Marine Engine Room Alarm Monitoring System Fault Detection and Monitoring Technique via PLCs and SCADA-based System

Alarms affect operations in most part of the ship. Their impact on modern Engine Control Room operations is no less significant. The state of an alarm system serves as an indication of the extent to which the ship's operations are under management control. Thus, the design of efficient and reliable alarm monitoring system is vital for safe and sound operations. Although several design techniques have been proposed, all the proposed design methods employ sophisticated and expensive approaches in resolving alarm issues. In this paper, a cheap, yet reliable and efficient alarm design method for engine room device monitoring is presented. The design method employs PLCs and SCADA-based system and adopts certain basic design requirements of alarm monitoring system presented in literary works. Reasons for such a design method are highlighted, and the programming platforms for the design are given. The strengths and weaknesses of some design methods presented in some published works are reported and solutions to such problems are proposed. The proposed design technique, including fault diagnostic algorithm, have been subjected to real-time online testing at the shipyard, specifically Changjiang Waterway Bureau, China (ship name-Ning Dao 501). The testing results proved that this design technique is reliable, efficient and effective for online engine control room device monitoring.