STEERING

GEAR
 A Steering Gear is the equipment provided on
ships to turn the ship to left (Port side) or to right
(Starboard side) while in motion during sailing. The
Steering Gear works only when the ship is in
motion and, does not work when the ship is
stationary. All the ships are to be provided with, an
efficient main steering gear, an auxiliary steering
gear and, except for very small ships, the main
steering gear should be power operated.
Manually operated, mechanical Steering
Gears were in use during sailing ship
days. Sailors with strong body were
required to operate the Steering Gears.
Later on, after the onset of steam engines,
mechanized gears were used. Modern
ships use all very sophisticated Steering
Gear systems which could fall in either of
the categories
All ships to be provided with main and
auxiliary steering gear, independent
from each other.
 Rudder stock shall be of adequate strength and
capable of steering the ship at maximum ahead
speed.
 Capable of putting rudder over from 35° one side
to 35° other side at its deepest draft and maximum
ahead service speed and 35° on either side to 30°
on other side in 28 seconds.
 Operated by power and designed so as not to
incur damage at maximum astern speed.
 Capable of putting the rudder 15° one side to 15° the other side in
60 seconds, when vessel at deepest draft and running ahead at ½
maximum ahead service speed or 7 knots whichever is greater.
 Adequate strength and capable of steering at a navigable speed.
 Steering gear control from Navigation Bridge and locally.
 Auxiliary steering gear controls from locally and if power operated
also operable from Navigation Bridge.
 Steering capability to be regained in not more than 45 seconds
after the loss of one power system.
Test is within 12 hours of departure
Emergency steering drills once every 3
months
In every tanker, chemical tanker or gas
carrier of 10,000 gross tonnage And
upwards and in every other ship of
70,000 gross tonnage and upwards, The
main steering gear shall comprise two
or more identical power units
Complying with the provisions.
 Every tanker, chemical tanker or gas carrier of
10,000 gross tonnage and up words shall, subject
to para. 17, comply with the following,
 The main steering gear shall be so arranged that
in the event of Loss of steering capability due to
a single failure in any part of one Of the power
actuating systems of the main steering gear,
Excluding the tiller, quadrant or components
serving the same Purpose, or seizure of the
rudder actuators, steering capability Shall be
regained in not more than 45 seconds after the
loss of one Power actuating system;
 Two independent and separate power actuating systems, each
Capable of meeting the requirements , or
 At least two identical power actuating systems which, acting
Simultaneously in normal operation, shall be capable of meeting
The requirements ,Where necessary to comply With this
requirement, interconnection of hydraulic power Actuating
systems shall be provided.
 Loss of hydraulic fluid from One system shall be capable of being
detected and the defective System automatically isolated so that
the other actuating system Or systems shall remain partially
operational, Steering gears other than of the hydraulic type shall
achieve Equivalent standards.
For tankers, chemical tankers or gas carriers of 10,000
gross tonnage And upward, but of less than 100,000 tonnes
deadweight, solutions other Than those set out in
paragraph 16, which need not apply the single failure
Criterion to the rudder actuator or actuators, may be
permitted provided that An equivalent safety standard is
achieved and that:
 Following loss of steering capability due to a single
failure of any Part of the piping system or in one of the
power units, steering Capability shall be regained within
45sec ; and
 Where the steering gear includes only a single
rudder actuator Special consideration is given to
stress analysis for the design Including fatigue
analysis and fracture mechanics analysis, as
Appropriate, to the material used, to the
installation of sealing Arrangements and to
testing and inspection and to the provision Of
effective maintenance.
 In consideration of the foregoing, the
Administration shall adopt regulations which
include the Provisions of the guidelines for
acceptance of non-duplicated.
Fully hydraulic type
Electro hydraulic type
Fully electric type
A hydraulic power steering (HPS)
uses hydraulic pressure supplied
by an engine-driven pump to
assist the motion of turning the
steering wheel.
 In hydraulic and electro-hydraulic systems, hydraulic
pressure is developed by hydraulic pumps which are
mainly driven by electric motors (electro-hydraulic
systems) or sometimes through purely mechanical means
(hydraulic systems).
 However, mainly advanced electro-hydraulic systems are
predominant in ships nowadays. These hydraulic pumps
play a crucial role in generating the required pressure to
create motions in the steering gear which can trigger the
necessary rotary moments in the rudder system.
Electric power steering (EPS) is more efficient
than the hydraulic power steering, since the
electric power steering motor only needs to
provide assistance when the steering wheel is
turned, whereas the hydraulic pump must run
constantly. In EPS, the assist level is easily
tunable to the vehicle type, road speed, and
even driver preference
Though the system has undergone some major evolution, the basic physics of operation
remains the same.

