Customer application 27 August 2020
Transparency for Propulsion

Whether it’s a luxury yacht, a cruise ship or a specialty ship – diesel–electric drive systems provide great benefits wherever electrical energy consumption is high. This is one of the core competencies of SAM Electronics. This company specializes in marine electrical and electronic systems. In designing innovative propulsion solutions, the Hamburg-based company relies on the flexibility and reliability of WAGO’s I/O system.

SAM Electronics, a subsidiary of L-3 Communications, is a world leader in marine electrical and electronic systems. For more than 100 years, SAM Electronics has developed products and systems for both shipping and naval applications. With more than 600 employees at its headquarters in Hamburg, Germany and nearly 1,400 staff members worldwide, the company offers innovative and customer-oriented solutions. These include energy production and distribution, ship communication and navigation, maritime automation and safety and monitoring systems, as well as entertainment and propulsion technology. The company’s service portfolio runs the gamut from smaller packages to integrated systems and turnkey solutions, including planning, engineering, production and on-board installation.

Propulsion Control – Here’s How WAGO Supports You:

The WAGO-I/O-SYSTEM 750 collects all relevant data from the drive system.
The system can be checked in advance using WAGO-I/O-CHECK.
In the event of a service call, diagnostics can be performed remotely.

Using Data to Enhance Reliability

Diesel–electric drives offer great advantages – particularly for cruise ships, yachts and specialty ships. The drives run quietly and with minimal vibration and can be designed as redundant systems with exceptional reliability, while providing maximum maneuverability and a allowing high level of automation. In order to prevent faults and operating errors, it is crucial to monitor and control all functions and key parameters. Therefore, a variety of on-board process-related data must be collected from decentralized nodes. For example: How high is the degree of utilization of the various propeller and thruster engines? How many operating hours can they run? Are the engine shafts sufficiently lubricated? How do the temperatures of the transformers and cooling fluids relate to each other? Answering such questions makes it possible to streamline the propulsion control while increasing system reliability.

Maneuverable in All Situations

In order to provide absolute reliability, SAM Electronics employs a redundant diesel–electric drive solution. Conventional mechanical diesel systems usually operate with diesel engines directly coupled to a specific propeller; diesel–electric drives, on the other hand, benefit from diesel engines that can power any propeller. The engines drive generators, which feed electrical power to a common busbar that supplies the electrical drives and all other loads. Therefore, the availability of a drive is independent of the availability of an individual diesel engine. This advantage provides a ship with maximum maneuverability – even in extreme weather or environmental conditions. At the same time, only as many diesel engines are connected to the on-board power supply as are required by the current energy demand. This economizes diesel engine operation, while enabling the engines to operate at peak efficiency. This solution is used for a wide variety of engine sizes ranging from 1 to 21 MW. Each drive is usually equipped with its own frequency inverter, often with corresponding transformers, and operates independently. This makes data exchange between these units and the central unit all the more important.

Uniform Standards

SAM Electronics relies on the WAGO-I/O-SYSTEM 750 to collect all relevant data from the drive system and remotely control the system from the Engine Control Room (ECR) or from the bridge. With this system, SAM Electronics can configure each node to meet individual requirements. The system offers modules for various potentials and analog signal types. The 1-, 2-, 4-, 8- and 16-channel digital input/output modules can be combined as needed, providing a high degree of granularity and flexibility. This fine-grained modular design allows for extremely compact sizes. In fact, it can accommodate up to 16 channels in a module width of 12 mm (1/2″).