Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HCR (Market maturation of the first on-board autonomous biofouling cleaning system to keep ship’s hull clean at all times)

Teaser

Environmental awareness has grown in the shipping sector alongside the enforcement of stricter regulations to reduce ship emissions and protect the maritime environment2. Indeed, since 2008 highly toxic compounds, as Tributyltin (TBT), were banned from antifouling coatings...

Summary

Environmental awareness has grown in the shipping sector alongside the enforcement of stricter regulations to reduce ship emissions and protect the maritime environment2. Indeed, since 2008 highly toxic compounds, as Tributyltin (TBT), were banned from antifouling coatings. This, in parallel with the need to increase the competitiveness of the sector, is driving a strong demand of cost-effective solutions towards greener shipping, representing a business opportunity valued > €13 billion/ year3. The highest potential has been attributed to solutions increasing fuel efficiency, enabling both fuel consumption and ship emissions reduction.

In the absence of an effective anti-biofouling system, the hull roughness could increase from 100-200 micrometres within few weeks to several centimetres within a few months. Consequently, the drag force increases and more fuel is consumed to maintain the speed.

Cliin has designed, developed and prototyped the first on-board hull cleaning solution - the HCR (Hull Cleaning Robot) system – which consists of an on-board mobile docking station and a small and light autonomous underwater cleaning robot permanently installed on the ship. Through a continuous light and gentle cleaning with pressured seawater jets, adequate to remove light slime, the optimal hull performance is maintained continuously.

The HCR system provides easy access to hull cleaning at ships. Below is a list of benefits of the HCR:
• Is the first of its kind – a fully autonomous hull cleaning
- solution
• Permanently installed on the ship
• Reduces fuel consumption up to 20% between dry dock
- vs. on-demand cleaning
• Reduces ship maintenance and repair by 50% vs. ondemand
- cleaning
• Net savings up to 81% over 5 years between mandatory
- dry-dockings vs. on-demand cleaning (cf. Section 2)
• Reduces emission of GHG emissions by 95% vs. on-demand
- cleaning (cf. Section 2)
• Acts as a perfect match with all coatings, including nontoxic
- coatings (hard coating, Silicone based)
• Eliminates the transportation of invasive species on the
- hull
• Avoids port restrictions, as cleaning can be done at open
- sea
• No damage of the coating system due to gentle cleaning.

The main objective of the HCR project is to automate – to arrive to a final design –, test and demonstrate the benefits of the system on operating ships, in order to generate solid performance documentation for product certification and business case references, bringing HCR to market readiness. Danish shipping companies J. Lauritzen & Maersk already committed to participate in the demonstration activities.

Work performed

From the beginning of the project, several activities supporting the development and implementation of HCR have been performed. The main categories of these activities are Project Management; Requirements and Specifications; Automation; Engineering, Manufacture optimization, and tests; and Exploitation, Dissemination & Communication. Here is a list of the work performed so far:

Project Management

• A detailed project plan has been made, and all activities and resources are registered.

• Weekly project meetings are performed to align the team and plan next steps.



Requirements and Specifications

• Regulatory analysis has been carried out regarding norms, public information, certification requirements and documentation for HCR certification (CE-mark), and compliance with the industry standards (e.g., vibration and salt mist).

• Workshop with stakeholders carried out to know requirements and needs of shipping industry and end-users of the HCR.

• RTMA (Requirement Traceability Matrix) has been prepared and is continuously updated to keep track of the necessary tasks, tests and reporting.

• Attending CE course at “Dansk Standard”



Automation

• Setup development pc with OS, ROS and CAN connection

• Written drive for robot control

• Implementation of canOpen-ROS interface



Engineering, Manufacture optimization, and Tests

• Research of biofouling, paints and cleaning methods

• Test setup of:
o Test cart/fixture
o Test specimens
o Coating
o Biofouling growth
o Test facilities
o Test procedure

• Modification on existing Cliin products
o Cargo Hold Robot (CHR) motor drives/gear
o Pump station (used to generate high pressure for cleaning)

• Study of CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulations and towing tests

• Material investigation on magnet bricks



Exploitation, Dissemination & Communication

• The public website www.cliin.dk has been opened and is continuously updated with new information and news. The website currently presents only the Cargo Hold Robot, but will soon include the HCR as well.

• The communication and dissemination plan has been updated to fit the current market environment. Maritime Executive, the largest business journal within the shipping industry, along with several renowned Danish medias in shipping and technology (Shipping Watch, Norden News, Teknologisk Institut) have already published articles about Cliin robots.

• Exploitation plan including market overview, analysis of competitive landscape, pricing strategy, identification of possible co-investors and end-users.

Final results

At the end of the HCR project, Cliin will present a robot that will completely change the way hull cleaning is done. HCR can clean a ship hull automatically, even while the ship is moving. This allows the ship to travel faster and not have to stop for hull cleaning. Moreover, the HCR will enable the ship to be cleaned on a more regular basis, as there is no need to arrange cleaning in a specific port at a specific time. Cleaning is always available at hand, when and where it is needed. Maintaining a clean hull, with Cliin’s proactive cleaning approach, will significantly reduce fuel consumption of ships and thereby minimize the environmental footprint of the shipping industry.

For the society, the main direct benefits provided by the HCR system are related to the highest safety, security and social standards, enabled by the transformation of a manual/ semi-autonomous process into an autonomous one, which reduces the exposure
to fatalities and accidents. From a global economy perspective, the increase in the profitability of the companies (detailed in the sub-section above) will enable a reduction of transport costs, alleviating one of the major constraints to trade, thereby creating opportunities to access foreigner countries and promote job creation.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.cliin.dk.