Indigenously Designed Addressable Bilge Alarm System for Naval Vessels

Abstract

Abstract: The primary purpose of an Addressable Bilge Alarm Panel is to provide an early warning of the bilge level of a vessel so that the personal, equipment and valuable resources can be protected and action is taken to remove bilges as soon as possible, all according to a predetermined plan. This study presents aspects of the bilge alarm system onboard Sri Lanka Naval Ship (SLNS) Sagara, by analyzing the existing system based on automation and advanced microcontroller programming using Raspberry Pi3, and ATMEGA 328P microcontrollers. The designed system is an addressable type bilge alarm system that communicates in serial RS 485. The novelty of the designed system are the own data protocol used in RS 485 communication, voice command of specific bilge location and the self designed advanced graphical user interfaces (GUI). In the simulation process, the bilge alarms may be raised automatically by a bilge sensor or manually by a person operating a test button. This response indicates the exact location of the ship on the given blueprint of the touch panel and provides an automatic warning alarm of the bilge location through the ship fitted General Alarming system. The study covers the designing process, implementation, microcontroller and Touch Panel programming, simulation process, testing and commissioning process. The designed system was installed onboard and tested for several months under different sea conditions by experienced Senior Electrical Engineers and Marine Engineers of SLN, then the system was commissioned on 03rd February 2022.