New Trends in Shipboard Electrical Power Distribution Systems

İzzet Emre Afacan

Department of Electrical Engineering,
Istanbul Technical University, 34469, Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey
e-mail: ieafacan@yahoo.com

Fatma Gül Bağrıyanık

Department of Electrical Engineering,
Istanbul Technical University, 34469, Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey
e-mail: fatmagul@elk.itu.edu.tr

Mustafa Bağrıyanık

Department of Electrical Engineering,
Istanbul Technical University, 34469, Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey
e-mail: fatmagul@elk.itu.edu.tr

Abstract

This paper presents new trends such as zonal electrical distribution and restoration/reconfiguration studies in shipboard electrical power distribution systems. It is necessary to automate service restoration to control the system for better performance, reduce maintaining requirements on ships, and increase survivability of naval ships. While reconfiguring the loads it is important to consider their priority. The loads on ships can be divided into two types. One is vital and the other is non-vital. Since a continuous power supply must be provided to the vital loads for maintaining safety on sailing under battle damage and certain major failure conditions, it is important to locate and fix fault as soon as possible. The restoration/reconfiguration can be expedited if the location of the fault is either known or can be estimated with reasonable accuracy. In this study, general features of a shipboard electrical distribution and types of electrical distribution systems in warships are presented. The importance of fault location, restoration and reconfiguration is explained. Some simulation tools for analyzing shipboard electrical distribution systems are shortly discussed.

Keywords: shipboard power distribution, fault location, restoration