For special purpose vessels engaged in offshore operations, positioning accuracy is a core performance indicator. Jiangsu Haizhongzhou Shipping Industry Co., Ltd. is focusing on breaking through the integration and application of Dynamic Positioning (DP) control systems in the construction of high-end engineering vessels and special purpose ships.
A dynamic positioning system is a closed-loop control system that actively controls a vessel’s main propellers and thrusters to automatically maintain position and heading. Its core technical challenge lies in achieving precise position control under continuous disturbances from complex environmental forces such as wind, waves, and currents.
On high-end vessel types such as our 5,000-ton fully revolving crane vessel, we have applied a DP-2 dynamic positioning control system. The system adopts a redundant design concept and integrates multiple sensors, including a BeiDou/GPS dual-mode positioning system, fiber optic gyroscopes, and wind speed/direction sensors. Based on a Kalman filter algorithm, the system builds a state estimation model that fuses sensor data, effectively filters out measurement noise, and estimates the vessel’s real-time motion status.
On the control level, the system employs a fuzzy PID controller, which can adaptively adjust control parameters in response to changing environmental conditions. Real ship trial data shows that under sea state 3–4 conditions, the system achieves heading keeping accuracy of ±1° and position keeping accuracy better than ±1 meter, fully meeting the requirements of complex offshore lifting operations.
Mastery of dynamic positioning technology marks a significant step forward for Haizhongzhou in the high-end special purpose vessel construction sector. We will continue to deepen our in-house R&D capabilities in control systems, providing customers with more accurate and reliable vessel operation solutions.