New Technology Assists in Completion of Global First Smart Merchant Ship

Chen Jianan Xia Xiaojian

Global first smart ship drew attention of the whole shipbuilding circles and also cherished the hope and dream of Chinese shipbuilders stepping into the new navigation era. “Huangpu Wenchong people” were the makers of the dream. Under the unified deployment of CSSC, Huangpu Wenchong strictly controlled nodes, detailed management,and promoted “Da Zhi” smart navigation at sea, leading the navigation era.

On November 28, 2017, world first smart merchant ship -- 38800 dwt smart bulk carrier “Da Zhi”, built by CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding,was delivered at the company’s Wenchong site. The ship broke through key technologies of on-board information share, independent assessment and decision-making, ship-shore integration,etc., completed independent development and integrated application of ship-wise smart network system, smart operation and maintenance system (SOMS), smart navigation system and main engine remote control system, realized automatic sensing of data information about the ship itself and ocean environment and shipshore integrated ship intelligent operation management, and ship-wise intelligent technical index reached world advanced level.

Global first smart ship drew attention of the whole shipbuilding circles and also cherished the hope and dream of Chinese shipbuilders stepping into the new navigation era. “Huangpu Wenchong people” were the makers of the dream. Under the unified deployment of CSSC, Huangpu Wenchong strictly controlled nodes, detailed management,and promoted “Da Zhi” smart navigation at sea, leading the navigation era..

New Technology Leads the Shipbuilding Industry

The smart system of “Da Zhi”can use technical means such as sensor,Internet of Things, machine learning,light weight transmission communication to automatically sense and acquire information and data of the ship itself,ocean environment, logistics, port, etc.for independent analysis, assessment,prediction and decision-making optimization, can realize functions of smart navigation, smart machine room, smart energy efficiency management, reduce operating oil consumption by 2%, reduce main engine shutdown due to fault by more than 50%, cut equipment maintenance time by 20%, and significantly improve environmental friendliness, safety and economics of ship operation.

Via ship-wise double redundant circular optic fiber network, the smart network system gathers and manages ship-wise monitoring and control points by type, integrates data of three smart application systems -- smart navigation,smart machine room and smart energy efficiency management, and forms integrated platform of onboard data and application.

T h e s m a r t o p e r a t i o n a n d maintenance system (SOMS) realizes ship energy efficiency management and optimal decision for health status,analysis, early warning, comprehensive propelling efficiency, equipment status,navigation posture, fuel oi cost, emission management factors of ship key systems and equipment, including main engine,auxiliary engine, boiler and shafting as well as information service function such as shore-based service management system and ship-shore real-time information transmission, such as overall navigation analysis, voyage section analysis, user customized requirement,etc.

SOMS is China’s only complete smart navigation system with independent IPRs and applied on real ship. Based on smart network system, the system integrates ship terminal sensor real-time data and shore-terminal meteorologic and hydrological prediction data, through ship-shore integrated synergy, realizes navigation route, speed design and optimization of dodging typhoon, obstacle,shortest navigation time, best fuel conservation, most comfortable and lowest total cost and other different navigational strategies.

At the same time, based on ship main engine speed and oil consumption ream-time data, the ship can update route and speed optimization result. The machine room has obtained CCS smart machine room classification symbol I-Ship（M） and LR classification symbol. By programming main equipment information acquired in the machine room on the integration platform, the system outputs equipment operation health status and maintenance proposal to realize smart operation and maintenance function of the machine room.

Furthermore, the ship applies WinGD W5X52 main engine provided by Hudong Heavy Machinery Equipment Co Ltd. The main engine is the global first smart application machine which meets LR and CCS smart ship rules and regulations, as it adopts three blade propeller, energy-efficient duct, vortex fin and other energy-saving devices.China Institute of Shipbuilding Industry Systems Engineering provided China’s first main engine remote control system with complete independent IPRs for the main engine, and CSSC became China’s first manufacturer providing marine lowspeed main engine with support remote control system.

