Recently, providing a controllable pitch propeller (CPP) has increased for convenience of maneuvering a ship or capability of using the shaft generator, and the conventional control algorithms of these CPP system are comparatively simple. However, CPP system has essentially the capability of controlling two freedoms because there are two input parameters of a propeller pitch angle (P) and a regulator handle position (R) in the system. One freedom must be used for controlling the ship speed which is the most important controlled value for vehicles.Another freedom should be utilized positively to improve or optimize some useful performances such as fuel consumption ratio (be), NOx emission and so on. These utilization is accomplished by controlling P and R simultaneously which is called the consolidated control. In the study, "be" or "be" plus NOx was adopted as the performance index of the utilization. There are two types of the consolidated contro1, "On-line type" and "On-line type''. In this study, Off-line type consolidated control was focused and investigated by simulation. Results showed the usefulness of this consolidated contro1.
1. Introduction The exhaust gas from the marine engine is likely to be regulated, and the requests for the saving of the fuel consumption is constantly more and more stringent. Regarding the NOx emission reduction, studies are made on the method of improvement by the main engine itself or the accessory exhaust gas treatment equipment such as the delay of the fuel injection timing, the combustion of the emulsion fuel, SCR and etc.while there is a methodl) to save the fuel consumption and improve the NOx emission by changing the operational plan of ships such as the derating and speed reduction. This study, if anything, belongs to the latter, and aims at the improvement of the fuel consumption or the NOx emission while the specified ship speed (Vs) is maintained by controlling the pitch angle of the controllable pitch propeller (CPP), and does not affect the operational plan. The employment of the CPP has been increased recently because of the convenience in maneuvering a ship and the capability of usage of the shaft generator.
* Translated from Journal of the MESJ Vo1. 30, No.6 (Manuscript received Nov. 29, 1994) Lectured May 1 8, 1 994 ** Faculty of Engineering, Osaka City University (3-3- 138, Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka City) * * * professor, Faculty of Engineering, Osaka City University (3-3-138, Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka City) **** NABCO, Ltd. ( 1- 1617- 1, Fukuyoshi-dai, Nishi-ku, Kobe City)
In the fixed pitch propeller (FPP), there is only one input parameter of the regulator handle position (R), while in the controllable pitch propeller, another input parameter of pitch angle (P) is added, providing two freedoms. The CPP system provides the advantages of the convenience in maneuvering a ship and the improvement of the evaluation function of which is described later, while this system forces the complicate simultaneous operation of two input parameters of R and P. Considering the present CPP control algorithm2), in order to avoid the complicate simultaneous operation, there is an algorithm of one-stage or two-stage speed control where the main engine speed (n) is set to be constant in one or two stages by R, and Vs is controlled by P. Also, there is an algorithm of combination of one-stage speed control below 60% MCR and FPP-dealing over 60% MCR. In addition, the combinator control may be used where the manual fine adjustment is possible for preventing the torque-rich. They are not the simultaneous consolidated contro1 of two freedoms of P and R, but the control of one freedom by switching the conditions. Of course, there are advanced algorithms such as ALC to automate the fine adjustment to prevent the torque-rich and ASC incorporating the Vs contro1, but they also evaluate the advantages in increasing the freedom to the maneuverability. These advantages are referred to as the evaluation function J, and the saving of the fuel consumption and the reduction of the NOx emission in addition to the maneuverablility should be considered
after the ship enters in the cruising condition as the purpose of the evaluation function J. The saving of the fuel consumption has been tried3), but the evaluation taking into consideration the reduction of the NOx emission has never been found. As the ratio of the fue1 consumption (be) and the NOx emission is generally in the directly-opposed relationship as indicated in Figs. 1 (a), (b), it can not be helped that "be" is slightly deteriorated if the improvement of the NOx is regarded as important. What is important is the optimization of the evaluation function of J=be+w . NOx (where w is the weight) .
