Dynamics analysis and optimal control of a marine diesel engine

This paper describes dynamics analysis of a governor-engine control system in a marine diesel engine and its optimal control at sea. A new governor system is developed which takes into account the ship's motion, and the results of full-scale experiments using the new system are presented. Statistical analysis using a Multivariate Auto Regressive (MAR) model is performed on data collected from the sea trial of a small training ship, the Shioji Maru. It is shown that the speed of the ship's propeller is strongly influenced by the ship's pitching motion. Based on this observation, a new type of marine governor that takes the ship's pitching motion into account is designed using modern multivariate control theory. Finally, full-scale experiments into the performance of the new system are conducted.