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Electromagnetic Ship Docking System Debuts
Makarand writes "A system that uses electromagnets for docking ships is getting ready to be tested at a port in the
Netherlands according to this
article in the New Scientist. Magnetic docking systems were never used in the past as magnetic fields
posed dangers to sensitive cargo like TVs and monitors. Researchers at the
Delft University of Technology have developed electromagnets whose magnetic fields do not
penetrate far into the ship for this special application.
The magnets can be periodically switched off and on rapidly to allow ships
to rise and fall with the tide."
I mean, wouldn't it be cheaper (and easier) to use a chain and combo lock? They could have all the locks use the same combination (like 1-2-3). It might take a bit longer to unload each container, but things would hardly ever break, and the technology would be very cheap.
Electromagnetic ship docking systems are very attractive.
I wonder if the points where they plan to mount all of the electromagnets are going to up to the job... it doesn't seem like they would have been designed for stress in that direction.
If they can make this work, then it sounds great - I'd be concerned about the risk to the ship's own electronics, though, as much as to its' cargo. Computerised navigation systems, and the like, and ship-wide systems whose wiring well run very near, or even along the inside of the hull... Neat idea, and one that may well send the internationnal rope-manufacturing industry into decline - after all, who else needs four inch diameter hemp ropes in this day and age...?
Yes, iron loves to carry those magnetic fields.
I can imagine this tech being great for mid-air and outer space docking situations? is this kind of technology in place for such applications already?
my pet machine
Seriously, in the U.S. we just recently had a paralytic dockworkers' strike. I don't think they'd be amused by this labor-saving innovation. Not that I think people should be kicked out of jobs by robots.
Each of their mooring magnets generates a 1-tesla magnetic field. (from NS article)
WOW! That's strong. I used to work with a 1.5-T superconductor magnet, an MRI scanner, and it had a heck of a pull. Enough so that people have been injured or killed when a piece of metal got loose. It took three of us to pull off the base of an IV pole (no one inside at the time). Some of the research magnets are 4-T or more. But these are all superconductors, and act like permanent magnets. The resisitive magnets here must produce tons of heat while gobbling electricity. Surely "auto-dock" wouldn't be too hard to design., with mechanical restraints?
IS A RIDICULOUS LIBERAL MYTH!
So, at work, I work with a 1.5 Tesla magnet (Gyroscan Intera... used for nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; VMS/VAX/Solaris Operating Systems). Price tag on the thing is about $1M, which makes me wonder:
1) Did this docking system actually cost only $50M? At $5M a year, is a 10 year return on investment reasonable?
2) Is it actually Helium/Nitrogen cooled? We have to have a dedicated coolant system for our magnet to work at 1.5 Tesla. Moreover, what happens if a magnet breaks? They're not going to vent 2,000L of Helium, per magnet into the ozone, are they? (52 magnets = 100,000L total of liquid Helium)
2. Invent electromagnetic ship docking system 3. Call it a tractor beam! 4. Profit!!!!
Methods of Securing Ships:
:)
Lots of Ropes:[Initial Cost: £10,000, Ongoing Cost: £0 (near enough)].
Electromagnets:[Initial Costs £50,000, Ongoing Cost: £1000s/month]
I think the problem is obvious here
Arc
From the article:
"Mooring a ship can be a time-consuming, labour-intensive affair in which dock workers grab ropes hurled from the deck of the incoming ship and secure them to the dockside."
I've never been one decry progress because it'll put some people out of work, but this does have the potential to unemploy a whole crapload of people over the not-so-long term.
I wonder how the dockworkers union is handling this?
My
Limekiller
You can expect that it won't be accectped in the US anywhere in the near future.
...Ropes don't last forever.
What do you do in the case of an extended power failure? I know they probably have diesel backups, but even those only last so long.
At least living in the Bay Area with all the uproar about the "Energy Crisis" a couple of years ago, this may not be the most reliable system if you had to rely totally on electricity to dock all those boats up there in Oakland....