Fig. 1 An example of qualitative characteristics of "be" and NOx
Recently, the regulatory value of NOx has been determined by IMO4). Some 4-stroke cycle engines can clear the regulatory value without arranging any special remedy for the requirement, or there are some engines which are further affordable. In such engines, not only before the execution of the NOx regulation but also thereafter, only the reduction of the fuel consumption can be the evaluation function J. In any case, the setting of the concrete w value depends on the time when the regulation comes into force and the "be" characteristic and the NOx characteristic of the engine. It is not so difficult to prepare the so-cailed J Optimized Table" as indicated in Fig. 2 for the simultaneous maneuvering of P and R to realize this consolidated control in various characteristics of the ship, i.e., the main engine, the propeller, and the hull resistance. Rather, the first difficulty is that no data as indicated in Figs. 1 (a), (b) are available. This is because the ratio of the operation hour at the normal torque and the normal speed is overwhelmingly large and unnecessary with the main engine for ships. However, when the consolidated control is considered, such data are essential. Though they are the data in the range (hereinafter referred to as the "within the hardware limit") because the range of the operable torque and speed is present for the respective engine. When attention is paid to one type of the main engine, it is mounted on various kinds of hulls. The combination with the propeller is the same. When the "J Optimized Table" is prepared, it is necessary to consider the combination of various characteristics of the main engine, the propeller and the hul1. The second difficulty is that fairly large amount of workload is required for this work. This is because a ship is not built in the mass-production basis of the same type such as automobiles, and it is difficult to charge the workload into each ship. The regulatory value itself becomes more and more stringent year by year, and the secular change is expected for various characteristics of the hull or the like. From these reasons, the "J Optimized Table" for the specified ship is not prepared in this study, but the simulation is considered on the system of the on-line type by the below-mentioned dynamic optimization so that the consolidated control can be automatically realized when the characteristics are once specified irrespective of the combination of any ship, i.e., any combination between the main engine, the propeller and the hul1. The ma/or nomenclatures are as follows.
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Simulation of NOx Reduction by Consolidated Control of Main Engine and CPP 23
2. Mode1
The general overview of the consolidated control is shown in Fig. 3. It is characteristic that the J-optimization of on-line type is realized for the off-line type having the "J Optimized Table". This study is the simulation, and the model of the object ship (within the dotted line in Fig. 3) is required, and the outlineh5) of this Eng~CPP system and the Hull system is shown in Fig. 4. The inputs P and R affect the thrust (FT) and n. That means, two inputs are coupled to each other. When J is optimized by n while the specified Vs is Satisfied by FT, it Seems convenient t0 preliminari1y cut off the coupling to precisely Control FT and n as Specified by the command value ( FT~, n~ ) in accordance with the below-mentioned optimization algorithm, and the Decoupling control6) as shown in the center of Fig. 3 is realized. FT~, n~ to Optimize the evaluation function J are obtained on-line by the Dynamic optimization algorithm part in Fig. 3, and in this algorithm, FT is controlled by P, and J is basically optimized by n. However, due to the above-mentioned limitation of the hardware, FT is contro1led by n when P is Critical. In this case, J-optimization without limit is impossible.
3. Identification by Neural Network
It is essential to understand the characteristics of the object system, i.e., the main engine, the propeller, and the hull in order to realize the decoupling control and the dynamic optimization. The object system is a dynamic non-linear system. Generally speaking, it is difficult by the normal method to identify the dynamic non-linearity. Thus, the neural networks (NN) suitable for the non-linear expression are employed. The NN
Fig. 5 Neural networks for the identification
are made as the NN group of the discrete system (NN1-NN5, the number of neurons of the hidden layer is 20 for each group) which indicated in Fig. 5 from the
viewpoint of the learning efficiency by the Back propagation (BP) method7). Fig. 6 shows the example of the NN identification, and the left side shows the "be" contour lines of the main engine and the NOx contour lines (where NOxmax means the maximum values of the NOx emission, and is the relative expression of Nox/NOxmax) which are used in the simulation study, while the right side shows the three-dimensional expression of the outputs of NN4, NN5 which are BP-learned. The identification of the relatively excellent non-linear characteristic is recognized from the figure8). NN1 is the dynamic NN as can be seen with n(k + 1 ) for the input n(k).