Figure 1: Modern day advanced steering control at helm

 The main control of the steering operations is given from
the helm of any ship, similar to an automobile where the
entire control of the vehicle’s “steer-ability” rests on the
steering wheel of the driver. The ‘control force’ for turning
is triggered off from the wheel at the helm, which reaches
the steering gear system.
 The steering gear system generates a torsional force at a
certain scale which is then, in turn, is transmitted to the
rudder stock that turns the rudder. The intermediate
steering systems of a modern day ship can be multifarious
with each small component having its own unique function.
We omit to discuss each and every such component in
detail.
The rudder system consists of the following:
 Rudder actuators
 Power units
 Other auxiliary equipment needed to apply turn the
rudder by applying torque
 Hydraulic pumps and valves
In hydraulic and electro-hydraulic systems,
hydraulic pressure is developed by hydraulic pumps
which are mainly driven by electric motors (electro-
hydraulic systems) or sometimes through purely
mechanical means (hydraulic systems).
However, mainly advanced electro-hydraulic
systems are predominant in ships nowadays. These
hydraulic pumps play a crucial role in generating
the required pressure to create motions in the
steering gear which can trigger the necessary rotary
moments in the rudder system.
These pumps are basically of two major types:
 Radial piston type (Hele-Shaw)
 Axial Piston type (Swash plate)
Radial Piston Type Pump
The variable pump assembly,also known as radial cylinder Hele Shaw
pump, consists of a short shaft, which is attached to a cylindrical body
that rotates inside the casing. The cylindrical body surrounds a central
valve and has ball bearings at the ends. The central valve and the
cylindrical ports are connected to each other by means of ports, which
open in the outer casing from where the oil is supplied and delivered.
All the cylinder bodies have pistons inside and are fastened to the
slippers by means of gudgeon pin. All these slippers are located
inside slots made in the circular floating ring, which can also rotate in
any directions because of the bearings mounted in the guide blocks.
Two spindles control the movement of the ring and comes out of the
casing though the slots provided.
Figure 2: Radial Piston Type Pump
Working principle

The operation of the pump, though a bit complex, is an

interesting one. As shown in the figure, the circular ring,
which accommodates the slippers is concentric with the
central valve arrangement . Due to this, the piston doesn’t
have any relative reciprocating motion inside the cylinder.
No oil is pumped or sucked in and although the pump is
rotating no fluid is delivered, during this state. But this is
only until the arrangement is concentric. As soon as the
circular floating ring is pulled to the right the pistons in the
cylinder undergo a reciprocating motion.
 The lower piston moves inwards and discharges fluid
through the lower port. The piston moves till the horizontal
position and then moves outwards in the opposite direction,
drawing in fluid through the upper ports. Thus in this way
the top ports act as suction ports and the lower ports act as
discharge ports. If the circular ring is pushed to the left
direction, the suction and discharge ports are reversed.
 All the variable displacement pumps are
positive displacement pumps, with a constantly
rotating arrangement and a variable discharge
design. If the system has more than one pump,
a non reversing locking gear is provided,
which prevents the reverse operation that
might take place at times when only one pump
is operating. Moreover, the arrangement is
such that as soon as the pump is stopped the
locking gear would come into action .
Figure 3: Working principle of operation of the pump.
Axial Piston Type Pump