This sounds like a nice idea, I wonder, can I build an electromagnetic mount for my mountain bike now? or would I have to pay royalties?
But seriously, how much power is that going to draw? escpecially once they have a whole bank of them? and what's going to happen to the already, electricity strapped california when they start putting in banks of them?
I will not give in to the terrorists. I will not become fearful.
Read the article?
this is about docking the ship, not locking.
lets just hope no one on any of the ships has any percings.
But it would be interesting to see what happened when they power it up.
1) The guy(or gal) gets all the piercings torn out of their body.
2) They just fly off the deck of the ship and hit the electromagnet face first.
Hey, my credit card/atm card/ect. doesn't work any more...
And cause trouble down the road?
It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
They're not going to vent 2,000L of Helium, per magnet into the ozone, are they?
Erm, what exactly would be the problem with this?
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
This technology seems like it has a great chance to increase dock worker safety. Sadly we can be sure that the Long Shoremans Union will violently opose this due to their lost negotiating power.
I've spent several years working as a dockhand for large yachts (100-200 feet). While these boats arn't as big as the tankers and cargo ships which will utilize the magnet system, the manuvering and handleing is similar. Dock lines are not just used to hold the ship once it is in position to the dock - they are also used to manuver the vessle as it is docking (for example, a line will be thrown from the front of the ship, made secure, and the ship will power against it to bring the back of the ship into the dock). Obviously, the magnets wouldn't work at this range (50+ feet)
Methinks docking lines might be a bit cheaper too - and when properly set, only slight adjustments need to be made for the tide.
What would be very cool to see is the magnet start attracting someone's belt loop or a leatherman out of someone's pocket standing nearby... wow
You've never going to save 40 minutes.
This is just a solution looking for a problem, and I'll predict that it'll never ever be used.
I live at a port in New Zealand (just outside Christchurch actually) and often watch the ships docking. My father used to tie them up. If I look to my left, I can see about a half-dozen ships out my window.
The majority of the 40 minutes that the article quotes, that it takes to berth the ship, is the tugs turning, and pushing the ship to the wharf. That's the thing with ships, they have a big propeller at the back, which pushes them forwards, and they can't move from side to side. They do have a rudder, but it's not designed for more than a few degrees of turning, you can't use it to dock. (I'll stay away from bow thrusters for now)
Basically the process goes like this...
A Pilot (who works for the port, and is an expert in the local navigation/conditions of the port) is taken to the ship on a small launch, and meets it several miles from the harbour.
The Pilot then commands the vessel, until it's tied up at the wharf. (s)he co-ordinates the ship, tugs, and wharf staff who, at the end of the operation drop the ropes over the bollards.
Securing the ship with the ropes takes about 5 minutes on a slow day, getting the ship alongside the wharf takes about 35 minutes. The thing with ropes is, that...
1) They're proven. They've been using them for thousands of years.
2) It's a standard system, used all over the world.
3) It's simple, never underestimate this.
4) it copes well with varing weather and tides.
5) You still need ropes to tie between the tugs and the ship.
Now, as I said before, you've going to save about 5 minutes per berthing? Your damage costs are going to far outweigh the costs of any savings.
And, what happens when the power goes out?
The ship floats away, probably onto rocks.
Backup Generators? Yeah sure, a diesel generator is going to hold a ship with 4-8000 shipping containers alongside a wharf, is bad weather, and an especially high tide, with no outages.
I'm sorry, but there's no way this would ever work.
While the magnetic field would be bad for general cargo, something like oil wouldn't, so this could be used quite easily at an oil terminal.
Although I can't find any technical details from Google, the Alsterdampfer in Hamburg, Germany, have been using a magnetic system for at least 30 years (no snide comments about my age, please). In this image, you can see the magnets as the black-faced buckles on the side, just above the waterline.
