Abstract:

Marine diesel engine provides the prime mover for the majority of ship propulsion systems and as such plays a fundamental role in ship operational and economy. Ship owners and operators focuses to the development of improved method of analysis, operation, fault condition diagnosis, performance monitoring, performance optimization, and recently emission analysis and control. Information technology can be used to raise the technological level of diesel engine automation and control to enable a new generation of engines with high level of safety and friendly use for the operators. Knowledge base systems are practically suitable for these problems and will inevitably become an essential element in marine technology. The main objective of this paper is designing a prototype knowledge base system to improve the capabilities of fault tracing for a ship diesel engine. Such system can be used by non-experts to improve their problem solving skills. For implementing the Knowledge base system, a software package called EXSYS has been used. Using this software package eight rules were designed for building the prototype knowledge base system shell. The developed system has a friendly user interface and does not require any special programming skills to encourage all operators to use it. Also it can be used as a training tool for new staff.