Abstract
This paper presents a method for measuring the shaft power of a marine main engine. Usually, in traditional systems for measuring shaft power, a strain gauge is used even though it has several disadvantages. First, it is difficult to set up the strain gauge on the shaft and acquire the correct signal for analysis. Second, it is very expensive and complicated. For these reasons, we investigated alternative approaches for measuring shaft power and proposed a new method that uses a vision-based measurement system. For this study, templates for image processing and CCD cameras were installed at the both ends of the shaft. Then, in order for the cameras to capture the images synchronously, we used a trigger mark and a optical sensor. The position of each template between the first and the second camera images were compared to calculate the torsion angle. The proposed measurement system can be installed more easily than traditional measurement systems and is suitable for any shaft because it does not contact the shaft. With this approach, it is possible to measure the shaft power while a ship is operating.