For this to work, the side of the jetty is plated with steel plates for the magnets to hold on to; depending on the skill (or inclination ;-) of the captain, the boat can be tucked towards the jetty quite violently...
Has anyone considered the potential for such systems being used to trigger proximity-type sensors? I can imagine few more convenient ways to make terrorism easier than by employing large magnets like this and waiting for the fun to arrive.
I am not studied in such areas, but can't one just place a sensor near the docking point and tell it to make something go boom when it detects such a magnet on the hull? It's not as though there are other such magnets being used at the same hull contact points, which might confuse such a strategy.
I'm only asking...
Mmmmmm... Bold, yet refreshing!
I'd worry about permanently magnetizing the hull.
Sure, there won't be enough residual that it sticks to other passing ships, or anything, but what about interference with magnetic compasses.
I had a steel-tube frame airplane, and it got so magnetized from arc welding that the mag compass was totally useless. No amount of swinging could correct the compass deviation. Nor did it help to replace the mag compass with a new one. I ended up degaussing the whole fuselage with a degauss coil designed for TV sets, and never had the problem again.
But I can't see doing that on the scale of a container ship!
5,000,000 Euros = 5,335,000 USD
Storm force 12 = 80 knots = 92 MPH
...to invent a state-of-the-art detention facility to hold _children_ in place with magnets!
Yes, I know that Helium and Nitrogen are mostly inert. As Vellmont points out elsewhere in this thread, Helium is the most inert element there is.
I agree that there isn't much of a chemical hazard with the Helium or Nitrogen, in regards to chemical reactions. Perhaps my wording was a bit off there, in regards to 'ozone'. I suppose that I'm a bit more concerned with work accidents and thermodynamics, than I am with ozone and atmospheric reactions. Given my training with 1.5Tesla magnets, I can envision accidents happening with human workers getting freeze-burns when a magnet gets hit with a fully loaded cargo ship, and explodes... splashing liquid Helium on everybody. That would be a quick way to ruin your day.
At work, they make a big deal about not "breaking" the cryomagnet by releasing the Helium. It's got an emergency release valve which vents the Helium in case an accident occurs. I'm told that stuff can cause really bad burns.
Also, there's a question, in terms of economics, if a magnet breaks. The emergency button on our 1.5 Tesla magnet has, of all things, a warning sign which states 'Refueling of the magnet is very costly.' My thinking is that if I were to ever press that button, and somebody's life wasn't very much in danger, I'd get a meeting with my directors real quick-like, regarding why it's going to cost them $10,000 to refuel the magnet.
Anyhow, seems to me like there are some practicle issues which need to be sorted out. It's going to probably cost $500,000 in liquid helium costs alone, just to power the thing up.
Ah well... Seems like a neat project to me.
I'd be leery of potential damage to cargo like shipments of videotapes, hard drives, and anything else sensitive to static or pulsed magnetic fields.
please?
The Navy tried this using the USS Philadelphia, but the field was too strong, and the ship disappeared. It came back later filled with drunken Eagles fans.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Why not install big "plugs" in the front of the vessels, which can fit in big holes mounted in the docks? Think about your mother and your father having sex to figure out how it could work.
Let's replace time-proven, reliable, cheap, classical "rope and metal mushroom" technology with complex electronics and computers!
After all, we have to find "jobs" for all the engineering graduates that the cults pump out!
Navies spend a lot of time and money making sure that their ships have small magnetic signatures -- magnetic triggers are common in undersea mines. Somehow slapping a few big magnets on the side of a ship everytime it docks doesn't seem like a good idea.
First of all, this is an experiment. Experiments never usually make money in the short term.
Secondly, here's a quote from the article (which several posters need to actually read):Could we please concede the possibility that someone has done a marginal amount of research into this and backed these figures up on some real numbers? Maybe it won't save them that much, or maybe the whole thing will end up costing too much. That's the point of an experiment, after all: to determine if something is going to work.
