Stabilizer (ship)

Last updated
Diagram of retractable fin stabilizers on a ship. Flossenstabilisatoren schematisch en.png
Diagram of retractable fin stabilizers on a ship.
Ship stabilizers: a fixed fin stabilizer (foreground centre) and bilge keels (left background). Stabilizer1.JPG
Ship stabilizers: a fixed fin stabilizer (foreground centre) and bilge keels (left background).

Ship stabilizers (or stabilisers) are fins or rotors mounted beneath the waterline and emerging laterally from the hull to reduce a ship's roll due to wind or waves. Active fins are controlled by a gyroscopic control system. When the gyroscope senses the ship roll, it changes the fins' angle of attack so that the forward motion of the ship exerts force to counteract the roll. [1] Fixed fins and bilge keels do not move; they reduce roll by hydrodynamic drag exerted when the ship rolls. Stabilizers are mostly used on ocean-going ships.

Contents

Function

Fins work by producing lift or downforce when the vessel is in motion. The lift produced by the fins should work against the roll moment of the vessel. To accomplish this, two wings, each installed underwater on either side of the ship, are used. Stabilizers can be:

Stabilizer movement is similar to that of aircraft ailerons. Some types of fins, especially the ones installed on larger ships, are provided with flaps, that increase the fin lift by about 15%. Stabilizer control needs to consider numerous variables that change quickly: wind, waves, ship motion, draft, etc. Fin stabilizers are much more efficient at higher velocities and lose effectiveness when the ship is under a minimum speed. [2] Stabilization solutions at anchor or at low speed include actively controlled fins (such as the stabilisation at rest system developed by Rolls-Royce [3] that oscillate to counteract wave motion), and rotary cylinders employing the Magnus effect. The latter two systems are retractable, allowing for a thinner vessel profile when docking and reducing drag while cruising.

History

Two 25-ton roll-stabilizing gyroscopes are installed on the transport USS Henderson during construction in 1917. It was the first large ship to use gyroscopic stabilization. Ship stabilizing gyroscopes USS Henderson 1917.jpg
Two 25-ton roll-stabilizing gyroscopes are installed on the transport USS Henderson during construction in 1917. It was the first large ship to use gyroscopic stabilization.

Naval architect Reuven Leopold writes that modern naval stabilization engineering started with antiroll tanks installed on British warships in the end of 19th century. [4] Another early stabilization technology was the anti-rolling gyro, or gyroscopic stabilization. In 1915 the gyroscopic stabilizer was mounted on US destroyer USS Worden (DD-16). [4] The World War I transport USS Henderson, completed in 1917, was the first large ship with gyro stabilizers. It had two 25-ton (23 t), 9-foot (2.7 m) diameter flywheels mounted near the center of the ship, spun at 1100 RPM by 75 HP AC motors. The gyroscopes' cases were mounted on vertical bearings. When a small sensor gyroscope on the bridge sensed a roll, a servomotor would rotate the gyros about a vertical axis in a direction so their precession would counteract the roll. In tests this system was able to reduce roll to 3 degrees in the roughest seas. For about 20 years the effectiveness of the stabilizers was unclear (in part due to improved gunfire directors), and in the US Navy the feature remained experimental (gyrostabilizer on the USS Osborne (DD-295), active-tank stabilizer on USS Hamilton (DMS-18)) until 1950s. [5] One of the most famous ships to first use an anti-rolling gyro was the Italian passenger liner SS Conte di Savoia, which first sailed in November 1932. It had three flywheels which were 13 feet (4.0 m) in diameter and weighed about 100 tons (91 tonnes) . [6] Gyroscope stabilization was replaced by fin stabilization due to its lower weight and bulk, but it has seen renewed interest since the 1990s (Seakeeper, etc.).[ citation needed ]

The fin stabilizer had been patented by Motora Shintaro of Japan in 1922. [7] [8] The first use of fin stabilizers on a ship was by a Japanese cruise liner in 1933. [9] From the late 1930s the British were actively installing the Denny-Brown fin stabilizers onto their warships (over 100 installations by 1950). [7] US Navy continued unsuccessful experiments with roll tanks until the successful fin stabilizer installations onto USS Gyatt (1956) and USS Bronstein (DE-1037) (1958). [10]

