DP PRINCIPLES

Kongsberg K-Pos DP

IMO DEFINITIONS (REF. MSC/CIRC. 645. 6 JUNE 1994)

2.1 DEFINITIONS
In addition to the definition in the MODU Code 1989 the following definitions are necessary for the guidelines: 2.1.1 Dynamically positioned vessel (DP-Vessel) means a unit or a vessel which automatically maintains its position (fixed location or predetermined track) exclusively by means of thruster force. 2.1.2 Dynamic positioning system (DP-system) means the complete installation necessary for dynamically positioning a vessel comprising the following sub-systems:
.1 Power system .2 Thruster system, and .3 DP-control system

2.1.3 Position keeping means maintaining a desired position within the normal excursions of the control system and the environmental conditions. 2.1.4 Power system means all components and systems necessary to supply the DPsystem with power. The power system includes:
.1 Prime movers with necessary auxiliary systems including piping, .2 Generators. .3 Switchboards, and .4 Distributing system (cabling and cable routing)

2.1.5 Thruster system means all components and systems necessary to supply the DP-system with thrust force and direction. The thruster system includes: .1 Thruster with drive units and necessary auxiliary systems including piping. .2 Main propellers and rudders if these are under the control of the DPsystem. .3 Thruster control electronics, .4 Manual thruster controls, and .5 Associated cabling and cable routing 2.1.6 DP-control system means all control components and systems, hardware and software necessary to dynamically position the vessel. The DP-control system consists of the following: .1 Computer system/joystick system. .2 Sensor system, .3 Display system (operator panels), .4 Position reference system, and .5 Associated cabling and cable routing.

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2.1.7 Computer system means a system consisting of one or several computers including software and their interfaces. 2.1.8 Redundancy means ability of a component or system to maintain or restore its function, when a single failure has occurred. Redundancy can be achieved for instance by installation of multiple components, systems or alternative means of performing a function.

2.2 Other definitions

Flag State
is the country in which the vessel is registered by the National Authority. The vessel shall carry the Flag States flag, and show the port of registry at the stern, but may have no other apparent connection to the Flag State.

Coastal State
is the country where the vessel is located when it is not in international waters, i.e. when in harbour or in some countrys territorial water. The Coastal State may apply restrictions that exceed those of the Flag State.

Main Class
is the set of rules that are compulsory for any vessel classified by the specific Classification Society. Each part or section of the Rules that are within Main Class will be identified as such. Typically, for DNV, Part 4 Machinery and Systems is marked Main Class. This Part includes both Electrical Installations and Instrumentation and Automation Chapters.

Additional Class
is sets of rules that are optional to a vessel to document a specific type of vessel or specific capabilities of the vessel. The DP rules is a typical case of Additional Class rules, which the vessel owner has chosen to apply for his vessel.

Class Notation
is another name used for Additional Class. Thus, DYNPOS-AUTR is a Class Notation, and it will be stated in the vessels Class Certificate.

Segregation
means that two or more units of equipment are located physically separated, without stating the degree of separation. For instance, A60 is a case of segregation where there are specific requirements to the degree of protection regarding propagation of fire.

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Independence,
in relation to technical systems, means that one unit or system will operate without assistance from another system such that the one system will remain in operation after the other has failed. Mutual independence signifies that this will be true both ways.

Redundancy
signifies that there are at least two units or systems that are able to serve a specific function, so that this function will remain operable if the one unit or system fails. See definition under 2.1.8. Thus, there can hardly be redundancy without independence. But redundancy can be achieved with a minimum of segregation, e.g. redundant components in a common cabinet.

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Basic Forces and Motions

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Basic Forces and Motions

A seagoing vessel is subjected to forces from wind, waves and current as well as from forces generated by the propulsion system. The vessels response to these forces, i.e. its changes in position, heading and speed, is measured by the position-reference systems, the gyrocompass and the vertical reference sensors. Reference systems readings are corrected for roll and pitch using readings from the vertical reference sensors. Wind speed and direction are measured by the wind sensors. The K -Pos control system calculates the forces that the thrusters must produce in order to control the vessels motion in three degrees of freedom - surge, sway and yaw - in the horizontal plane.

Pitch (+ = bow up)

Roll (+ = stbd down)

Heave (+ = down)

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DP SYSTEM PRINCIPLES
A simplified overview of the DP control system is illu strated in the following figure:
Measured Position & Heading Measured Wind Speed & Direction

