◆ 3、Vessel Steering and Stabilizing Devices

When a ship is steered to change the direction, it tilts towards the side of the steered direction. If this phenomenon is used in such a way as steering the rudder quickly against rolling and then steering it back immediately before the ship changes the direction, the rolling of the ship can be cancelled against the tilt produced by the quick steering. Thus without using any special devices, rolling reduction can be achieved just by the control of the rudder. Two units of HySerpack have been installed on “Shioji-maru” to control the rudder, a training ship owned by Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology. The conventional steering system uses servo-valves to control the movements of rudder. The HySerpack system on “Shioji-maru” has a performing characteristics equivalent to those of conventional system while it has 4 times as much the output power but occupies one-eighth as much space as conventional systems.
The steering system on “Shioji-maru” has very short reaction time to the input signal. This quick response makes it possible for the system to be sued as rolling damp device.