In 1934 a Dutch liner introduced one of the world's most unusual ship stabilizer systems, in which two large tubes were mounted on each side of the ship's hull with the bottom of the tubes open to the sea. The top of the tubes had compressed air or steam pumped in. As the ship rolled, the side it was rolling to would fill with water and then compressed air or steam would be injected to push the water down, countering the roll. [11]

In 2018, rocket and space technology company Blue Origin purchased the Stena Freighter , a roll-on/roll-off cargo ship, for use as a landing platform ship for its New Glenn launch vehicle booster stages. As of late 2018, the ship is undergoing refit to prepare for its role of landing rockets. [12] The rocket boosters will be recovered downrange of the launch site in the Atlantic Ocean while the hydrodynamically-stabilized ship is underway. The ship stabilization technology is designed to increase the likelihood of successful rocket recovery in rough seas, as well as helping to carry out launches on schedule. [13] [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gyroscope</span> Device for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity

A gyroscope is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rotation is free to assume any orientation by itself. When rotating, the orientation of this axis is unaffected by tilting or rotation of the mounting, according to the conservation of angular momentum.

Stabilizer, stabiliser, stabilisation or stabilization may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elmer Ambrose Sperry</span> American industrialist

Elmer Ambrose Sperry Sr. was an American inventor and entrepreneur, most famous for construction, two years after Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe, of the gyrocompass and as founder of the Sperry Gyroscope Company. He was known as the "father of modern navigation technology".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water rocket</span> Type of model rocket using water as its reaction mass

A water rocket is a type of model rocket using water as its reaction mass. The water is forced out by a pressurized gas, typically compressed air. Like all rocket engines, it operates on the principle of Newton's third law of motion. Water rocket hobbyists typically use one or more plastic soft drink bottle as the rocket's pressure vessel. A variety of designs are possible including multi-stage rockets. Water rockets are also custom-built from composite materials to achieve world record altitudes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Technical research ship</span> Type of intelligence-gathering ship

Technical research ships were used by the United States Navy during the 1960s to gather intelligence by monitoring, recording and analyzing wireless electronic communications of nations in various parts of the world. At the time these ships were active, the mission of the ships was covert and discussion of the true mission was prohibited. The mission of the ships was publicly given as conducting research into atmospheric and communications phenomena. Their designation was AGTR – Auxiliary, General, Technical Research – but it was more or less an open secret that this was a euphemism and they were commonly referred to as "spy ships".

Ernst Otto Schlick was a German naval engineer. He tried to solve the problem of rolling of ships at sea by installing large gyroscopes. The gyroscopic "stabilizers" gave disappointing or dangerous results in practice. An Englishman before him in 1868, Henry Bessemer had tried to use hydraulics and a spirit level watched by the steersman to stabilize ship rolls, also with dangerous results.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Image stabilization</span> Techniques used to reduce blurring of images

Image stabilization (IS) is a family of techniques that reduce blurring associated with the motion of a camera or other imaging device during exposure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ship motions</span> Terms connected to the six degrees of freedom of motion

Ship motions are defined by the six degrees of freedom that a ship, boat, or other watercraft, or indeed any conveyance, can experience.

USS <i>Glover</i> Garcia-class frigate of the US Navy

USS Glover (FF-1098) was a Garcia-class frigate originally modified for research use and commissioned as (AGDE-1) on 3 November 1965. Glover was laid down 29 July 1963 by the Bath Iron Works, in Bath, Maine and launched on 17 April 1965 with sponsors Mrs. William S. Pederson, Sr., and Mrs. Claude V. Signer, great-great-great-granddaughters of General John Glover.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-rolling gyro</span>

Ship stabilizing gyroscopes are a technology developed in the 19th century and early 20th century and used to stabilize roll motions in ocean-going ships. It lost favor in this application to hydrodynamic roll stabilizer fins because of reduced cost and weight. However, since the 1990s, there is renewed interest in the device for low-speed roll stabilization of vessels. Unlike traditional fins, the gyroscope does not rely on the forward speed of the ship to generate a roll stabilizing moment and therefore can stabilize motor yachts while at anchor. However, the latest generation of "zero speed" fins stabilizers can stabilize yachts while at anchor thanks to their eccentricity with respect of the shaft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ship stability</span> Ship response to disturbance from an upright condition

Ship stability is an area of naval architecture and ship design that deals with how a ship behaves at sea, both in still water and in waves, whether intact or damaged. Stability calculations focus on centers of gravity, centers of buoyancy, the metacenters of vessels, and on how these interact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bilge keel</span>

A bilge keel is a nautical device used to reduce a ship's tendency to roll. Bilge keels are employed in pairs. A ship may have more than one bilge keel per side, but this is rare. Bilge keels increase hydrodynamic resistance, making the ship roll less. Bilge keels are passive stability systems.