And for all of the couch port authorities inhabiting Slashdot, please remember that this is probably going to be done with the blessing (and financial support) of a large ocean port. I know that perhaps many of you think you know more about docking ships, managing large ocean-going vessels and the expenses associated with these activities than those in charge of these ports, but please take a deep breath, relax for a minute, and consider the possibility that maybe they're supporting this experiment for a reason, and that reason probably has less to do with a mad scientist trying to dupe someone into buying them a lot of expensive magnets and more to do with a convincing argument that this experiment could save them money in the long run.
(Hemp is the male plant, FYI. Smokable herb comes from the female.)
And I know for a fact that you can easily recognize the male hemp because it grows nuts. They're huge and hairy, almost like coconuts.
Maybe they could apply this to parking those huge SUVs that always seem to park near me... it seem that those soccer moms choose the optimum position for their bratty kids to bash their doors into my car.
these are more realistic
1. Invent electromagnetic ship docking system
2. Call it a tractor beam!
3. ???
4. Profit!!!!
they can learn what ??? is from the RIAA and Iridium
1st Note to self: Time to sell stock in companies that make large ropes for mooring ships in harbors.
2nd Note to self:
1. Patent, and copyright a system that uses DRM enabled, pulsed-electromagnets that attact each other.
2. Wait a few years until new electromagnetic boat docking system becomes popular.
3. Sue everyone that uses this new system under the DMCA and demand hefty license fees.
4. Profit!
5. Ask congress to invent a new tax on magnets and electromagnets that is paid directly to me for piracy compensation.
6. Low probablility of Profit, but a fun waste of time.
"Where have all the great men gone?" -me
The problem is even if you put a big mine right up to the hull you "just" poke a hole in it. Think about the USS Cole or USS Samuel B. Roberts. Both of those were a couple of tons of explosives, and they killed "only" about twenty people combined - and didn't sink either ship, both of which are relatively small compared to a modern freighter or tanker.
Given the amount of effort it would take to construct and place such a mine along with the low probability of "success", there are probably a lot more "efficient" uses of two tons of TNT than a mine.
Is this a good use for technology? Seems like a vast amount over over-kill to replace something that's very straightforward and which has worked reliably for years.
Think of the backups required to make this system work. Power backups for the magnets, for their cooling system, probably mooring lines in case the magnets croak.
What have we gained really? Put some folks out of work.
This seems like a product that fixes what ain't broke.
it's Rotterdam, the largest port it the world!
If you had paid attention to Star Trek: Enterprise, you'd know that polarizing the hull plates is an excellent defence against enemy vessels.
>push orange button
The writing on the button changes as you press it
The Royal Barge drifts slowly around the bend, ending up near the western bank of the canal.
>read orange button
The huge orange button reads: MagnetoMoor off
>_
(From 'Leather Goddesses of Phobos' Infocom, 1986)
True, the magnets are turned off at sea, but you can't turn off a magnet of the strength mentioned and not have some residual field left over. In the world of physics, its called hysteresis. Physically, the electricity lines up the atoms to make a magnet. Turn off the electricity and most, but not all, will assume a random direction. The "but not all" is critical. They're responsible for the residual field. To remove it, you actually have to reverse the direction of the electricity slightly. To exactly cancel the residual field is a not trivial and requires sensitive measuring equipment. There lies the problem -- Navy ships want to be as close to zero magnetism as possible so they don't trigger mines. (By the way, mines are typically deployed at chockpoints, such as the exits to ports.)
Calling Rotterdam just "a port in the Netherlands" is an understatement: Rotterdam is the largest port in the world and has been for some years...
I hope the pilot remembers to attend the academy lecture on conservation of tractor beam power!
