Flowmeters help increase profitability

Following a joint programme by Rederi AB Transatlantic, Transas AB, and Emerson Process Management based in St.Louis, USA to develop an onboard solution for better control of marine fuel consumption, Transatlantic installed Emerson’s mass flowmeters on several ships in its fleet. The standard solution uses a compact Micro Motion F100-Series Coriolis sensor with a model 1700 transmitter to provide highly accurate, traceable and transparent mass-based measurement of fuel oil.

Using the MODBUS communications protocol, the mass flowmeter sends data to a fuel efficiency control system supplied by Transas AB in Sweden. This system, also called a Conning unit, collects information from the flowmeter and other onboard systems to help the crew optimise the operation of the ship. Emerson also supplied its Mobrey MCU 901 universal transmitter controllers and indicators to show the actual flow for local reading in the engine room or control room.

According to Leif Holmberg, superintendent at Rederi AB Transatlantic, “The Coriolis mass flowmeter and Conning unit have been installed and running for over a year on the M/V Ortviken, and a slightly shorter time on the M/V Transpaper. The installations have reduced our fuel costs by approximately two per cent over a 12 month period for each vessel. These savings in fuel have provided a return on our total investment of just two months.”

“Based on these successes, we will be investing in further installations onboard other ships in our fleet,” continued Holmberg. “We are also working to develop the fuel efficiency system to be even more effective in saving fuel by using additional information that other systems onboard can provide.”

Micro Motion F-Series Coriolis meters are designed to provide highly accurate mass flow, volume flow, and density measurement in applications that require a compact, drainable design. The meters are claimed to deliver high-accuracy direct mass, density and temperature measurement as compared with mechanical meters that measure volume flow only and have to be read manually. The Coriolis mass measurement can be directly correlated to cost and energy content of fuel, and the measurements are unaffected by changes to the flow profile and variable fuel properties such as density or viscosity.

Emerson maintains that the meters are easy to install between the booster module and engine, and, because there are no moving parts, they also offer savings from reducing replacement or maintenance requirements when compared to volumetric flow measurement devices.

Emerson’s MVD Direct Connect architecture is said to further simplify installation and reduce cost and complexity through direct integration into a MODBUS host. Digital and analogue communications deliver the data directly to the control room or bridge, enabling close control. This complete solution also provides access to all Micro Motion instrument variables, including embedded diagnostics and full sensor configuration.