Stabilisation while not underway, stabilisation at rest, zero-speed stabilisation or on-anchor stabilisation is the process of augmenting roll reduction for a vessel that is not underway. This process may in some cases be implemented through the use of equipment systems that are also used for roll stabilisation while underway.

<i>Almirante Clemente</i>-class destroyer Class of ships

The Almirante Clemente class of destroyer escorts is a class of warships built for several countries. The class was designed by Ansaldo for the Venezuelan Naval Forces, currently Venezuelan Navy, in the 1950s to complement its Nueva Esparta-class destroyer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ship gun fire-control system</span> Type of analogue fire-control system

Ship gun fire-control systems (GFCS) are analogue fire-control systems that were used aboard naval warships prior to modern electronic computerized systems, to control targeting of guns against surface ships, aircraft, and shore targets, with either optical or radar sighting. Most US ships that are destroyers or larger employed gun fire-control systems for 5-inch (127 mm) and larger guns, up to battleships, such as Iowa class.

Antiroll tanks are tanks fitted onto ships in order to improve the ship's response to roll motion. Fitted with baffles intended to slow the rate of water transfer from the port side of the tank to the starboard side and the reverse, the tanks are designed such that a larger amount of water is trapped on the higher side of the vessel. This is intended to reduce the roll period of the hull by acting in opposition to the free surface effect. They can be broadly classified into active and passive antiroll tanks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rolleron</span> Type of aileron used for missiles

A rolleron is a type of aileron used for rockets and used to provide passive stabilization against rotation. While most commonly used to stabilize against roll, it can also be used for counteracting yaw and pitch as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicolas Minorsky</span> Russian-American engineer and scientist (1885–1970)

Nicolas Minorsky was a Russian American control theory mathematician, engineer and applied scientist. He is best known for his theoretical analysis and first proposed application of PID controllers in the automatic steering systems for U.S. Navy ships.

A Gyroscopic stabilizer is a control system that reduces tilting movement of a ship or aircraft. It senses orientation using a small gyroscope, and counteracts rotation by adjusting control surfaces or by applying force to a large gyroscope. It can be:

A gun stabilizer is a device that facilitates aiming an artillery piece by compensating for the motion of the platform on which it is mounted. For naval applications see ship gun fire-control system. Moving land-based systems tend to require more specialized stabilization. Due to the need to fire while in motion, tanks in World War II made some use of stabilization, but it became commonplace in later decades during the Cold War.

References

  1. IMD 1961.
  2. "Quantum Rotary Stabilizers" (video). YouTube. 2 June 2009.[ dead YouTube link ]
  3. "Stabilisation at rest". Products. Rolls-Royce Group PLC.
  4. 1 2 Leopold 1977, p. 35.
  5. Leopold 1977, pp. 35–36.
  6. "Italian Liner To Defy The Waves" Popular Mechanics, April 1931.
  7. 1 2 Leopold 1977, p. 36.
  8. US 1533328
  9. "Fins to Stop Ship's Rolling Governed by Gyro". Popular Mechanics. April 1933. p. 509.
  10. Leopold 1977, p. 36-37.
  11. "Compressed Air Stabilizer Stops Roll of Ship". Popular Mechanics. October 1934. p. 573.
  12. Tribou, Richard (24 October 2018). "Cargo ship for Blue Origin's New Glenn launches arrives to Florida". Orlando Sentinel . Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  13. Burghardt, Thomas (20 September 2018). "Building on New Shepard, Blue Origin to pump a billion dollars into New Glenn readiness". NASASpaceFlight.com . Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  14. Burns, Matt (7 March 2017). "Blue Origin reveals the 'New Glenn' takeoff and landing sequence in new video". TechCrunch . Retrieved 26 November 2018.

Sources