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
Slashdot Mirror
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