Optimal Load Sharing in a Multi-Engine Power Management System

Abstract

Fuel costs are the largest single operation expense in power plants and marine vessels. In addition, fuel consumption has an impact on the amount of emissions. Therefore, the lowest possible fuel consumption is important to achieve. The reduction in fuel consumption can be achieved by developing individual engine or multi-engine power management system. The aim of the thesis was to study requirements for the load sharing control of power management system focusing on reducing the fuel consumption. Fuel consumption was studied by simulating with Matlab and Excel. The simulation was performed for one engine combination of a marine vessel. The simulation was performed at a constant engine combination load for three load sharing methods. Conclusions were made regarding the simulation results and literature review. One of the most important conclusions was that unequal load sharing could result in reductions in fuel consumption at constant load. Another conclusion was that optimal unequal load sharing requires significant differences between engine loads. In addition, it was found that load dependent engine start and stop functionality has a significant effect on fuel consumption. However, developing a new power management system requires more research and simulation. Simulations should be performed for different engine combinations and fuel types. In addition, the simulation model should consider load transients, different situations, different environmental conditions, emission limits and fuel prices.