An axial piston pump has a number of pistons

(usually an odd number) arranged in a circular array
within a housing which is commonly referred to as
a cylinder block, rotor or barrel. This cylinder block
is driven to rotate about its axis of symmetry by an
integral shaft that is, more or less, aligned with the
pumping pistons (usually parallel but not
necessarily).
 Mating surfaces. One end of the cylinder block is convex and wears against a
mating surface on a stationary valve plate. The inlet and outlet fluid of the pump
pass through different parts of the sliding interface between the cylinder block and
valve plate. The valve plate has two semi-circular ports that allow inlet of the
operating fluid and exhaust of the outlet fluid respectively.
 Protruding pistons. The pumping pistons protrude from the opposite end of the
cylinder block. There are numerous configurations used for the exposed ends of
the pistons but in all cases they bear against a cam. In variable displacement units,
the cam is movable and commonly referred to as a swashplate, yoke or hanger. For
conceptual purposes, the cam can be represented by a plane, the orientation of
which, in combination with shaft rotation, provides the cam action that leads to
piston reciprocation and thus pumping. The angle between a vector normal to the
cam plane and the cylinder block axis of rotation, called the cam angle, is one
variable that determines the displacement of the pump or the amount of fluid
pumped per shaft revolution. Variable displacement units have the ability to vary
the cam angle during operation whereas fixed displacement units do not.
 Reciprocating pistons. As the cylinder block rotates, the exposed ends of the
pistons are constrained to follow the surface of the cam plane. Since the cam plane
is at an angle to the axis of rotation, the pistons must reciprocate axially as they
precess about the cylinder block axis. The axial motion of the pistons is sinusoidal.
During the rising portion of the piston's reciprocation cycle, the piston moves
toward the valve plate. Also, during this time, the fluid trapped between
the buried end of the piston and the valve plate is vented to the pump's discharge
port through one of the valve plate's semi-circular ports - the discharge port. As the
piston moves toward the valve plate, fluid is pushed or displaced through the
discharge port of the valve plate.
 Effect of precession. When the piston is at the top of the reciprocation cycle
(commonly referred to as top-dead-center or just TDC), the connection between
the trapped fluid chamber and the pump's discharge port is closed. Shortly
thereafter, that same chamber becomes open to the pump's inlet port. As the piston
continues to precess about the cylinder block axis, it moves away from the valve
plate thereby increasing the volume of the trapped chamber. As this occurs, fluid
enters the chamber from the pump's inlet to fill the void. This process continues
until the piston reaches the bottom of the reciprocation cylinder - commonly
referred to as bottom-dead-center or BDC. At BDC, the connection between the
pumping chamber and inlet port is closed. Shortly thereafter, the chamber
becomes open to the discharge port again and the pumping cycle starts over.
 Variable displacement. In a variable displacement pump, if the
vector normal to the cam plane (swash plate) is set parallel to the
axis of rotation, there is no movement of the pistons in their cylinders.
Thus there is no output. Movement of the swash plate controls pump
output from zero to maximum. There are two kinds of variable-
displacement axial piston pumps:
 direct displacement control pump, a kind of axial piston pump with a direct
displacement control. A direct displacement control uses a mechanical lever
attached to the swashplate of the axial piston pump. Higher system pressures
require more force to move that lever, making direct displacement control only
suitable for light or medium duty pumps. Heavy duty pumps require servo
control.[1] A direct displacement control pump contains linkages and springs and
in some cases magnets rather than a shaft to a motor located outside of the pump
(thereby reducing the number of moving parts), keeping parts protected and
lubricated and reducing the resistance against the flow of liquid.
 servo control pump.
 Pressure. In a typical pressure-compensated pump, the swash plate angle is
adjusted through the action of a valve which uses pressure feedback so that the
instantaneous pump output flow is exactly enough to maintain a designated
pressure. If the load flow increases, pressure will momentarily decrease but the
pressure-compensation valve will sense the decrease and then increase the swash
plate angle to increase pump output flow so that the desired pressure is restored. In
reality most systems use pressure as a control for this type of pump. The operating
pressure reaches, say, 200 bar (20 MPa or 2900 psi) and the swash plate is driven
towards zero angle (piston stroke nearly zero) and with the inherent leaks in the
system allows the pump to stabilise at the delivery volume that maintains the set
pressure. As demand increases the swash plate is moved to a greater angle, piston
stroke increases and the volume of fluid increases; if the demand slackens the
pressure will rise, and the pumped volume diminishes as the pressure rises. At
maximum system pressure the output is once again almost zero. If the fluid demand
increases beyond the capacity of the pump to deliver, the system pressure will
drop to near zero. The swash plate angle will remain at the maximum allowed, and
the pistons will operate at full stroke. This continues until system flow-demand
eases and the pump's capacity is greater than demand. As the pressure rises the
swash-plate angle modulates to try to not exceed the maximum pressure while
meeting the flow demand.[2]
Design difficulties:
Designers have a number of problems to overcome in designing axial piston pumps.
