Electric Motors on Ships
How Induction Motors Actually Fail — and Why Protection Often Comes Too Late Introduction — motors are the workhorses that quietly decide survivability Electric motors drive almost everything that keeps a ship alive: cooling water pumps, lubricating oil pumps, steering gear auxiliaries, ballast systems, ventilation fans, cargo gear, and thrusters. When a motor fails, the […]
Rectifiers & Inverters
6-Pulse, 12-Pulse, AFE — Harmonics, Heat, and System Instability Introduction — DC systems destabilise AC ships Rectifiers and inverters sit at the boundary between AC and DC systems. They are essential for: They are also one of the largest sources of harmonic pollution onboard. Many “mysterious” voltage problems start here. Rectifier basics — what pulse […]
Marine Transformers
Voltage Conversion, Fault Containment, and Why Fires Start Quietly Introduction — transformers rarely trip, they just burn On ships, transformers are often treated as passive, reliable components. They have no moving parts, make little noise, and usually sit untouched for years. This is precisely why they are dangerous. Transformers fail silently: When a transformer finally […]
Energy Management on Ships
Efficiency, Stability, and Why “Saving Fuel” Can Create Blackouts Introduction — efficiency without context destroys resilience Modern ships are under intense pressure to: Energy management systems promise optimisation. But efficiency-driven operation can quietly erase redundancy, leaving ships fragile under disturbance. Many blackouts occur not because power was unavailable — but because it was intentionally minimised. […]
Shore Power / Cold Ironing
Why Plugging In Is One of the Highest-Risk Electrical Operations on a Ship Introduction — shore power looks simple until it isn’t Cold ironing is often presented as a clean, environmentally friendly upgrade: shut down generators, connect shore power, reduce emissions. In practice, shore connection is one of the most technically complex and failure-prone power […]
Load Shedding, Blackout & Black Start
Why Recovery Time Is More Important Than Protection Accuracy Introduction — blackouts are survivable, if recovery is fast enough Every ship will experience electrical faults in its lifetime. What separates incidents from disasters is not whether a blackout happens, but how quickly control is restored. In confined waters, seconds matter.In open ocean, minutes matter.In bad […]
Power Management Systems (PMS)
Load Sharing — When Generators Fight Each Other Introduction — load sharing is where “healthy” systems quietly kill ships Many vessels lose power without any generator actually failing. Engines run, fuel is clean, cooling is normal — yet the ship blacks out. The cause is often poor load sharing. When generators are paralleled, they must […]
Automatic Voltage Regulators (AVR) & Excitation
Reactive Power, Stability, and the Silent Path to Blackout Introduction — voltage collapse happens before blackouts When ships lose power, crews often focus on engines, breakers, or fuel. In many cases, the first failure occurred electrically, inside the excitation system — long before the blackout. AVR and excitation failures are dangerous because: What excitation actually […]
Marine Generators
Construction, Ratings, and Why “Available Power” Is a Lie Introduction — generators don’t fail suddenly, systems do Marine generators are often treated as rugged, forgiving machines: big diesel engines, heavy alternators, plenty of margin. When a ship blacks out, crews frequently say: “The generator failed.” In reality, generators rarely fail in isolation. What fails is […]
Relay Protection on Ships
This is a drop-in replacement for the earlier version. ⚡ Relay Protection on Ships Functions, Settings, and When “Correct” Trips Kill Ships 4 Introduction — Relays don’t protect equipment, they decide outcomes Relay protection on ships is often taught as a technical subject: functions, ANSI numbers, curves, settings. In reality, relay protection is a decision-making […]