marine industry. Mr. Angerame is a licensed ma-rine engineer. t: 212-260-4800 [email protected] The case for independent monitoring and veriÞ cation of energy-efÞ ciency initiatives Ship owners are interested in fuel savings technology, but they are understandably skeptical: How do they know they are achieving the fuel savings and associated payback periods? MR #11 (10-17).indd 16MR #11 (10-17).indd 1611/11/2013 11:25:56 AM11/11/2013 11:25:56 AM