Some fifty presentations covering all aspects of All Electric Ships, both commercial and military vessels, will be a feature of the tenth All Electric Ship Conference (AES 2007) being held in central London 25-26 September 2007. The papers being presented over the two days will include new technologies, design processes, operating experience and training.
“The quality of the AES 2007 papers is outstanding and will provide an invaluable opportunity for those involved in all aspects of the AES community to share their experiences and learn from others,” explains Paul Norton FIMarEST, the Chief Marine Engineering Electrical in the Defence Equipment and Support organisation of the UK Ministry of Defence, who chairs the organising committee established by the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST), who jointly organise the event with the Société de l’Electricité, de l’Electronique et des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (SEE).
Being held at the Royal College of Physicians Conference Centre, AES 2007 features presentations from all over Europe, with strong representation from the USA and further afield. “The number of papers submitted by universities, and accepted by the organising committee, reflect the many supporting investigations and research being conducted by the academic community in realising the full potential for AES technology,” says Paul Norton.
AES 2007 opens with a plenary session that embraces, and clearly demonstrates, the key strands within the sector including ‘All Electric Ship – A view of developments from within the Power Systems Community’; ‘Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carriers join the All Electric Ship concept’; ‘Education and training for the All Electric Ship’ and ‘An effective approach to reactive power management in All Electric Cruise liners’.
Sessions over the two days include the ongoing debate on AC or DC distribution systems for power electronic intensive systems and a number of papers on design tools and simulation for the planning, analysis and support of AES vessels.
“That opening plenary session clearly indicates just how many designs we will be covering over the course of the two days, including two of the very different types of commercial vessels (cruise chips and LNG carriers) as well as military vessels including destroyers, submarines and the CVF aircraft carrier programme,” says Paul Norton.
“A second plenary session will be a feature of the closing afternoon of AES 2007, when topics that come under the conference spotlight will be: ‘A Naval Control and Electrical Installations – A Classifications Approach’; ‘Electric propulsion architectures in (Non) capital warships’; and ‘Shipboard electric power distribution: AC versus DC is not the issue - rather, how much of each, is still the issue’.”
Professor Chris Hodge FIMarEST FREng the Chief Electrical Engineer of BMT Defence Services, who will chair the opening plenary session and provide a closing conference summary, believes that AES 2007: “Provides a unique opportunity for the academic, designer, supplier, owner and operator communities to consider and debate the issues and opportunities of the evolving technology”.
“I couldn’t agree with him more,” says Paul Norton. “The committee certainly had a highly stimulating time selecting the presentations from the most encouraging result of the Call for Papers. We firmly believe that in AES 2007 we have a programme that follows on well from the last highly successful event in the series that was held in Paris in 2005.”
Further information on all aspects of AES 2007, and online registration, is at www.imarest.org/events/AES2007. Converteam Ltd are sponsoring AES 2007; information on the remaining sponsorship packages, is available from Megan McKinstry megan.mckinstry@imarest.org; Tel: +44 (0)20 7382 2655.
