UK: Strainstall Undertakes Offshore Wind Vessel Monitoring Trial

Strainstall Marine have undertaken a vessel motion monitoring trial on a transfer vessel operating at an offshore wind-farm off the UK’s east coast.

Strainstall’s new Vessel Motion Monitoring System™ (VMMS™) provides accurate motion monitoring for wind turbine transfer vessels to improve safety during transfer operations, as well as impact load measurement combined with a data logging capability. An accurate motion monitoring system can increase the operational window considerably during critical personnel and equipment transfer manoeuvres by allowing the user to monitor all motion parameters, rather than relying on significant wave height as the main limiting factor. The trial of the VMMS system is being conducted on board Tidal Transits ‘Eden Rose’, and is taking place during normal operations that involve Eden Rose facilitating offshore wind-farm personnel transfers off the UK’s east coast.

The VMMS™ significantly improves safety levels during operations and can also be used as a dedicated health and safety tool, as it collects data for statistical purposes as well as accident investigations. When transporting personnel from shore to the work site (or between work sites) the motion trend displays can be used by the master to quantify vessel motions, enabling more effective changes in course and speed to be made. During docking operations and the offloading of personnel, the displays can be used to monitor heave levels and provide warning to the master when pre-set danger limits are about to be reached. All transfers can then be halted until conditions improve in order to safeguard personnel and avoid damage to vessels or equipment.

The VMMS™ provides a live & historic view of vessel heave, pitch and roll as well as GPS, heading and the following additional parameters:

· Vertical acceleration, slip magnitude (ms-2) at point of transfer

· Vertical displacement, slip magnitude (m) at point of transfer

· Lateral acceleration, slip magnitude (ms-2) at point of transfer

· RMS vertical acceleration (ms-2) at CoG

· RMS Lateral accelerations (ms-2) at CoG

· RMS roll angle (°)

Scott Cruttended, Business Development Manager, said “This trial is a significant step forward in the development of this system, as it allows us to demonstrate its accuracy and effectiveness in real operational conditions. We’ve already seen impressive results during trials conducted by STL Research, but will now be able to see those results translated into an actual working environment. The system will be trialed on-board the ‘Eden Rose’ for one month, after which time all the data collected will be available for analysis and evaluation.”

The VMMS™ is just one of the modular systems that comprise the Strainstall Marine Offshore Wind-farm Vessel Management System. This comprehensive package is designed to facilitate the growing demand for better productivity and safety in the offshore wind industry. Being of a modular design enables any number of component systems to be selected, according to the individual clients’ requirements. Many elements are also fully customisable to make a fully tailored package. The system can include:

· Crew/Vessel Tracking

· Fuel Consumption

· Vessel Motion Monitoring System™ (VMMS) ™

· Intelligent Fender ( load sensing fender)

· Metocean Data

· Wave Data

· Vessel Performance

· CCTV

A central control computer gives full access to all measured data, alarms and historic information for analysis and reporting, which can be used to help streamline and improve operational activities or as a budgeting and forecasting tool.

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Press release, January 03, 2013; Image: mediatechnical