LOAD ANALYSIS(Electric)

LOAD ANALYSIS(Electric)
This analysis is started during concept/preliminary
design at a high level.
The load analysis is structured to determine the
aggregate power requirements of all the electric
power-consuming equipment and devices under the
various ship operating conditions, such as, at anchor,
in-port, manoeuvring at sea and battle, ie, purpose of
establishing the maximum and minimum power
requirements.
Hence we can reach generating plant rating.
Steps include probable peak loads under various
operating conditions of ship.

 Various electrical loads in merchant ships

generally fall in the following groups:
(1) propulsion machinery,
(2) auxiliary machinery,
(3) cargo-handling machinery,
(4) deck machinery,
(5) HVAC equipment,
(6) control electronics,
(7) communication electronics,
(8) shop load, and
(9) hotel loads.
Each individual load in these groups may draw
different kW power during different phases of the
ship operation.

Points to remember
Aggregate generating capacity will always be
greater than the peak load determined by the
load analysis.
The probability of installing additional
electrical loads at some future time should
also be considered when determining the
aggregate generating capacity.

Number and rating

After determination of peak load, the next
step is the selection of the most desirable
number and individual rating of the
generating sets.
For peak loads upto about 2200kw, two
generators are usually provided each capable
of carrying the total sea load.
loads more than 2200kw, 3 or more.

 Not all loads are turned on at all times

that is not all loads will be in operation in every
condition. For example,
In harbour, the propulsion loads will be absent,
whereas the hotel loads will be present.
In case of Dynamic Positioning Operations, both
hotel loads and propulsion units will be in
operation. So in this case, the load on the diesel
generators will be maximum.
This time diversity in their power demand is
taken into account by assigning a load factor to
each load equipment based on the heritage data
on a similar ship built and operated earlier.

 The load factor (LF)also known by other names

such as demand factor, diversity factor, utility
factor, or duty factoris defined as the average
power over a period of time as a fraction of the
peak (or rated) power of the equipment.
Thus, the load factor indicates to what extent a
specific load contributes to the total load on the
generator, which aggregately powers all the
connected loads.
LF = 1.0 for continuously on load, LF < 1.0 for
intermittent load, and LF = 0 for stand-by
equipments.

 So, we will basically need to calculate the total

power requirement before deciding upon the
number of diesel generators required to meet
all the conditions
First, in order to calculate the total power
requirement, designers prepare a Load Chart
which lists out all the electrical loads on the
ship. And the load chart is prepared, taking
into consideration three operating conditions
in general:

 Sailing, Harbour and Maneuvering.

In the load chart, the power requirements of
each electrical load on the ship is calculated by
multiplying the Maximum Rated Power of the
component with two factors:
Load Factor: It is the ratio of the operating power
to the maximum power rating of the component.
Utility Factor: It is a factor which determines the
extent of operation of the particular component
in a particular condition

 Once the load chart is prepared, the total

power requirement for each of the three
conditions (Sailing, Harbour and
Maneuvering) are calculated by adding up the
power requirement for each component for
each of the conditions (follow figure 4). Once
this is clear, we will now refer to Figure 4 to
understand how the total number of diesel
generators is decided.

 The two rules to be followed in deciding upon the number

of generators are:
If more than one generator is operating in any condition,
both the generators should share equal amount of load.
The load on each generator in any of the three conditions
should not be more than 70 percent of the rated power of
the generator. (Or, the maximum rating of each generator
is decided based upon the condition that seventy percent of
the maximum rating is more than the load on the generator
in any of the three conditions)
One additional generator should always be included,
which is for standby purpose. Note that this standby
generator will not share the load in any of the above three
conditions unless any of the working generators are out of
order. So the standby generator is not included in the above
calculation, but it is usually of the same rating as of the
other generators