4.Dynamic Optimization
The dynamic optimization, i.e., the on-line action is generally explained using Fig. 7. The object system in the right means the real ship in future, but now, the mathematical model of Fig. 4 in this study. Various operational conditions P, R, n, Vs and Tq are constantly measured in this "maneuvering" mode. The thrust keeper in the figure is the block to realize the thrust FT to obtain the specified Vs by P, and the FT closed loop
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Simulation of NOx Reduction by Consolidated Control of Main Engine and CPP 25
system to contro1 P so as to constantly continue to realize the specified thrust FT even when the main engine speed n is changed. The J optimizer is the system to constantly keep the apex Jmax by searching the evaluation function J with n by the mountain-climbing method. The non-linear characteristics of the object system are required to realize the searching on the real time basis, and this can be realized by the access to the preliminarily learned NN group in Chapter 3 using the measurement of P, R or the like. Thus, the Dynamic optimization algorithm part in Fig. 4 consists of the thrust keeper and the J optimizer. The feedback gain suitable for the operational conditions is essential to realize the excellent operation of the closed loop system of the thrust keeper and of the closed loop system of the J optimizer. The high speed operation for getting the gain is realized by the method9) to obtain various coefficients of the object system by the I/O partial differential of NN under the operational conditions and the pole designating method. (top of Fig.7) Fig. 8 shows the details of this dynamically optimized part, and the left top part shows the FT~ - FT~ c1osed loop system, while the left bottom part shows the optimization loop by the mountain climbing method to modify J in the optimizing direction with the step of An until J/nn=0 is obtained. J is defined as J=be+w NOx,and both weights can be changed with w. As can be seen from the figure, this system can be used for the general purpose if the respective identified NN groups of the ship and the main engine are replaced.
5. Results of Simulation
Fig. 9 and 10 show the example of the simulation results with the test ship model5). The top part shows the time response, the middle part shows the loci of the engine factors (Te ~ n) and the bottom part shows the loci of the hull factors (FT ~ Vs). Fig. 9 shows the case (a) where only "be" is optimized (J="be"), and Fig.10 shows the case (b) where J=be+w . NOx is optimized with the adjusted weight w so that NOx/NOxmax may be below 50%. As seen in the figure of FT, this is the behavior when the step of the ship speed is increased, and this can be understood from the fact that FT~, FT~ and FT are completely overlapped by the thrust keeper as shown in the curve FT ~ t, and from the loci of the hull factors. (FT ~ t, Vs ~ t are totally same for both figures).
However, the operation of the engine is different according to the difference in the designated value of J of the consolidated control as seen in n ~ t, P ~ t, or in the loci of the engine factors, and NOx ~ t is remarkably different, and below 50% in Fig. 10. The fu in the time response fu ~ t is the fuel consumption g/s to be converted from "be", and slightly deteriorated in Fig. 10 though it is difficult to make discrimination with the scale of Figs. 9 and 10. Fig. 11 shows the effect of this consolidated control when this simulation results are rearranged, and the ship speed Vs is changed. The contro1 (a) is the case of J="be", while the contro1 (b) is the case where NOx is suppressed with the condition of J<5%. The contro1 (c) is the one-stage speed control where this consolidated control is not realized, but the ship speed Vs is changed by the pitch angle P at the constant engine speed (n=3.4s^-1 this engine speed is "be"-optimized" zone). The axis of ordinate in Fig. 11 (A) means the fuel increase ratio Rfu of the controls (b) and (c) when the contro1 (a) is set to the base of 0%. In the contro1 (b),it is found that the deterioration of around 5% (max) is Fig. 10 Simulation result of J = be'' + w . NOx
made in the intermediate speed zone, while in the contro1 (c), it is found that Rfu is fairly deteriorated if the ship speed is deviated from the normal value (5.0-5.5 m/s). Fig. 11 (B) shows the comparison of Nox/ NOxmax, and it is found that the suppression of con-stantly below 50% is made in the contro1 (b), the discharge of 80% NOx is made around Vs=4.2 m/s in the contro1 (a), and the rapid deterioration of NOx is made at high speed in the contro1 (c). From these results, the effect when this consolidated control is realized with the ship is expected.
