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Offer of monitoring system to vessels operational parameters

Country of Origin: Greece
Reference Number: TOGR20150925001
Publication Date: 13 November 2017

Summary

A Greek based SME, has developed a new innovative platform that enables remote monitoring and analysis of vessels operational parameters. The technologically advanced system is especially designed and developed to monitor real-time all the critical operation parameters of a vessel uninterruptedly. The company is looking for commercial cooperation with technical assistance.

Description

A Greek based SME, established in 1991, deals with the production of electronics. It provides technology-based solutions for businesses and organizations. It designs, develops and manufactures a wide array of integrated IT solutions, smart-grid and wireless-based systems and integrated electronic components. 

In the last seven years one of the company’s basic research activities is in the field of wireless sensor networks. For more than three years, the company has developed a hardware and software platform to support applications based on smart wireless sensors. The new platform is an innovative patented platform that enables remote monitoring and analysis of vessels operational parameters. It is a powerful tool that collects and transmits real-time data from any type of vessel imminently to the administration headquarters’ through a smart-sensors wireless network, providing complete diagnosis and early warnings (e.g. condition of the ship’s engines). 

The company’s solution assists maritime companies to achieve higher efficiency in operation, better environmental protection and compliance, dynamic predictive maintenance and effective coordination between crew and administration. It minimizes risk, time and cost and maximizes the benefits of the transition to condition based maintenance and green shipping. Condition-based maintenance (CBM), shortly described, is maintenance when need arises. This maintenance is performed after one or more indicators show that equipment is going to fail or that equipment performance is deteriorating. Condition-based maintenance was introduced to try to maintain the correct equipment at the right time. The aim is to monitor the structural behaviour of ships during the operation at sea. The introduction of wireless sensors into the architectural designs reduce the cost and installation complexity of hull monitoring systems. Condition-based maintenance is based on using real-time data to prioritize and optimize maintenance resources. Observing the state of the system is known as condition monitoring. Such a system determines the equipment's health, and act only when maintenance is actually necessary. 

The new platform consists of a network of wireless collectors, connected to both analog or digital sensors/devices tasked to watch over conditions in any area of a vessel.  Data are processed into valuable information that is transmitted through a mesh technology low consumption wireless network to the ship server and to the company’s headquarters through a satellite link. Intelligent algorithms analyse continuously all data collected and present to fleet-managers in the headquarters on any terminal device, reports in order to detect abnormal situations (suspicious-out of limits measurements etc) and maintenance issues as well as early warnings suggesting proper actions or measures to be taken.  

The basic aim was to develop systems with smart sensors for specific applications. The new platform is used in a number of european technical institutes and universities. The company is looking for commercial cooperation with technical assistance to share its know-how. 

The company seeks partners that design electronics, especially monitoring systems for vessels and/or research organisations that design prototypes. The company is looking for partners from electronics manufacturing for commercial cooperation with technical assistance. It is able to collaborate on technical issues related to the optimization of the production.

Advantages and Innovations

The company has been involved in research projects, national and European.

The new system has the following advantages and innovations:

a. The platform can be installed easily, fast and with much lower cost than wired solutions due to fact that it uses wireless network technology.

b. The new installation does not require any changes in vessel’s equipment and this reduces even more the installation cost and time compared to competition. The monitoring solution is:

-    compatible with all types of sensors/devices

-    redundant to the existing monitoring systems

-    deployed in all parts of the vessel

-    one solution for all types of vessels

-    one platform for different types of measurements

c. It uses a mesh topology wireless network to communicate data thus even in the case of a node’s malfunction data are sent by another one so data sent are of high integrity and human error is avoided.

d. Low energy solution (autonomous wireless devices) 

e. Fully customized remote monitoring data analysis: It provides a fully customized analysis of all data selected. 

f. Every part of the solution (both hardware and software) is totally developed by the company. This makes support more flexible and always on time.

g. Proven reduced fuel consumption, repair time and maintenance cost.

Stage Of Development

Already on the market

Requested partner

The company is looking for:

- Partners in the area of electronics design and especially in monitoring systems for vessels 

- Enterprises and/or research organisations that design prototypes 

- Companies in the area of electronics manufacturing 

The company seeks for commercial cooperation with technical assistance and is able to collaborate on technical issues related to the optimization of the production.