New Solution for Measuring Hull Paint Performance
MACSEA offers an independent hull monitoring service designed to save fuel and reduce emissions by detecting hull fouling as early as possible. The new service, called Hull Medic, uses automatic onboard data acquisition to gather salient ship performance data and transmit it ashore for detailed analysis. Hull Medic will typically review 100,000’s of a ship’s data records per month, providing high-accuracy statistical analysis for earlier detection of hull fouling. Hull Medic calibrates each ship’s propeller as a power absorption dynamometer, using propeller characteristics and “clean-hull” ship performance data. The calibration establishes the unique relationship between speed, propeller rpm, and shaft power for each vessel. The propeller can then be used to track power, fuel, and emission increases over time. The technique works for ships with single, double, fixed, or variable pitched propellers. Performance reports are provided to shipping management on a timely basis such that significant fuel penalties don’t go unnoticed.
