Fault tolerant vessel stabiliser control system

摘要

A vessel stabilizer control system (12) includes a sensor fault detection means (16) which senses the availability of sensing signals from a gyrostabilizer precession motion sensor (10) and a vessel roll motion sensor (14). The control system (12) controls the action of a gyro-actuator (8) which is mechanically coupled to a gyrostabilizer (4). The benefit of employing fault sensing of the sensors providing the process control variables is that the sensed number of available process control variables (or sensors) can be used to activate a tiered system of control modes. Each tiered control mode is designed to utilize the available process control variables to ensure safe and effective operation of the gyrostabilizer (4) that is tolerant of sensor faults and loss of power supply. A control mode selector (18) is provided for selecting the appropriate control mode based on the number of available process control variables.

主权项

1. A stabiliser control method for stabilising marine vessel motion induced by excitation wave forces, the method comprising the steps of: detecting the availability or otherwise of a precession motion sensor signal and the availability or otherwise of a vessel roll motion sensor signal; selecting a first control mode when both the sensor signals are available; selecting a second control mode when only one of the sensor signals is available; and, selecting a third control mode when both sensor signals are unavailable, and using the selected first, second or third control mode in controlling the stabiliser.