New Methods to Improve Quality and Efficiency

As China’s first smart merchant ship, “Da Zhi” construction period coincided with the Spring Festival,hence heavy production task and tight nodes. Huangpu Wenchong established a compact team, which centered on the production tasks at each stage and nodes,prepared stringent production schedule for all procedures, explored update, faster and better management and process methods to overcome shortcomings,optimize flow chart, implement measures at all levels, provided powerful technical guarantee in a timely and efficient way with the concept of “smart shipbuilding,building smart ship”, realized efficient production on the site, and overall production efficiency was improved substantially.

F o r n e w s h i p t y p e, n e w manufacturers, new challenges, the company actively created management methods, deployed dedicated person on particular ship for specific management,aimed at providing best quality products for the ship owner as per high standard and tough requirements. By advance intervention, getting familiar with the specification, construction personnel grasped technical points of the whole ship. Meanwhile, constant optimization of whole ship subsection construction scheme and shortening hull construction cycle laid a good foundation for subsequent procedure. They also changed traditional concepts, reasonably arranged site, optimized general assembly scheme,optimized double-shell construction production scheme, improved segment integral production precision and reduced double-shell area loading stage rework,substantially improving work efficiency and realizing rapid loading.

A construction personnel told the reporter during an interview: “Da Zhi”for the first time realized smart welding in shipbuilding in China, “this is the breakthrough in the first trial on smart construction in the shipbuilding sector”,and the company therefore became China’s first manufacturer applying portable welding robot in place of human being for smart welding, the whole ship massively realized efficient automatic welding, welding high efficiency rate reached 95% and automatic welding rate reached 35%.

With “Da Zhi” building as the starting point, Huangpu Wenchong created multiple first in China with smart shipbuilding: for the first realized smart welding of shipbuilding; established China’s first smart ship construction precision management database; created fixed scale supply mode of finished piping product in the industry for the first time.

China’s first smart ship construction precision management database built by Huangpu Wenchong helped it ensure acceptable precision of the “Da Zhi” hull structure in each process product of central assemblage,block construction, block assembly and joining of fabricated sections and finally realize management over the construction precision of the whole ship.

Moreover, the ship pioneered fixed scale supply mode of finished piping product in the industry and massively used new tool set-ups for sectional production.This not only improved sectional assembly efficiency, but also substantially reduced cutting, carbon planing and grinding previously brought about by tooling assembly, which considerably saved block construction cost while ensuring quality.

During the construction period of“Da Zhi”, its tubing supply applied the mode of returning to the factory on demand as per the stock list of parts drawing of pallets and settlement by finished tube product delivery, realized zero inventory of tubing warehouse, improved workshop site efficiency and ensured production continuity and node completion.

Show Craftsmanship

Fur the purpose of summing up experience and improving smart ship construction capability, Huangpu Wenchong shouldered the task of summarizing valuable experience for future smart ship improvement while completing the “Da Zhi” construction task.

In the first place, purchasing is a big challenge. Huangpu Wenchong works with one mind, deals with it positively and remains responsible to the end. It is craftsmanship that ensures fine quality, they completed one after another seemingly impossible task,finally achieved good performance of 100% continuous loading rate and much improvement in integrity, got off to a good start, provided practical guarantee for subsequent production and won unanimous favorable comments from the ship owner and ship survey classification societies.

To meet the need of data collection of smart system, “Da Zhi” increased a large number of data ports, e.g.,600 I/O ports for machine room monitoring and warning system of the parent ship was increased to more than 2000. The smart network system also adopted double redundant circular optic fiber network structure, and through optic fiber penetrating protection, separate cable laying of different voltage levels and adoption of respective shielding grid grounding measure, substantially increased ship operational workloads.

While realizing smart ship, the structure design of “Da Zhi” meets the HCSR requirements. The ship hull adopts eco-friendly energy efficient measures such as middle end low resistance paint to reduce ship energy consumption and emission, and meet TierⅡ emission standard, so that ship operation can be more in line with the safety, environmental protection and economic needs of the times. According to theoretical calculations and trial trip validation, at the same speed, “Da Zhi” propulsion efficiency improves about 3% on average in relation to similar ship, daily fuel consumption declines by 4%, one-day fuel consumption stands at 16.94t only, and ship EEDI declines by 21.3%.★