Laser Scanning Application for the Enhancement of Quality Assessment in Shipbuilding Industry

The need for a shipyard to improve the quality of its final products is crucial to be competitive in the shipbuilding market. In particular, in the latest years the attention has moved to reducing the presence and occurrence of dimensional non-conformities throughout the entire construction process, in order to facilitate and speed up subsequent phases and ship blocks assembly. This necessity has led shipyards management to evaluate the introduction of dimensional detection systems for the manufactured articles. As an innovative solution, laser scanning technologies have been already tested in extensive ways at industrial level and have recently found application in the shipbuilding sector. Specifically, among the various available technologies, laser scanner systems and laser trackers proved to be the most suitable ones for the targeted purposes. Within the paper, the authors firstly describe the evolution of shipbuilding process and highlight its peculiarities. Then, they focuse on the quality assessment process with a specific reference to both dimensional controls and laser scanning technologies that may support such operation. The application of the latest-generation tools is validated through the presentation and discussion of a real case study related to a ship block. Finally, the authors present the potential future developments and integration of laser scanning technologies within Industry 4.0 framework

Impact of Fuel Switch to Methanol on the Design of an all Electric Cruise Ship

Current climate change policies require the reduction of both greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions of the marine sector. To achieve such a goal, the use of non-fossil fuels is one of the proposed solutions. Specifically, methanol has several advantages in respect to other fuels (both fossil and non-fossil), providing a feasible near-term solution for a more sustainable maritime transport. However, since methanol presents different characteristics in respect to actual fossil fuels, it is required to carefully evaluate the effect of its onboard integration on a ship to determine both the technical and economic feasibility of transitioning the onboard power production to such a fuel. The study presented in this paper analyzes the consequences deriving from equipping a modern all electric expedition cruise ship with methanol fuel, considering both technical and economic aspects

La regolazione dei tirocini formativi in Italia dopo la legge Fornero. L’attuazione a livello regionale delle Linee-guida 24 gennaio 2013: mappatura e primo bilancio

Del tema degli stage – e dei tanti abusi in materia – continuano a occuparsi i vecchi e i nuovi media e, con sempre maggiore intensità e preoccupazione, anche gli addetti ai lavori. Manca ancora, tuttavia, un puntuale lavoro di monitoraggio e di bilancio volto, per un verso, a ricostruire anche solo in termini descrittivi il complesso quadro regionale di riferimento e a valutare in termini critici e ricostruttivi, per l’altro verso, se sia stato effettivamente raggiunto l’obiettivo della legge Fornero, quello di definire un quadro normativo omogeneo su scala nazionale ancorché la materia dei tirocini sia di esclusiva competenza regionale. In mancanza di un quadro di riferimento istituzionale si è ritenuto utile colmare questo vuoto con un volume ADAPT University Press. Si tratta di un lavoro minuzioso, innanzitutto di monitoraggio delle normative regionali. Un apposito database dedicato al tema dei tirocini del nuovo sito di ADAPT, www.transizionioccupazionali.it, contiene la proiezione informatica di questo volume con tutte le normative di riferimento, che verranno aggiornate

A fast feasibility tool for the assessment of fuel switch in the concept design of merchant ships

Due to the utmost importance of international maritime transport within the global economy, shipping contributes substantially to the emission of pollutants and Greenhouse Gases. Consequently, it is called to reduce its environmental impact, in accordance with the regulations that will enter into force in the next years. In this framework, innovative technologies can find fruitful applications in new constructions, but there is still a significant number of operating ships that needs to be technologically updated. Nonetheless, since these ships may be already in the middle of their service life, revamping operations must take into account the purpose of both reducing pollution and avoiding long and expensive interventions. The sustainability-oriented production is one of the most discussed topics and in this paper, the authors aim at describing the potential technologies and solutions to adapt operating ships to the future emission threshold limits. Then, they propose a tool for supporting energy conversion studies on ships. The tool was tested on an Oil Tanker selected as a case study; different layouts exploiting the use of liquefied natural gas, ammonia, and methanol as alternative fuels were analysed. The considered technological solutions were compared on the basis of both technical and economic aspects. Indeed, technological feasibility and economic viability represent the most important discriminants for the diffusion of such innovations on a wide scale and in particular for commercial vessels employed predominantly in long and international voyages

