seatec - Finnish marine technology review 1/2009 | Page 35

Improving ship performance with state of the art technology – NAPA Power for Celebrity Solstice C elebrity Solstice is equipped with the latest version of the rev- this method a giant leap into the future. Despite the minor in- olutionary NAPA Power system. NAPA Power is a system that accuracy of weather forecasts affecting calculations of the opti- utilises the benefits of cutting-edge scientific research on ship hy- mal way to navigate the voyage, systematic use of NAPA Power drodynamics, oceanographic, meteorology and ship performance has proved to yield significant savings in fuel consumption. Ex- studies in order to improve the ship’s fuel performance and re- perience has proved that this method of using the best available duce the exhaust gases significantly. knowledge of environmental conditions, together with scientif- The system is based on a 3-D model of the ship that includes ically collected knowledge of ship efficiency and the factors af- the latest research on hydrodynamic phenomenon influencing ship fecting it, leads in the long run to savings of 4 to 5 per cent when resistance. The model is then used to estimate the ship’s perform- compared against the fuel consumption figures reported by oth- ance, using an accurate model of the ship’s power plant and pro- er cruise companies with similar NAPA Power and NAPA Speed pulsion system in accordance with all the major factors affecting Pilot installations. ■ ship performance, such as wind, waves, shallow water, floating position and currents, and creates a detailed voyage plan for executing the voyage in the most advantageous way. The main inputs for the system are the route initially planned, the schedule for the voyage and weather forecasts, including ocean current forecasts. For each leg of the route, the system calculates the optimal speed in prevailing and forecasted environmental conditions. It also makes it possible to estimate and find waypoints for the most advantageous route in given boundaries, taking into account the highly accurate information on ship performance and environmental conditions. Executing the optimised voyage plan that NAPA Power generates as precisely as possible is the key to superb performance. In order to minimise the effect of the human factor when sailing the seas in the optimal way, NAPA has introduced NAPA Speed Pilot, which is now also installed on Celebrity Solstice. NAPA Speed Pilot is connected directly to the ship’s propulsion system, where it controls ship speed according to information on the optimal way of executing the voyage calculated online by NAPA Power. In addition to the usual features of most speed pilots, NAPA Speed Pilot is expertly designed for the purpose of improving the ship’s efficiency through sm