... of an accident. I've been in the Navy for 20 years. Ship's hit hard sometimes, even with tugs, when the current, wind, etc. go against you. Right now it's a bit of wood that gets crunched. What's the cost on those magnets again? And as if water, salt, air and metal weren't bad enough, toss in some high current lines and huge magnetic fields. Seems very complicated, high maintenance, and for no obvious benefit.
"Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.
I was recently quoted in the New Scientist as saying:-
9 99 93270
"Montgomery points out that the Dutch magnetic system will use a lot of electricity and may be prone to power failures".
See:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns
Sure, power is a concern - however I never responded to the inquiry from Maarten Keulemans in a negative sense or indeed in a manner that would pour cold water over Martin Verweij and Erik Fiktorie's research. In fact I applaud their initiative and found the magnetic mooring concept intriguing. I would suggest that typical journalism was employed here. Short on facts - high on negativity and controversy.
To provide some background I would consider myself as one of the World's leading experts in automated mooring for merchant and military vessels. I come from a maritime background and served on a variety of ships until leaving the sea after attaining the rank of Chief Officer.
Over the past few years, my team at Mooring Systems Limited has largely pioneered this automated mooring field and spent millions of dollars developing our products.
I first started designing automated mooring systems in 1985 after a parting line mooring killed a crewmember in front of me - it wasn't a pretty sight.
I've read a lot of your comments here and some are good - others are just BS. Humans will never progress unless we take chances and explore options. Sometimes through experimentation we will stumble across something truly beneficial for all mankind. To me, solving the rope mooring problem will ultimately save lives and create more efficient working environments - it is a worthwhile endeavour and one that I have devoted my working life to.
You must appreciate that the problems associated with automating the mooring process are incredibly difficult. Anyone who is trying to do this is courageous and deserves encouragement.
The field demands that you design a product that can cope with the almost chaotic dynamics associated with the environment yet meet the needs of the vast body of stakeholders involved including Port Authorities, Ship Owners, Unions, Maritime Safety, Insurance and Class.
In respect of the Electro Magnetic mooring proposal my thoughts were:
1. That the magnets may cause corrosion and alter the properties of the steelwork leading to a degradation of important structural elements with continued use.
2. The magnets would induce a mooring force that the hull must compensate for. In a lot of vessels this force maybe greater than acceptable tolerances. Hulls are not generally designed to compensate for forces greater than 10mt/sq.m. By FEA analysis we have found that some strengthening is required to longitudinals or transverse beams to accept direct mooring loads.
3. How would the magnets cater to shear forces fore and aft?
4. Would the magnets be recessed behind the maximum fender compression line and if so how would they be extended to make contact with the hull.
5. Can you measure the mooring load on the vessel by this means? This is extremely important to provide comfort and load monitoring during the mooring.
6. Do the magnets properly and safely compensate for fast (and common) heeling, trim and displacement changes whilst alongside?
7. As a Mariner - our last back up for navigation is the magnetic compass. Would the magnets affect the ships calibrated compass through such use?
8. Are the magnets shielded Quay side. Will shore personnel/equipment suffer any effect?
9. Have you examined high transient loads which can occur in mooring. My concern is that such loads may breach the "outreach" of the system and cause a failure.
Whilst a lot of people here talk about Power usage - this to me was not such a concern given UPS systems - I was badly "quoted". Nor was I particularly concerned about magnetic affect on cargo or internal switchboards providing the field did not ingress to such a depth. I do not know enough about magnets to comment with any accuracy so I was quite curious about this proposal. I do not have any idea what a 1 telsa magnet would cost so I can't comment on ROI.
So in finishing - give Martin and Erik a break - they are innovative and without people like them (and also me) - we would still be living in caves and rubbing rocks together for fire.
And Martin - if you ever read this response drop me an e-mail - I would love to talk about what we are both trying to achieve. Perhaps there we can share some research to make Shipping a safer and more efficient work place.
Kind regards to all
Peter Montgomery
Mooring Systems Limited
info@mooring.co.nz
www.fastmoor.com