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Mega Tanker Ice Monitoring Sensor Package

In the fall of 2003, Science Technologies Corporation (STC) came to Colmek with a problem. Many of the new oil tankers being built in Korean shipyards were scheduled to operate in the Barents Sea in Northern Russia where heavy ice loads have long been a problem. Several large oil companies were concerned with the loss of speed resulting from the ship pilots taking necessary precautions in cold but unknown conditions.

To curtail concerns of unknown ice load stress on the ship's hull, Colmek was tasked with developing a system where the ship's captain could monitor overall ice load and the impact to ship integrity. If ice loads on the ship's hull could be monitored and stress on the bow could be measured, the pilots could better gauge safe speeds to travel and improve delivery times. Tankers often travel less than four knots per hour under heavy ice load conditions, but can improve speeds to over twenty knots in clear seas, a considerable difference when time is money.

Colmek attacked the problem at its core. Our engineering staff developed a monitoring system using strain-gauge sensors attached directly to the hull of the vessel. Environmental concerns were of paramount importance as much of the monitoring equipment was located in the hull of the ship where temperatures could drop well below the specifications of standard, off-the-shelf, equipment. The systems processing equipment was to be buried in a small room in the ship's hull, where temperatures often hover just above freezing, and very little effort is made to seal the compartment, reduce salt effect or mitigate humidity issues. To assure proper function for many years to come, Colmek designed an environmentally sealed, temperature controlled central processing rack. The processors were mounted inside two sealed chassis. Temperature is constantly monitored via a Colmek designed system monitoring tool, cooling the system via a series of push-pull fans and heating the system when temperatures dropped below normal operational specifications. Engineers designed an environmentally sound rack mounting system which withstands dense humidity, high salt spray, petroleum bi-product residue and extreme changes in temperature.

With the engineering teams advanced understanding of shipboard systems, Colmek created a wiring layout and developed specific software code to bring sensor information to the bridge allowing the captain to monitor actual ice load as measured by the various strain-gauges. Moreover, the teams' advanced engineering staff researched and provided display systems on the bridge, created wiring schematics for the entire ship, developed sealed rack-mount chassis and produced specialized circuit card assemblies specifically designed for the task at hand.

Of major concern, was the extremely rugged environment, where most of the processing equipment is located. Most of the processing equipment was planned to be delivered off-the-shelf, saving the customer multiple thousands of dollars, but creating a unique challenge in that many commercial products were not designed to work in arctic, salt water conditions. The systems processing equipment was to be buried in a small room in the ships hull, where temperatures hover just above freezing in the arctic, and very little effort is made to seal the compartment, reduce salt effect, or mitigate humidity issues. To assure proper function for many years to come, Colmek designed an environmentally sealed, temperature controlled central processing rack. The processors were mounted inside two, sealed chassis. Temperature is constantly monitored via a Colmek designed system monitoring tool, cooling the system via a series of push-pull fans, and heating the system when temperatures dropped below normal operational specifications.

Additionally, due to the varying power supply and potential for shorting, Colmek designed an intrinsically safe barrier that monitored each of the 96 strain gauges. If any of these should fail it be noted in the overall system monitoring program, but it will not adversely affect the performance of the overall system.

The end result: The ship's captain is able to obtain various information regarding the ship's current ice-load and integrity in a clear, concise format on easily readable monitors on the ships bridge. When fully implemented, the Captain can determine safe speed of travel in adverse conditions increasing potential turn-around times for the Mega Tankers and delivering more oil to market with the same fleet. Potential cost savings over time are significant both in travel time and the reduced chance of a lost vessel.

For more information on this, or any other systems integration, design engineering, software upgrades or design, please contact Colmek directly at (801) 973-9136.