Launching Systems for Unmanned Vehicles Onboard Naval Vessels

Unmanned vehicles can replace humans in humanitarian and military operations, requiring ships to have innovative capabilities for launching and recovering them. However, the variety of unmanned vehicles makes it difficult to create standardized interfaces, and their development often outpaces the lifespan of ships. Integrating unmanned vehicles on naval vessels is complex due to technical requirements and limited space. Engineers must consider cost efficiency, flexibility, and operational impact. This paper presents technologies and solutions for launching unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from front-line ships, with their pros and cons. To this end, Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (F AHP) has been here employed to rank the main options. Among them, the electromagnetic catapult is the most promising option for launching UAVs from front-line naval ships and it is worthy of further development. Besides, despite having limited capacity, bungee cords can be used until the technology of the electromagnetic catapult is tested and ready to take the place of the former

A Rational Approach to the Ecological Transition in the Cruise Market: Technologies and Design Compromises for the Fuel Switch

Supporting policies to achieve a green revolution and ecological transition is a global trend. Although the maritime transport of goods and people can rightly be counted among the least polluting sectors, much can be done to further reduce its environmental footprint. Moreover, to boost the ecological transition of vessels, a whole series of international regulations and national laws have been promulgated. Among these, the most impactful on both design and operational management of ships concern the containment of air-polluting emissions in terms of GHG, NOx, SOx and PM. To address this challenge, it might seem that many technologies already successfully used in other transport sectors could be applied. However, the peculiar characteristics of ships make this statement not entirely true. In fact, technological solutions recently adopted, for example, in the automotive sector must deal with the large size of vessels and the consequent large amount of energy necessary for their operation. In this paper, with reference to the case study of a medium/large-sized passenger cruise ship, the use of different fuels (LNG, ammonia, hydrogen) and technologies (internal combustion engines, fuel cells) for propulsion and energy generation on board will be compared. By imposing the design constraint of not modifying the payload and the speed of the ship, the criticalities linked to the use of one fuel rather than another will be highlighted. The current limits of application of some fuels will be made evident, with reference to the state of maturity of the relevant technologies. Furthermore, the operational consequences in terms of autonomy reduction will be presented. The obtained results underline the necessity for shipowners and shipbuilders to reflect on the compromises required by the challenges of the ecological transition, which will force them to choose between reducing payload or reducing performance

Next generation Amphibious Vessel: an innovative power and propulsion system

The main purpose of Navy amphibious ships is to transport Marines, their weapons, equipment, and supplies toward distant operating areas to enable the conduction of expeditionary operations ashore. Although amphibious ships can be used to support Marines' landings against opposing military forces, they are also employed for operations in peace. This kind of vessel has large storage capability, which enables them to operate helicopters and landing crafts for the transfer of personnel and supplies from ship to shore without the need for port facilities. Thanks to their versatility, amphibious ships are in force in all major Navies. The main purpose of this paper is to carry out a study about the power and propulsion system of the next-generation Landing Platform Dock. This study proposes an innovative Integrated Electrical and Electronic Power System with a DC zonal power distribution system and full electric pod propulsion. The DC zonal power distribution will allow the installation onboard of innovative components and weapons (e.g., Laser Gun and modular fixed-face radar), while pod propulsion will improve the dynamic positioning capability, a key feature for this type of ship

Feasibility study of a hybrid-electric multipurpose craft for coastal sustainable navigation

The importance of reducing polluting emissions of small crafts operating in coastal areas is also linked to the concept of preserving the marine and coastal environment. So, nowadays the need to reduce as far as possible the pollutants' emissions is a primary objective that must be considered in the design of any type of vessel. This paper illustrates the design of a small vessel conceived with two different operational conditions: passenger transport and research support unit. In particular, the hybrid-electric power system was designed to guarantee ZEM (Zero Emission Mode) navigation, even in protected areas where usually navigation is not allowed, such as natural reserves