Position & Heading Difference Predicted Position & Heading

WIND MODEL KALMAN FILTER ERROR C OMPUTAT ION Wind Force

Error Compensation Force External Forces

Vessel Model Update Thruster Force

VESSEL MODEL

Draught Input

Drag Forces

Estimated Speed

Estimated Position & Heading

Carrot Position &Heading Setpoint N EW SETPOINT P RESENT

Speed Settings CARROT COMPUTATION

DRAG C OMPUTATION

Position & Heading Deviation

Position & Heading Setpoint

DAMPING CONTROL

GAIN CONTROL

Selected Gain

Force Demand from Joystick

JOYSTICK GAIN CONTROLLER

Manual Force Demand

Feed Forward

Joystick Gain & Linearity

Resulting Force Demand THRUSTER ALLOCATION Thruster Allocation Mode

Thruster Setpoints

THRUSTER M ODEL

POWER OVERLOAD CONTROL Thruster Setpoints

Generator Status Bus Switch Status Power Consumption

Thruster Feedback THRUSTER FEEDB ACK SYSTEM

THRUSTERS

THRUSTER COMMAND SYSTEM

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The Vessel Model

The DP system is based on a Vessel Model which contains a hydrodynamic description of the vessel, including characteristics such as drag coefficients and mass data. This model describes how the vessel reacts or moves as a function of the forces acting upon it. Note ! Text in capitals in the following description refer to items in figure on page 19. The Vessel Model is provided with information describing the forces that are acting on the vessel: o A Wind Model uses a set of wind coefficients for various angles of attack to calculate the WIND FORCE as a function of the wind speed and direction. A Thruster Model uses force/pitch/rpm characteristics to calculate the THRUSTER FORCE according to the feedback signals from the thrusters/propellers.

Using the vessel characteristics and the applied forces, the Vessel Model calculates the ESTIMATED SPEED and the ESTIMATED POSITION AND HEADING in each of the three horizontal degrees of freedom - surge, sway and yaw. During sea trials, the Vessel Model is tuned to optimise the description of the vessel characteristics.

Vessel Model Update

The Vessel Model can never be a completely accurate representation of the real vessel. However, by using a technique known as Kalman Filtering, the model estimates of position and heading are continuously updated with measured position information from position-reference systems and gyrocompasses. The PREDICTED POSITION AND HEADING from the Vessel Model are compared with the MEASURED POSITION AND HEADING to produce a POSITION AND HEADING DIFFERENCE. Since these differences may be caused by no ise in the measured values, they are filtered before being used to update the Vessel Model. Together, the Vessel Model and the Kalman filtering technique provide effective noise filtering of the heading and position

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measurements and optimum combination of data from the different reference systems. If the reference system measurements are completely lost (position or heading dropout), there is no immediate effect on the positioning capability of the system. The Vessel Model will continue to generate position estimates even though there are no further model updates. This "dead reckoning" positioning will initially be very accurate but will gradually deteriorate with time.

Error Compensation Force

Even if appropriate thruster/propeller forces are applied to counteract the effect of the measured forces on the vessel, the vessel would still tend to move out of position due to forces that are not measured directly, such as waves and sea current (together with any errors in the modelled forces). These additional forces acting on the vessel are calculated over a period of time according to the filtered POSITION AND HEADING DIFFERENCE to produce an ERROR COMPENSATION FORCE, which is added to the modelled forces to represent the total EXTERNAL FORCES. The error compensation force is presented to the operator as being entirely due to sea current since this is the main component.

Force Demand
The force demand that is required to keep the vessel at the required position is composed of the following parts: o o o The Force Demand for axes that are under automatic control The Force Demand for axes that are under manual control The Feed Forward

Force Demand for Axes under automatic Control

This consists of two parts: o a force demand that is proportional to the deviation between the estimated position and heading and the position and heading setpoints a force demand that is proportional to the deviation between the wanted and actual speed

The position and heading setpoints, specified by the operator, are compared with the estimated position and heading from the Vessel Model. The differences are multiplied by gain factors that
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are calculated and adjusted to optimize the station keeping capability with minimum power consumption. The wanted speed is compared with the estimated speed from the Vessel Model. If the vessel is to maintain a stationary position, the wanted speed will be zero. This part of the force demand therefore acts as a damping factor in order to reduce the vessel's speed to zero.

Force demand for axes under manual co ntrol

When any of the axes are not under automatic control, you can use the joystick to manually control the force exerted by the thrusters/propellers in those axes.

Feed forward
In order to counteract changes in the external forces as soon as they are detected, rather than first allowing the vessel to drift away from the required position, the calculated EXTERNAL FORCES are fed forward as an additional force demand.

Thruster Allocation
The force demand in the surge and sway axes (the directional force dema nd), and in the yaw axis (the rotational moment demand), are distributed as pitch and/or rpm setpoint signals to each thruster/propeller. The demand is distributed in such a way as to obtain the directional force and rotational moment required for position and heading control, while also ensuring optimum thruster/propeller use with minimum power consumption and minimum wear and tear on the propulsion equipment. If it is not possible to maintain both the rotational moment and the directional force demand due to insufficient available thrust, priority is normally set to obtain the rotational moment demand (heading). If required, you can request that the priority is changed to maintain position rather than heading. If a thruster/propeller is out of service or deselected, the "lost" thrust is automatically redistributed to the remaining thrusters/propellers.

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= Rotation centre = Tunnel thruster = Direction of thrust = Propeller/rudder = Wake from thruster/propeller

Rotational Moment Demand Directional Force Demand Allocation of demand

(MD0001)

Power Overload Control

The load on the main bus or on isolated bus sections is monitored, and power is reduced on the connected thrusters/propellers by reducing the pitch/rpm demand if the estimated load exceeds the nominal limit. The reduction value is shared between the connected thrusters/propellers in such a way that the effect on the position and heading control is minimised. This function acts as an addition to the vessels own Power Management System (PMS). The power reduction criteria are set at lower overload levels than the load reduction initiated by the PMS system.

Reference System and Sensor Data Processing

Measurements of a vessel's position and heading at any point in time are essential for dynamic positioning. Several different position-reference systems are normally used with the DP system. The first position-reference system selected and accepted for use with the DP system becomes the reference origin (the origin of the internal coordinate system).

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