When the ship tilts on any of its sides i.e. port or starboard and doesn’t return back to its upright position, it is known as heeling of the vessel. Heeling is unsafe for ship, its machineries and people onboard. The main reasons of ship’s heeling are strong winds, hard and speedy turns and uneven cargo loading. Out of the three reasons, the most common cause is uneven cargo loading and unloading.
Anti-heeling System
The anti heeling system of a ship automatically detects the heeling angle of the ship and compensates the same. This allows the vessels to have continues loading and unloading cargo operation without stopping in between for list correction. This saves considerable amount time on the port.
In this system, ballast tanks are internally connected to each other by means of pipe lines, automatic valves and control systems. When the ship heels to any of the sides, the heeling sensor sends the signal for change of ships angle with respect to the ship’s upright position to the master control panel. This change in heeling angle is compensated by methods of auto transferring the water from the heeled side to the other side of the ship, making the vessel upright.
Level control switches are also installed in the ballast tank involved with the anti-heeling system to avoid low level or over filling and hence over pressurising of the tanks.
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