Abstract

A ship’s dynamic positioning mode is used to allow the ship to maintain its coordinate position relative to a seafloor reference point. Such operation is needed to allow operations at sea when the ship must be idle, but when mooring or anchoring is not possible. Dynamic positioning mode is also vital in offshore drilling activity. As such, dynamic positioning, with either an open-or closed-bus configuration, has always been associated with a high-risk task. Meanwhile, dynamic positioning mode is achieved with electrical equipment support systems which depend highly on a reliable power system supply — so ensuring the quality of the ship’s electric voltage is essential. Inadequate voltage quality can cause poor electrical power system reliability. It can further reduce the effectiveness of the electrical equipment, which ultimately affects the reliability of the dynamic positioning as well. Thus, securing the voltage quality of the ship’s electric grid is a relevant challenge in order to ensure safe and reliable dynamic positioning operations. In this research, the potential impact of drops in the ship’s electric grid voltage and their occurrence under dynamic positioning mode is the focus of the study. Our investigations will show that there is a high risk of an unwanted voltage drop when the ship is undergoing dynamic positioning mode. Several scenarios were examined to validate the evidence. It was found that in certain scenarios, the voltage drop can go down to below the acceptable voltage deviation IEC Standard (± 5%). Through correctly adjusted line reconfiguration and optimized capacitive placements, we demonstrate that the proposed methods can alleviate the problem.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)339-348
Number of pages10
JournalInternational Review of Electrical Engineering
Volume14
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2019

Keywords

  • Dynamic positioning
  • ETAP
  • IEC
  • Load flow analysis
  • Loss-of-Position
  • Simulation analysis
  • Voltage drop

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