Aspiring inland waterway skippers learn to dock safely

Safety first

The docking simulator consists of a 24-metre-long train track. On it, a boulder moves, simulating the ship. This moves along four “docking quays”, two on the left and two on the right, on which the students stop the ship with the rope. De Beule Technics was in charge of the mechanics, while .XCE Automation did the automation.

Jacques: “Our main objective was to teach the students to dock safely, because there are quite a few risks. You are pulling up to a tonne and a half. You could get dragged along, your hand can get caught somewhere, for example. Or your rope might break. The backlash can be deadly. So we wanted a safe solution, according to the machinery directive.”

“And we have that now. At each of the four docking quays there is a station that houses an industrial tablet, with an RFID chip to determine the operator’s location. This way, we can be sure that the instructor has his hand on the emergency stop at all times. That system works perfectly.”

Torque control for 100% realism

“Schipperswelzijn wanted a moving boulder,” says Tim Geens, managing director at .XCE Automation, “but one that realistically slows down when students pull on the rope with a certain force. For that, we use a torque control.”

“Calculating all that was a challenge, though. We had to find a way to correctly convert dynamic as well as static torque to tensile force in the rope. After all, you want only the student’s pulling force to be counted, not the force in the rope itself. Together with Siemens, we calibrated the system down to the kilo.”

Siemens recommended a 1FG1 motor from Innomotics, which can handle the large forces. “Via the DRIVE-CLiQ protocol, we have a super-fast connection to our SINAMICS G220 drive,” says Jeroen Pieters, account manager at Siemens. As a result, the motor reacts instantaneously to pulling on the rope. We also provided a C4 coating for use in brackish water, because Schipperswelzijn is of course located in the harbour. The 87Hz mode allowed us to keep the motor quite small for the power required.”

Data-based report

.XCE programmed the whole thing in SIMATIC WinCC Unified, with a web client that runs on the tablet. “The cabinet also has a Comfort Panel on which everything can be monitored,” Tim says. “Schipperswelzijn can set different ‘recipes’ via Comfort Panel and web client: x number of tonnes at such and such a speed. In this way, students can gradually improve.”

“Every pull now generates data, which we compile into a report afterwards,” Jacques continues. “This allows us to monitor much more accurately what students can do. Afterwards, they get black and white proof that they can pull one tonne at 15 metres per minute. On a ship, such a thing is impossible to verify. There is no discussion now.”

Unique in the world

“What we have here does not exist anywhere else,” Jacques beams. “I myself have 24 years of experience as an inland waterway skipper and you can believe me: this is just like the real thing. Docking 1,500 kg at 30 metres per minute - the maximum speed - on this machine, makes me sweat just as much. But most importantly, everything is done in complete safety.”

“Our simulators are not yet replacing sailing days. We can now train many more people at very low cost, though. And testing on the simulator also trains them better. So our ultimate goal is to make training days on the simulators count as sailing days. In one day, you will learn many more different conditions here than on a real sailing day. And then a barge does not have to go back and forth all day to teach students how to dock. But one thing is already certain: they are stepping on board better prepared.”