Transport Ship Scheduling for Floating Energy Collection Timing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems for transport ships do not efficiently incorporate energy collected from offshore power generation by floating bodies, leading to decreased operational efficiency due to full energy storage on these bodies before collection by the ship.
Innovation Solution
An operation planning system that estimates energy storage times for floating bodies and generates a plan for the transport ship to align its operation time with these storage times, adjusting the number of floating bodies to be visited based on collection and delivery times.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the transport ship collects energy from floating bodies without coordinated planning, then energy collection operations can be performed, but operational efficiency decreases due to timing mismatches when floating bodies have full energy storage
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary estimation of energy storage times for multiple floating bodies before the transport ship arrives. The estimator calculates when each floating body will have sufficient energy stored, and this information is used to plan the ship's route and timing in advance, ensuring the ship arrives when energy is available for collection.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors energy storage status of floating bodies and feeds this information back to the planner. The planner adjusts the operation plan based on real-time or predicted energy storage levels, creating a closed-loop control system that optimizes the timing and routing of the transport ship to match energy availability.
2Quantity of substance
If the transport ship visits multiple floating bodies to collect energy, then total energy collection increases, but operation time and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the energy collection task into discrete segments, each corresponding to a specific floating body. The planner creates a sequence of visits to individual floating bodies, optimizing the route to minimize travel time while collecting energy from multiple sources. This segmentation allows systematic management of complex multi-body operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The operation plan is dynamically adjusted based on energy storage predictions and ship position. The planner can modify the sequence of floating body visits, travel speeds, and collection timing in response to changing conditions, allowing flexible optimization of both energy collection quantity and operational complexity.
3Loss of time
If the transport ship travels faster between floating bodies and port, then operation time decreases, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system optimizes travel parameters such as speed and route by changing them dynamically. The planner determines optimal cruising speeds that balance travel time reduction with energy consumption constraints. By adjusting these parameters based on distance, urgency, and available energy, the system achieves efficient trade-offs between time loss and energy use.
Data Source
AI summary
An operation planning system plans operation of a transport ship that collects energy from a plurality of floating bodies that store energy by generating power while automatically sailing. The operation planning system comprises an estimator and a planner. The estimator is configured to estimate a storing time, which is a time at which energy stored in each of the plurality of floating bodies reaches a predetermined amount. The planner is configured to generate an operation plan of the transport ship such that operation time of the transport ship approaches the storing time. The operation time is sum of a first time, a second time and a third time. The planner sets a number of floating bodies according to the first time.