HRS ship - Ship concepts for Harvesting, Recovery and Storage of Energy

Volatile fuel prices and emissions regulations drive the maritime industry towards more cost-effective and environmentally friendly technologies and operations. The objective of the HRS ship project is to improve significantly the efficiency of ships via detailed mapping of energy losses and introduction of energy Harvesting, Recovery & Storage (HRS) systems. An extensive measurement campaign has been undertaken, exploiting the existing sensors onboard the participating ship, an LNG carrier, as well as a number of new sensors installed in the course of the project. A continuous data flow from ship to shore has been established. Processing and analysis of the sensor data is an ongoing process, using statistical methods and algorithms for filtering and processing the data. Monitoring of the ship will continue beyond the end of the project, in the new project MODAM starting now with the same industrial partners. An operating profile for the ship has been established based on monthly logs of already available data. This is now being updated as new data become available. Exergy analysis based on the collected measurements data has revealed the sources of energy losses. A number of technologies for energy Harvesting (e.g. solar), Recovery (e.g. reliquefaction of natural gas, Organic Rankine Cycle) and Storage (e.g. batteries) are being considered, taking into account the points of highest energy loss from the exergy analysis. In addition, the change of operational strategies through optimization of the Power Management System operation is being assessed, and results show potential for energy savings of up to 5%. A monitoring and decision support tool has been developed to demonstrate how sensor data can be used in the future. Using the tool, the ship operator will have a detailed overview of ships operations and the performance of its machinery systems. This will allow for quick adjustments of ship's efficiency, and can be the basis for new services. While the focus of this project has been on energy efficiency and HRS technologies, the role of sensors and sensor-based performance monitoring has emerged as a very important part of the project. Significant resources have been allocated on this, and an effort to capitalize on this experience is now taking place. It is expected that sensor-based monitoring will play a key role in future ship operations, and this project has provided the basis for diving deeper into technologies related to transfer, handling, filtering and processing of data.

Rising fuel prices and emissions regulations drive the maritime industry towards more cost-effective and environmentally friendly technologies and operations. The project objective is to improve significantly the efficiency of ships via detailed mapping o f energy losses and introduction of energy Harvesting, Recovery & Storage (HRS) systems. Onboard measurements on an LNG ship will be performed to map the total ship energy flow. Exergy analysis on the data will reveal the sources of energy losses. The poi nts of high energy loss will become the focus for energy Harvesting (e.g. solar), Recovery (e.g. thermoelectrics, cold LNG energy, ORC) and Storage (e.g. heat tanks, batteries). Screened HRS combinations will be assessed and ranked via model-based simulat ions. The introduction of HRS systems can be used to optimise the performance of the energy system and maximize total ship energy efficiency. A decision support tool will also be developed for ship-specific assessment of the potential and impact of HRS te chnologies. In this effort there are R&D challenges involving measurements, mapping of the ship energy flow, HRS component design, power management and control and system integration. Further, qualification of HRS technologies for marine use, safety and o perability are of significant importance but also complex. To address these challenges considerable effort is required in applying a holistic model-based systems engineering and integration approach, capable to concurrently manage these issues. Upon succe ssful accomplishment of the project the energy savings and application potential of HRS technologies is expected to be significant. The novel methods and tools to be developed will provide ship oners with the opportunity to select the best HRS solution fo r their specific requirements, minimising fuel costs and environmental impact. The strong market position of the consortium partners guarantees the effective dissemination of results in the shipping industry.