Engineering Commons^™

Optimal Pitch, Speed And Fuel Control At Sea, Thomas Hellström

Journal of Marine Science and Technology

This paper discusses algorithms for fuel saving control for large vessels. The fuel saving is achieved by optimizing control at three levels: low level propeller and main engine control, dynamic speed control to avoid peeks in the fuel consumption and finally route planning for optimal speed profiles compensated for varying depth and weather conditions. The control problems involve classical control functions as well as numerical optimization.