One is managing to be able to manufacture a pump with the fine tolerances
necessary for efficient operation. The mating faces between the rotary piston-
cylinder assembly and the stationary pump body have to be almost a perfect seal
while the rotary part turns at perhaps 3000 rpm. The pistons are usually less than half
an inch (13 mm) in diameter with similar stroke lengths. Keeping the wall to piston
seal tight means that very small clearances are involved and that materials have to
be closely matched for similar coefficient of expansion.
The pistons have to be drawn outwards in their cylinder by some means. On small
pumps this can be done by means of a spring inside the cylinder that forces the
piston up the cylinder. Inlet fluid pressure can also be arranged so that the fluid
pushes the pistons up the cylinder. Often a vane pump is located on the same drive
shaft to provide this pressure and it also allows the pump assembly to draw fluid
against some suction head from the reservoir, which is not an attribute of the unaided
axial piston pump.
Another method of drawing pistons up the cylinder is to attach
the cylinder heads to the surface of the swash plate. In that way
the piston stroke is totally mechanical. However, the designer's
problem of lubricating the swash plate face (a sliding contact) is
made even more difficult.
Internal lubrication of the pump is achieved by use of the
operating fluid—normally called hydraulic fluid. Most hydraulic
systems have a maximum operating temperature, limited by the
fluid, of about 120 °C (250 °F) so that using that fluid as a
lubricant brings its own problems. In this type of pump the
leakage from the face between the cylinder housing and the
body block is used to cool and lubricate the exterior of the
rotating parts. The leakage is then carried off to the reservoir or
to the inlet side of the pump again. Hydraulic fluidthat has been
used is always cooled and passed through micrometre-sized
filters before recirculating through the pump.
Actuators mediate the coordination between
the generated hydraulic pressure from pumps
(driven electrically, of course) and the rudder
stock by converting it into a mechanical force
creating a turning moment for the rudder.
Actuators are now mainly electrically driven
by power units.
These actuators, in turn, can be of two types:
 Ram type
 Rotary Vane type
 Ram type steering gear is one of the commonly used steering gear
construction and is quite expensive in construction. The basic principle is
same as that of a hydraulically-driven motor engine or lift.
 There are four hydraulic cylinders attached to the two arms of the actuator
disc, on both sides. These cylinders are directly coupled to electrically
driven hydraulic pumps which generate hydraulic pressure through pipes.
This hydraulic pressure field present in the pumps imparts motion to the
hydraulic cylinders, which in turn corresponds with the actuator to act upon
the rudder stock. As we know, rudder stock is an indispensable part of the
entire steering gear arrangement of ships and dictates the exact behaviour
of the rudder response.
 The sense of turning the rudder is guided by the action of the hydraulic
pump. The physics behind its function can be explained better with the
help of the following figure.
Figure 4: Working principle of RAM-type
Steering Gear System.
Here the cylinders denoted A and C are connected to the discharge
side of the pump. This generates a positive pressure in the piston
cylinders. On the contrary, the other two cylinders B and D are
connected to the suction side of the pump. This creates a negative
pressure in the cylinders. The resultant forces create a clockwise
moment in the rudder. To put it simply, positive and negative pressures
from pumps generate lateral forces on the rams which create a couple
for turning the rudder stock.
Similarly, to put it in a anticlockwise turning sense, the reverse is
carried out, viz. the discharge ends of the pumps are connected to the
cylinders B and D, while the suction side of the pumps are to A and C.
This reverse pressure flow from hydraulic pumps is achieved with the
help of control valves operated from the wheelhouse.
The ram type steering gear arrangement produces a considerably
high value of torque for a given applied power. The hydraulic oil
pressure varies from 100 bars to 175 bars depending on the size of the
rudder and torque required.
In rotary vane steering gear, there is a
fixed housing in which two vanes rotate.
The housing along with the vanes form
four chambers. The physics behind its
operation is similar to the ram type with a
small difference.
Figure 5: Working principle of Rotary Vane
Steering Gear System.
When chambers A and C are pressurised, there is an
anticlockwise rotation of the vanes. A and C are
connected to the discharge side of the pump while
chambers B and D are connected to the suction side
of the pump.
Similarly, when clockwise rotation is required, B and
D are connected to the discharge side of the pump
while A and C are connected to the suction side of
the pump. As above, this is also operated by
specialised control valves.
Thus, differential pressurisation of the chambers
cause rotational moments in the vane.
Rotary vane type arrangement is used when the pressure
requirement is 60 to 100 bar for producing required torque.
This is the main advantage of rotary vane type steering gear,
requiring lesser hydraulic pressure and thus power for
producing the same amount of torque as ram type.
There are 3 fixed and 3 moving vanes, which can make
rudder angles up to 70 degrees, i.e 35 degrees on each side.
This arrangement has several other advantages like lower
installation cost, less weight and smaller space required.
The fixed and rotating vanes are of spheroidal graphite cast
iron. Keys are often provided in the rotary vanes for proper
strength and orientation.
 END OF REPORT
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