Governor principle for increased safety and economy on vessels with diesel-electric propulsion

In this paper, a governor principle for marine diesel-electric power plants with a normal and an emergency mode is proposed. In the normal mode, the governor is tuned such that the variations in the electric frequency are weighed against operational costs such as specific fuel consumption, pollutant emissions and wear-and-tear of the diesel engine due to thermal variations. In emergency mode, the governor disregards the operational costs and attempts to keep the frequency as steady as possible. This leads to larger margins to the underfrequency condition and therefore reduces the risk of blackout. It also allows for a more reliable synchronization of additional generating sets to the electric grid. Because the emergency mode is entered under abnormal conditions only, the overall increase in operational costs resulting from this addition is negligible. The governor is implemented as a receding horizon controller.