• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.1124-1128
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• 2021

As regulations of emissions from ships become more stringent, electric propulsion systems have been increasingly used to solve this problem in vessels ranging from large merchant ships to small and medium-sized ships. Methods for improving the efficiency of the electric propulsion system include the improvement of power sources; the use of a system linked to environmentally friendly power sources, such as batteries, fuel cells, and solar power; and the development of hardware and control methodology for rectifiers, power conversion devices, and propulsion motors. The method using a phase-shifting transformer with diodes has been widely used for rectification. Power semiconductor devices with grid connection to an environmentally friendly power source using DC distribution, a variable speed power source, and the application of small and medium-sized electric propulsion systems have been developed. Accordingly, the demand for active front-end (AFE) rectifiers is increasing. In this study, a method using a neural network rather than a conventional proportional-integral controller was proposed to control the AFE rectifier. Tested controller data were used to design a neural network controller trained through MATLAB/Simulink. The neural network controller was applied to a rectification system designed using PSIM software. The results indicated the effectiveness of improving the waveform and power factor DC output stage according to the load variation. The proposed system can be applied as a rectification system for small and medium-sized environmentally friendly ships.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.1098-1105
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• 2021

The International Maritime Organization has steadily strengthened environmental regulations on nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide emitted from marine vessels. Consequently, the demand for electric propulsion vessels based on eco-friendly elements has increased. To this end, research and development has been steadily conducted for various vessels. In electric propulsion systems, a redundancy configuration is typically adopted to increase reliability and facilitate the onboard arrangement. Furthermore, studies have been actively conducted to ensure the safety of electric propulsion systems through the combination with digital twin technology. A digital twin can be used to predict outcomes in advance by implementing real-world equipment or space in a virtual world like twins, integrating real-world information and data with the virtual world, and performing computer simulations of situations that can occur in a real environment. In this study, we perform failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) to validate the electric power management system (PMS) redundancy scheme for the digital twin technology development of electric propulsion vessels. Then, we propose the role and algorithm of PMS as a compensation function for preventing primary and secondary damages caused by a single equipment failure of the PMS and preventing additional damages by analyzing the impact on the entire system under real vessel operating conditions based on the redundancy FMEA suggested for the ship classification and certification. We verified the improvement in propulsion conservation through tests.