THE STEERING GEAR

• The Steering System consists of the Gyropilot Control

Panel and the Steering Hydraulic System.

• The hydraulic portion of the system consists of two

independent systems that are connected to the common
steering ram piping. These two systems work in
conjunction to allow the ship to be maneuvered.

• The steering gear or the hydraulic system may be operated

in various locations of the ship: from the Wheel House and
the Steering Gear Room.
The main parts of a steering gear system are:

– Rudder
– Actuator
– Steering gear and control system
– Wheel
 1. Rudder
The rudder is the most important controlling device in ship maneuvering.
Usually, it is a passive equipment of a ship, which generates the control forces
and moments by inflow velocity and loses its performance when the ship’s
speed reduces.

Types of rudder
•Rudder simplex,
•Spade rudder,
•Semi-balanced rudder,
•Flap rudder,
•Active rudder/rudder propeller,
•Telescopic rudder.
 The main parts of a rudder

The main parts of a rudder are the blade and the stock.
 Forces that acts on the rudder

The rudder arrangement is exposed to different forces:

• Current forces created by the propeller and waves
• Gravity of components and ship movement
• Side forces when turning
 2. The actuator
The rudder actuator means the component which converts directly the hydraulic
pressure into mechanical action to move the rudder. Basically there are two types
of electro hydraulic steering gear working principles:

• The RAM (or cylinder) type and

• The rotary vane type.

The working principles of the two are very similar. A strong slow movement of a
mechanical surface is created by the use of high oil pressure.
• The RAM type uses cylinder pistons
• The Rotary vane type uses pressure working on the side of a vane (or wing)

On the RAM type the piston is connected by a ram (or rod) to a tiller, and the tiller
is fixed connected to the rudder stock, creating the rotating movement.
On the Rotary vane, the vane is fixed to a boss (hub) that is fixed directly to the
stock.
 3. Steering gear control system
The steering gear control system means the equipment by which
orders are transmitted to the steering gear power units and other
parts necessary for operating the steering gear.

This system includes: transmitters, receivers, programmable

electronic units, hydraulic control pumps, associated motors,
associated motor controllers and frequency converters, piping and
cables.

Steering gear components

• Wheel house
• Engine control room
• Steering gear
Wheel house

Steering modes. The three most used steering modes are:

• Non follow-up (Manual) - is totally manual control of the rudder

movement, from the wheel-house or, in emergency situations, from the
steering gear compartment.
• Follow-up - is a variant of the manual type, it allows the rudder to be
locked in any rudder angle, and the system will hold it there until you
move it again.
• Autopilot - the ship will automatically find its way to a pre-set course
along a pre-set route. If the ship is forced out of course, the autopilot
will use the rudder to get the ship back on course.
 4. Wheel
A ship's wheel is the modern method of adjusting the angle of a boat or ship's
rudder in order to cause the vessel to change its course.
Together with the rest of the steering mechanisms, it forms part of the helm.

It is typically connected to a mechanical, electric or hydraulic system. In many

modern ships the wheel is replaced with a simple toggle that remotely controls an
electro-mechanical or electro-hydraulic drive for the rudder, with a rudder position
indicator presenting the feedback to the helmsman.
Emergency steering
PROPULSION SYSTEM
The main components of a propulsion system are:

• Main engine
• Shafts
• Propeller
The main engine of a ship is connected to its propeller with the help of a
shaft. This whole system, along with other vital machineries is known
as the ship’s propulsion system.
 1. Main engine
The function of the main engine is to deliver mechanical energy to the
propulsors. The main types of propulsion systems that have been used on
ships are:

• Diesel engine
• Gas turbine
• Steam turbine
• Nuclear power
• Electric motor
A) The diesel engine is the most common main engine (97%) in the merchant
marine, mainly due to its low fuel consumption in comparison with other engines.

From the construction viewpoint, two types can be distinguished:

• 2 stroke engines (the majority of them low speed and few medium speed)
• 4 stroke engines (medium or high speed)
From the cilinders’ design point of view, there are also two types:
• „V” design
• „ Line” design

From the injection and exhausting point of view:

• conventional – mechanical/ hydraulic control of injection, with camshaft
• common rail – Electronic/ hydraulic control of injection, without camshaf
B) Gas turbines find their application in fast and advanced ship types and navy
vessels. The power to weight ratio of gas turbines is higher than that of diesel
engines.
C) A Steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from
pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion.
Some ship types, such as naval vessels and LNG carriers may have a steam turbine
as propulsion engine. Two kinds of steam plants can be distinguished in marine
applications:
• Fossil-fired steam plants, frequently found on board naval vessels and LNG
carriers.
• Nuclear steam plants, submarines and aircraft carriers may be equipped with.
D) Nuclear power in ships has mainly been confined to naval vessels, particularly
to submarines. But this form of power can be used more in merchant ships as oil
fuels become more expensive. The atomic ice-breakers opened new possibilities in
exploring the northern areas, because they can run for a long time without
refuelling. A nuclear-powered ship differs from a conventional turbine ship in that
it uses the energy released by the decay of radioactive fuel to generate steam. The
steam is used to turn a shaft via a turbine in the conventional way.
E) Electric motors found their way as prime mover in the 90’s; they are used with
an electric generation plant combined of an engine (one of the above types) and an
electric generator. They are mainly found in advanced passenger ships, some new
designs vessels that are intended to use electric motors especially for dynamic
positioning (DP) applications: supply vessels, offshore support vessels (OSV),
anchor handling supply vessels (AHTS).
F) Dual fuel diesel electric. The propulsion system is composed of several sets of
generator diesel engines and variable speed propulsion motors. The electric power
is generated by the generator diesel engines supplied with gas or fuel oil. The
propulsion motor is driven by the electric power, and the power is transmitted to
the propulsive shafting. Compared to the diesel electric system the Dual Fuel diesel
electric can run both on gas and liquid fuel.
2. Shaft
 3. Propulsor
The propulsion devices are designed to assure ship motion by using different kinds
of energy. They can be active and reactive.
• The sails of sailing vessels are active propulsion devices, using wind energy;
• Other propulsors are reactive: propeller, paddle wheel, water-jet propulsor.
The propulsor converts the rotating mechanical power delivered by the engine into
translating mechanical power to propel the ship.
The most common propulsor is the propeller.

Propeller’s main parts

• The propeller pitch is the distance that a propeller theoretically
(without slip) advances during one revolution. The starting point is on
the leading edge.

• Types of propellers
From the pitch point of view, two types of propeller are distinguished:
• Fixed pitch propeller. The pitch, although not constant along the radius of the
blades, is fixed in any point, since the blades are rigidly attached to the hub. The
amount of thrust developed by the propeller is controlled by the rotational speed
of the propeller. Stopping and reversing the ship require special measures: it
must be possible to change the direction of rotation of the propeller in either the
gearbox or the engine.
• Controllable pitch propellers (c.p.p.) - consists of a hub with the blades
mounted on separately, so that they can rotate, thus changing their pitch. The
shaft is hollow and contains a control system, mainly hydraulic, that can adjust
the pitch angle of the blades. Adjusting the position of the blades changes the
angle of attack in the flow, thus changing the thrust without changing the
rotational speed. This has major advantages with respect to the maneuverability
of the ship.
Other types of propulsors

Water jet propulsor Voith-Schneider propeller

Contra-rotating propellers Azimuth propeller

Thruster propeller Paddle wheels