DISTRIBUTED SCHEME FOR MAIN ENGINE POWER CONTROL SYSTEMS OF SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED CONTAINER SHIPS BASED ON NASH EQUILIBRIUM.

As a main force of ocean shipping, the energy consumption of container ships is considerably high due to the frequent load shifts of the main engines and other disturbances. In this study, for main engine power control systems consisted of several subsystems in small and medium sized container ships, a distributed scheme is proposed to relief input and output fluctuations caused by disturbances. First, a simplified interconnected model considering couplings among subsystems is established in a state space form. Second, a distributed model predictive control scheme based on Nash equilibrium is proposed to reduce influences from unknown and bounded disturbances by optimising in a negotiated manner. Finally, a contrast simulation is carried out between the proposed method and the decentralised model predictive control. The result shows that the proposed method works better than the decentralised one with less fluctuations. This study provides a theoretical basis for designs and reformations of main engine power control systems in small and medium sized container ships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]