Fishing vessels, especially marine reels, have a rather harsh working environment, wind waves, vibrations and long periods of loneliness at sea. Traditional technologies on deck and in cabins are also facing challenges. According to the sailing electrician Fred Hansford, the electrical system on board is subject to a real test. Once a marine electrical engineer said: “If you want to experiment in harsh environments, then go to the fishing boat!â€
In such a challenging environment, New Zealand’s Simunovich Fisheries successfully used Rockwell Automation’s technology to equip its state-of-the-art fishing vessels, Ocean and Wind, with DeviceNet-based SCADA and distributed humans. Interface (HMI) system. Simunovich Fisheries has a long tradition of innovation. Founded in 1960, it is one of the founders of New Zealand's marine fishing industry. Today, Simunovich operates New Zealand’s largest private fishing fleet and is a key supplier of fresh fish to the important Japanese market.
Marine capture fisheries, like other industries, have their own traditional habits. They did not initially show particular interest in PLC/DeviceNet/SCADA technology. Therefore, the technology is not popular in the global fishing industry's deck/airport control. / DeviceNet/SCADA monitoring mode. Over the past five years, John Wright, an electrical engineer at Simunovich Fisheries, and his team have changed this trend. They used the PLC, a common Allen-Bradley SLC series of small logic controllers, on Simunovich's fishing boat deck. Wide range of controls and monitoring. He said, "As far as we can see, Allen-Bradley has the best combination of hardware and software we need. We have found that using SLC for control can actually make the machine more reliable. SLC controller itself has never been out malfunction."
Challenges brought by the sea Wright pointed out the numerous challenges faced by the electrical system of the sea-going reefer. They include rough generator and battery power supply, humidity, and strong vibration and impact forces experienced by the fishing vessel as it navigates the raging waves. Most importantly, deep-sea fishing operations require a new level of reliability. Fishing vessels such as the Ocean and the Wind have to be thousands of kilometers offshore for a period of weeks or even months, while seafarers do not have much knowledge of electrical automation. The main objective of the crew is to ensure the quality of the fishing on board. When a multi-million dollar aquaculture product was caught on board, the coordinated operation of the system, such as a refrigeration compressor, became an extremely important part of ensuring that aquatic products could maintain their good condition when they reached their destination. It is also extremely important to minimize system downtime. In terms of the ocean and the wind, it can hold 800 tons of fish in a fishing cycle of about three weeks, with a value of 1,300 to 390 US dollars per ton of aquaculture. Therefore, the daily downtime cost will be as high as 15,000 US dollars. Such a fishing vessel cannot easily stop.
Fire in the cabin The Simunovich Fisheries acquired the Ocean and Wind number in 1998, which brought unprecedented challenges to the Simunovich fishing company. When the company bought the 61-meter-long fishing vessel, it was still a wreckage after a fire and required a major repair. The Simunovich Fisheries Company spent US$3.9 million for nine months to refit the ship. The fire that occurred on the sea and the wind was caused by the seawater entering the exhaust system of the V16 diesel internal combustion engine. The fire quickly spread to the cabin and extended to the rear deck, destroying everything in the rear cabin, including a nylon net worth $430,000. In order to ensure that such a disaster does not occur in the future, Wright attempts to introduce a monitoring/alarming solution to this problem while the fishing vessel rebuilds its electrical system. The challenge is to develop a set of suitable information collection and distributed HMI systems that are invaluable for marine operations. A hard-wired digital alarm system can be seen on traditional marine vessels. Wright found that this method has its limitations. He thinks: "Alarms take up a lot of space, can only monitor one place, and can not monitor analog. To be able to know the temperature of the exhaust, you must monitor the absolute analog data. The ship needs to monitor more than just a cockpit, In addition, a large amount of data needs to be collected from the engine room, cooling system, fire alarm system and other places - both analog and digital.
