English to German Tech/Engineering Ships, Sailing, Maritime

INTRODUCTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a ***maritime power supply (MPS) system*** for supplying electrical power to a docked ship, in particular a container, RoRo, cruise or any other M/V ship.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The environment in ports all over the world is becoming more and more of an issue. In the last 15 years, increasing attention has been paid on how to reduce pollution coming from the diesel engines of ships which traffic, in ever increasing numbers, the ports and terminals. Container, RoRo (roll-on/roll-off), cruise or other M/V (motorized vessel) ships often remain docked in a port for several days and keep their engines running while docked to ensure the functioning of refrigerated containers and life aboard the ship through air-conditioning, controls, etc. It is clear that this constitutes an important pollution issue, which has to be avoided. It has therefore been proposed to supply power to such ships via cables running from the dock to the ship, thereby allowing the engines to be turned off. The main problem with supplying such docked ships with power is the need for a high voltage and high amperage power supply, which has often made it necessary to use up to 10 cables in parallel. Due to this large number of cables it was not possible to connect and disconnect rapidly and safely, not to mention that they also had to cope with uneven loads between the cables. Also, the amount of cables was rather untidy and also dangerous. Furthermore, it is often not possible to align the ship-based power inlet with the dock-based power supply, which means that the cables run alongside the ship either on the dock or on the deck of the ship, causing further obstruction and danger.

[0003] The wharf or dock is generally supplied with 6600 V and a significant part of the current shipping fleet is supplied with between 230 V and 660 V, hence the necessity for using step-down transformers and/or converter sets.

[0004] A ***maritime power supply (MPS) system*** has been proposed wherein a cable management system having a cable reel with a power cable assembly mounted thereon is provided. Such a cable management system can, for example, be mounted on the side of the dock, wherein one end of the power cable assembly on the cable management system is connected to a dockside power supply. The opposite end of the power cable assembly can be unwound from the cable management system and lifted onto the ship for connection to a ship-based power inlet. In order to avoid cables running alongside the ship, the cable management system can be moveably mounted on the side of the dock. It can, for instance, be mounted on a wheeled or fixed platform that can be moved to the desired location. Alternatively, a number of cable management systems can be fixedly mounted on the side of the dock, such that one cable management system is generally not too far away from the ship's power inlet. However, a problem with the dock-based cable management system is that, generally, there is not sufficient clearance on the side of the dock due to large cranes being necessary for loading and unloading containers onto and from the ship. Alternatively, such a cable management system can be fixedly mounted on the ship, wherein one end of the power cable assembly on the cable management system is connected to a ship-based power inlet. The opposite end of the power cable assembly can be unwound from the cable management system and lowered onto the dock for connection to a dockside power supply. Since the voltage, frequency and amperage of the dockside power supply do not necessarily correspond to the ship's needs, a step-down transformer and/or converter has to be installed between the dockside power supply and the ship-based power inlet. Such a transformer or converter causes further obstruction whether installed on the dock or on the ship. Furthermore, in case a number of cable management systems are arranged along the side of the dock, each of these cable management systems may have to be provided with a transformer or converter. It is clear that this is rather expensive and causes even more obstruction.