SCHIFFSTECHNIK | SHIP
SCHIFFSTECHNIK | SHIP TECHNOLOGY Modular automation comes on board MTP – Module Type Package – delivers improvements with depth from engineering to commissioning, the Marine Equipment and Systems Group in the German industry association VDMA says Modular designed ships are constructed modulary – the automation in most cases not System integrators, marine equipment suppliers and shipyards agree: MTP improves the entire value chain in the construction and operation of ships. The abbreviation MTP stands for Module Type Package, with the help of which the various systems on board can be integrated into the ship‘s automation without time-consuming coordination of the interfaces. Conceptually, MTP can be compared to a printer driver, which paves the way for networking maritime systems with each other and thus making them much easier to modularise. The future lies in distributed intelligence on board. Viewed from above, the same picture emerges throughout the maritime industry. It is the interfaces that do the most work along the value chain – and conversely offer the greatest potential for improvement. To be more precise, it is the communication interfaces within automation that regularly cause discussion. In contrast, shipyards and mechanical engineers have the mechanical interfaces well under control. The construction of ships from mechanical modules is common practice. What is still missing are the automation modules. A survey of the VDMA on the acceptance of MTP shows that automation experts from shipyards, system suppliers and mechanical engineering companies expect a noticeable time saving from the initial project planning phase to commissioning. This time saving makes Actual Work – Demonstrator © VDMA 46 HANSA – International Maritime Journal 12 | 2022
SCHIFFSTECHNIK | SHIP TECHNOLOGY Voices from the industry Flensburg University of Applied Sciences © HS Flensburg the companies more competitive in the international market as a result of falling costs. In addition, projects with decentralised intelligence and the use of MTP are much easier to control and more reliable in their implementation. If – as a concrete example – a time window of just three months is available for the commissioning of a cruise ship, then no one can afford time-consuming discussions about signal shapes, data formats or the decimal places of measuring ranges. However, it is precisely such tough coordination that still determines reality – especially when functional units have to be brought into the higher-level ship automation system. MTP: »Printer driver« for modular automation Another complicating factor is that all subsystems within a ship as a whole organism can only really be integrated into the control level and tested when the ship‘s automation system is already in place. The resulting time dependencies quickly make it clear how susceptible this hierarchical organisation is to delays at individual points. For good reasons, mechanical engineering in the manufacturing industry has abandoned the classic automation pyramid in favour of decentralised intelligence of plants. © Meyer Werft For Flensburg University of Applied Sciences it is an important concern to push the establishment of MTP as a standard. For this reason, our laboratory for large-scale machines has already been expanded into a demonstrator for initial MTP functionalities. This should enable industry representatives to test the connection of their modules, serve as a practical example for interested companies and introduce our students to this exciting topic. Since October, a staff member has been permanently dedicated to the expansion of the same, with the longterm goal of extending the scope of the system and the implemented MTP functionalities. The knowledge gained in the process will help participating companies, as well as newcomers to the MTP standard, to implement the existing standard without errors. Furthermore, it is planned to contribute to the development and testing of further application areas of the MTP standard. Sascha Wührl – Research Associate Professor Michael Thiemke GEA Westfalia Separator Group The MTP has positive effects for a module manufacturer across the entire value chain starting with design up to commissioning and even a retrofit project. We as GEA see a significant reduction of coordination in terms of signals and process information towards the SCADA. In addition, the technology offers further opportunities to make use and to create added value while extracting locally stored data in the individual CPU‘s and to operate the treatment systems stable at its optimum operating condition and ultimately to reduce energy consumption while delivering the best process performance. Sven Mario Jadzinski Senior Director Sales – Global Marine Business © Gea Group HANSA – International Maritime Journal 12 | 2022 47