6. Conclusion
The consolidated control is simulated where the fuel consumption and NOx are the evaluation function. The consolidated contro1 of the on-line type is aimed at because a ship is not built in the mass-production basis. The characteristics of the hull and the main engine seem to be subject to the secular change10). The control of this on-line type has the capability to be developed into the control of adaptive type.
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Simulation of NOx Reduction by Consolidated Control of Main Engine and CPP 27
Fig. 11 Relative behaviors of fuel consumption (A) and NOx emission (B) in the case of control (a), (b) and (c)
The control of this on-line type is provided with the universality at the same time, and can be converted into the expert system11) for preparing the "J Optimized Table". It is common that he evaluation function is optimized by controlling the combustion parameter (e.g., the fuel injection timing) in the engine such as one for the automobile where the condition of the engine operation is frequently change do In the marine engine, the ratio of the time of the normal output operation is overwhelmingly large, and the contro1 of the combustion parameter is not common. This consolidated contro1, from different viewpoint, changes the condition of the engine operation by controlling the combustion parameters within the limit of the hardwares for the optimization without providing any additional facilities/equipment in the CPP ship to supplement the uncommon practice of the marine engine. As shown in Fig. 11, this consolidated control seems effective on ships engaged in the coasting service where the condition of the engine operation is relatively often changed. The problem with this consolidated control is the case where the evaluation function J is not monotonous, but mu1ti-hump characteristics. J of the main engine used in this study is fortunately monotonous, and no optimizing action is stopped with the local minimum. Generally, the limit on the hardwares is not so extensive, therefore, it is believed that the engines which have monotonus characteristic are common. However, that depends on the "be" characteristic of the main engine, the NOx characteristic, and the setting of the weight w in any case. The remedy for the case with multi-hump characteristic will be examined in the future study.
References
1) Tayama, J. of MESJ, 29- 1 ( 1994- 1), 5 2) Kaizu, Proc. of 26th MESJ special fund conference, 1 9 3) Ichikawa and Mori, Internal Combustion Engine, 17-217 (1978-11), 17 4) Tayama, J. of MESJ, 29-2 ( 1994-2), 99 5) Morita and Fukuba, J of MESJ, 26- 11 ( 1991- 11 ), 10 6) Morita and Fukuba, J of MESJ, 26- 11 ( 1991 - 11), 18 7) e.g., Morita, JSAE Review, 14-3 ( 1993-7), 4 8) Morita, et al, Proc. of IASTED ( 1994-5), 332 9) Fukuba, et al, Trans. of JSME 60-575 ( 1994-7), 167 10) Nishikawa, et al, Tech. Papers of ISME '90 ( 1990- 10), A-4 11) Morita, Proc. of Japan/Taiwan Int. Sym. on Mechatronics ( 1994- 11 ), 1
Message :
It is believed that the contro1 of the combustion parameters becomes necessary to some extent in future to improve the fuel consumption and the NOx emission even in a FPP ship. It is characteristic with the marine engine that the operational condition is not so frequently and rapidly changed compared with that of the automobile engine, and it is expected that the method of optimization on the real time basis, i.e., the adaptive control can be employed as the basic algorithm of the control of the combustion parameters. The adaptive control is essential to cope with the change of many unknown characteristics including the increase in the hull resistance due to the secular fouling of the hu11, the secular change of the characteristics of the main engine, the sea conditions, and the weather conditions, and to constantly optimize the intended evaluation function. The ship is thought to be the object to meet this requirement.