The wiring system of distributed I/O systems on any vessel is much more expensive and difficult than on-land hard-wired systems. Several hundred hard-wired points connected to multiple monitoring locations are obviously unrealistic and very expensive for ocean and wind numbers. Together with FH Electric's Fred Hansford, Wright has developed an innovative distributed I/O network that he envisions to support on-board information systems. A network of eight Allen-Bradley FLEX I/O frameworks is distributed throughout the ship, providing local connections for analog I/O associated with the ship's system. The FLEX I/O framework forms the nodes on the DeviceNet serial network backbone from bow to stern, while the DeviceNet backbone connects to Allen-Bradley's SLC host controller in the control room. This method greatly reduces and simplifies the wiring on board. The CAN-based DeviceNet can connect approximately 100 analog I/Os and 300 digital I/Os - these I/O points are related to the main engine system, water supply system, and alarm system on the ship, and thus point-to-point. Thousands of dollars are saved in I/O wiring and hardware.
The powerful SLC controller enables complex analysis of data on board. For example, the SLC can compare each of the eight exhaust temperatures on board with the calculated average. "If there is a nozzle failure, then the exhaust temperature of that cylinder will be lower than the average," Wright explained. "We are concerned about whether the temperature is above or below the average, or whether the thermocouple has a problem." This method actually allows us to monitor what is happening inside the engine.†The Oceans and Fengs DeviceNet message backbone uses Allen-Bradley's KwikLink connection system, which is provided through a flat four-conductor cable and insulation displacement connector (IDC). A simple, modular DeviceNet system. The system can significantly reduce labor and material expenses, and can easily and quickly add new nodes and delete discarded nodes on Ocean & Feng's DeviceNet network without cutting off the mainline.
Human Machine Interface (HMI) on the Deck
The system data on the Oceans and Winds is displayed through a distributed HMI system that includes four separate Allen-Bradley PanelView graphical operator interfaces - located in the cockpit, control room, engineer's cabin and assistants, respectively, of the fishing vessel. cabin. The fully configurable screen provides a complete "screen" of the control system on board the ship. The display screen can be automatically switched to display the highest priority alarm signal. DeviceNet can quickly transfer diagnostic information of an intelligent device, such as an input module, to each PanelView terminal. In this way, vital operational information can be rapidly transmitted throughout the ocean and wind numbers. Wright said: "In the past, the problem could not be discovered so quickly, so that delays in repairing were delayed. This could damage the equipment on board. Now, the alarm information can be seen in four different places - this guarantees a quick response. ."
The PanelView HMI/Distributed I/O System enables Simunovich to have almost unlimited capabilities in extending and developing SCADA and HMI systems. This is a very important feature because the requirements for information on board vary weekly. Since the system was completed in December 1999, numerous data points including engine RPM and RPM measurement data have been added to this system to date. These changes are simple and convenient. Only a small number of connections are required when new I/Os are added. However, the increase in the data display only requires some changes in the configuration screen. Information sharing is also simple and direct. The Sea and Breeze Seawater Monitoring System is capable of providing seawater at the main engine cooling vents. It was originally installed for engineering purposes and is only shown in the nacelle. Later, people found that the data on seawater conditions were very useful environmental data for the helmsman to locate fishing targets. After a simple reconfiguration on the screen, data on seawater can be displayed on the cockpit HMI.
Future prospects In the more than one year after the completion of the renovation, the Ocean and Fenghao have not missed any chance of operation. The crew of the SCADA system on board of the ship always knows the operation information of the fishing vessel and keeps the time of the shutdown (ship) of the fishing vessel to the minimum. Wright said, "The system provides 100% reliability, which is equivalent to 100% of the available fishing time, achieving 100% potential revenue." The system has also avoided at least A major repair. “We noticed that the main engine's exhaust temperature was higher than they should be,†Wright explained. “At that time, some people doubted, but we checked the exhaust temperature of the main engine with a hand-held thermometer. The SCADA system was correct— —We are operating at an overloaded speed.†A quick decision has prolonged the life of the engine and prevented an engine overhaul worth $172,000. Wright believes: “This marks that the Ocean and Fenghao have entered the informationized future. This is also a sign of active maintenance by the Simunovich fishing company based on the conditions of the fishing vessel. Maintenance and management is a major event. It used to be periodic overhaul and downtime maintenance. Now Regular maintenance will become history, and active maintenance and inventory management based on the status of the fishing vessel will be adopted in the future."
