Navigation and Other Systems
Kawasaki Ride Control System
The ride quality is a vital issue for high speed ships. The Ride Control System (RCS) is an essential and effective device to improve the passenger and crew comfort and the cargo safety further more.
The Kawasaki RCS has been developed through Kawasaki's many experiences with Jetfoil's and TSL2s attitude and motion control system, and equipped on the Kawasaki Jet Piercer "Hayabusa".
The RCS for "Hayabusa" consists of two forward fins and a trim tab on each demihull, ship motion sensors, a microcomputer control unit and a hydraulic system. The RCS measures the ship motion and commands hydraulically actuated fins and trim tabs to reduce wave-induced pitching and rolling motion.
The pitching and rolling rate signals are sent with the highest weight to the system because the RCS on this type of ship acts most effectively as a motion damper. In designing the RCS, simulation studies were performed to evaluate the motion damping by varying the feedback gains as well as model test with the RCS in waves.
The RCS was designed to reduce the ship motions of pitching, rolling and vertical acceleration about half, which has been ascertained in the sea trial of "Hayabusa" as shown in the figure.