The Ocean and Breeze onboard information system provides all important information for such a maintenance plan. An ever-increasing database of system conditions will be the ideal basis for anticipating the future. This will make the ocean and wind numbers appear only occasionally in the port - the rest of the time at sea, "fishing!"
In such a challenging environment, New Zealand’s Simunovich Fisheries successfully used Rockwell Automation’s technology to equip its state-of-the-art fishing vessels, Ocean and Wind, with DeviceNet-based SCADA and distributed humans. Interface (HMI) system. Simunovich Fisheries has a long tradition of innovation. Founded in 1960, it is one of the founders of New Zealand's marine fishing industry. Today, Simunovich operates New Zealand’s largest private fishing fleet and is a key supplier of fresh fish to the important Japanese market.
Marine capture fisheries, like other industries, have their own traditional habits. They did not initially show particular interest in PLC/DeviceNet/SCADA technology. Therefore, the technology is not popular in the global fishing industry's deck/airport control. / DeviceNet/SCADA monitoring mode. Over the past five years, John Wright, an electrical engineer at Simunovich Fisheries, and his team have changed this trend. They used the PLC, a common Allen-Bradley SLC series of small logic controllers, on Simunovich's fishing boat deck. Wide range of controls and monitoring. He said, "As far as we can see, Allen-Bradley has the best combination of hardware and software we need. We have found that using SLC for control can actually make the machine more reliable. SLC controller itself has never been out malfunction."
Challenges brought by the sea Wright pointed out the numerous challenges faced by the electrical system of the sea-going reefer. They include rough generator and battery power supply, humidity, and strong vibration and impact forces experienced by the fishing vessel as it navigates the raging waves. Most importantly, deep-sea fishing operations require a new level of reliability. Fishing vessels such as the Ocean and the Wind have to be thousands of kilometers offshore for a period of weeks or even months, while seafarers do not have much knowledge of electrical automation. The main objective of the crew is to ensure the quality of the fishing on board. When a multi-million dollar aquaculture product was caught on board, the coordinated operation of the system, such as a refrigeration compressor, became an extremely important part of ensuring that aquatic products could maintain their good condition when they reached their destination. It is also extremely important to minimize system downtime. In terms of the ocean and the wind, it can hold 800 tons of fish in a fishing cycle of about three weeks, with a value of 1,300 to 390 US dollars per ton of aquaculture. Therefore, the daily downtime cost will be as high as 15,000 US dollars. Such a fishing vessel cannot easily stop.
Fire in the cabin The Simunovich Fisheries acquired the Ocean and Wind number in 1998, which brought unprecedented challenges to the Simunovich fishing company. When the company bought the 61-meter-long fishing vessel, it was still a wreckage after a fire and required a major repair. The Simunovich Fisheries Company spent US$3.9 million for nine months to refit the ship. The fire that occurred on the sea and the wind was caused by the seawater entering the exhaust system of the V16 diesel internal combustion engine. The fire quickly spread to the cabin and extended to the rear deck, destroying everything in the rear cabin, including a nylon net worth $430,000. In order to ensure that such a disaster does not occur in the future, Wright attempts to introduce a monitoring/alarming solution to this problem while the fishing vessel rebuilds its electrical system. The challenge is to develop a set of suitable information collection and distributed HMI systems that are invaluable for marine operations. A hard-wired digital alarm system can be seen on traditional marine vessels. Wright found that this method has its limitations. He thinks: "Alarms take up a lot of space, can only monitor one place, and can not monitor analog. To be able to know the temperature of the exhaust, you must monitor the absolute analog data. The ship needs to monitor more than just a cockpit, In addition, a large amount of data needs to be collected from the engine room, cooling system, fire alarm system and other places - both analog and digital.
The wiring system of distributed I/O systems on any vessel is much more expensive and difficult than on-land hard-wired systems. Several hundred hard-wired points connected to multiple monitoring locations are obviously unrealistic and very expensive for ocean and wind numbers. Together with FH Electric's Fred Hansford, Wright has developed an innovative distributed I/O network that he envisions to support on-board information systems. A network of eight Allen-Bradley FLEX I/O frameworks is distributed throughout the ship, providing local connections for analog I/O associated with the ship's system. The FLEX I/O framework forms the nodes on the DeviceNet serial network backbone from bow to stern, while the DeviceNet backbone connects to Allen-Bradley's SLC host controller in the control room. This method greatly reduces and simplifies the wiring on board. The CAN-based DeviceNet can connect approximately 100 analog I/Os and 300 digital I/Os - these I/O points are related to the main engine system, water supply system, and alarm system on the ship, and thus point-to-point. Thousands of dollars are saved in I/O wiring and hardware.
The powerful SLC controller enables complex analysis of data on board. For example, the SLC can compare each of the eight exhaust temperatures on board with the calculated average. "If there is a nozzle failure, then the exhaust temperature of that cylinder will be lower than the average," Wright explained. "We are concerned about whether the temperature is above or below the average, or whether the thermocouple has a problem." This method actually allows us to monitor what is happening inside the engine.†The Oceans and Fengs DeviceNet message backbone uses Allen-Bradley's KwikLink connection system, which is provided through a flat four-conductor cable and insulation displacement connector (IDC). A simple, modular DeviceNet system. The system can significantly reduce labor and material expenses, and can easily and quickly add new nodes and delete discarded nodes on Ocean & Feng's DeviceNet network without cutting off the mainline.
Human Machine Interface (HMI) on the Deck
The system data on the Oceans and Winds is displayed through a distributed HMI system that includes four separate Allen-Bradley PanelView graphical operator interfaces - located in the cockpit, control room, engineer's cabin and assistants, respectively, of the fishing vessel. cabin. The fully configurable screen provides a complete "screen" of the control system on board the ship. The display screen can be automatically switched to display the highest priority alarm signal. DeviceNet can quickly transfer diagnostic information of an intelligent device, such as an input module, to each PanelView terminal. In this way, vital operational information can be rapidly transmitted throughout the ocean and wind numbers. Wright said: "In the past, the problem could not be discovered so quickly, so that delays in repairing were delayed. This could damage the equipment on board. Now, the alarm information can be seen in four different places - this guarantees a quick response. ."
The PanelView HMI/Distributed I/O System enables Simunovich to have almost unlimited capabilities in extending and developing SCADA and HMI systems. This is a very important feature because the requirements for information on board vary weekly. Since the system was completed in December 1999, numerous data points including engine RPM and RPM measurement data have been added to this system to date. These changes are simple and convenient. Only a small number of connections are required when new I/Os are added. However, the increase in the data display only requires some changes in the configuration screen. Information sharing is also simple and direct. The Sea and Breeze Seawater Monitoring System is capable of providing seawater at the main engine cooling vents. It was originally installed for engineering purposes and is only shown in the nacelle. Later, people found that the data on seawater conditions were very useful environmental data for the helmsman to locate fishing targets. After a simple reconfiguration on the screen, data on seawater can be displayed on the cockpit HMI.
Future prospects In the more than one year after the completion of the renovation, the Ocean and Fenghao have not missed any chance of operation. The crew of the SCADA system on board of the ship always knows the operation information of the fishing vessel and keeps the time of the shutdown (ship) of the fishing vessel to the minimum. Wright said, "The system provides 100% reliability, which is equivalent to 100% of the available fishing time, achieving 100% potential revenue." The system has also avoided at least A major repair. “We noticed that the main engine's exhaust temperature was higher than they should be,†Wright explained. “At that time, some people doubted, but we checked the exhaust temperature of the main engine with a hand-held thermometer. The SCADA system was correct— —We are operating at an overloaded speed.†A quick decision has prolonged the life of the engine and prevented an engine overhaul worth $172,000. Wright believes: “This marks that the Ocean and Fenghao have entered the informationized future. This is also a sign of active maintenance by the Simunovich fishing company based on the conditions of the fishing vessel. Maintenance and management is a major event. It used to be periodic overhaul and downtime maintenance. Now Regular maintenance will become history, and active maintenance and inventory management based on the status of the fishing vessel will be adopted in the future."
The Ocean and Breeze onboard information system provides all important information for such a maintenance plan. An ever-increasing database of system conditions will be the ideal basis for anticipating the future. This will make the ocean and wind numbers appear only occasionally in the port - the rest of the time at sea, "fishing!"