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Knowledge of the Ship Main Equipment Parts (IV)

2.Rudder
Rudder is the main equipment of controlling ship, to maintain and heading direction during the voyage. It is mainly composed of rudder gear, servo, steering device and maneuvering gear and other equipment, they are respectively installed the bridge, servo room and at the bottom of stern.
Rudder operation is by the pilot to turn the steering wheel or the steering handle, start the hydraulic or electric power maneuvering gear to control servo,
to make the rudder forward, reverse, or stop.
(1). Rudder Gear
Rudder and bearing components are collectively referred to as the rudder gear. Rudder is the slab structure with a rotating flat profile or streamlined profile at the end of the ship; it is vertically submerged in the water. When the ship is moving, rudder is turned around a angle, meanwhile,
due to the relative motion of the discharge water of propeller and rudder, there will be water pressure on the surface of the rudder, the water pressure is perpendicular to the component force of the ship longitudinal profile, it is the torque that makes a ship around the center of gravity to rotate.
When ship is forward, left rudder Angle makes the boat to the left, right rudder Angle makes the boat to the right. Within a certain range, the torque is increased as the rudder Angle’s increasing, usually, the full rudder’s Angle is 350, the water pressure on the rudder is related to the relative speed of rudder Angle and water,
but also is directly proportional to the area of the rudder.
There are many different kinds of rudder; according to the different section shape of the rudder, it can be divided into flat rudder and aerodynamic rudder, as shown in figure 1-32; According to the rudder axis location, it can be divided into unbalanced rudder, balanced rudder and half balanced rudder.
The section shape of the flat rudder blade is flat, the rudder resistance is bigger, and it is mainly used for small boat. Aerodynamic rudder blade profile is streamlined, the rudder is made into hollow watertight; on the one hand, it can reduce the weight of the rudder, on the other hand,
it also can reduce the carrier pressure on the rudder. The small resistance, high strength and good steering, can improve the stability of the rudder. The structure is complicated, but is widely applied.
(2). Servo
With the increasing of the speed and the registered tonnage of the ship, effects on the torque of steering are also greatly increased, so it must provide steering power with the aid of servo. Servo is a mechanical device, which used to generate steering torque face to make the rudder deflection.
Now, used on the ship is electric servo and hydraulic servo. Electric rudder consists of motor, worm gear, worm, quadrant, tiller, etc. the simple structure, convenient operation and reliable work are suitable for small and medium-sized ships. Hydraulic servo can be divided into piston hydraulic servo and vane hydraulic servo,
is mainly composed of motor, pump and pipeline such mechanical components, has the advantages of small volume, light weight, large torque, transmission shift with low noise and easy management, large ships are using this servo.
(3). Steering Gear
Servo makes the rudder blade deflection, and through the steering gear, plays a supplementary role on transmission torque between the servo and rudder. The major types: tiller typed steering gear and rudder fan typed steering gear.
(4). Maneuvering Gear
The device is the generic term of the package unit, which transports the steering instructions from bridge to the servo, and then makes the servo work according to the requirement of the floorboard. There are two kinds of modes of transmission: one is electric drive, the other is hydraulic drive. With the principle of liquid cannot be compressed,
its flow and flow rate, hydraulic maneuvering gear can be artificially controlled to drive. But the device is relatively heavy to manipulate, and the response is slow, become obsolete gradually. Electric maneuvering gear is to drive by electricity signal, has the advantages of convenient operation and high sensitivity. At present,
the ship is using this device; it is advantageous for the ship to realize the automatic steering.
About the ship using electric maneuvering gear, there are two sets of independent steering system, when a rudder system failure occurs, immediately, another set of steering system would start. The two systems are known as follow-up steering system (main maneuvering gear) and the handle steering system (auxiliary maneuvering gear).In addition,
the ship still need to configure the emergency maneuvering gear, when all failure of the maneuvering gear system occur, using the emergency maneuvering gear in the servo room with the bridge and servo room communication mode.
Automatic steering control device, referred to as autopilot, is developed on the basis of follow-up steering, a fully automatic control way of steering. It is based on the comparison of gyro compass heading signal and specified course to control the operation system, automatically keep the ship on the specified course.
Due to the high sensitivity and accuracy of autopilot, instead of manual steering, it relative improves speed and lightens the load of the steersman. The merchant ships are equipped with autopilot, when navigation direction is stable and there is no other boat in the navigation area, can be changed to steering autopilot.

2.Mooring Equipment
When the ship is on the docks, away from the buoy, alongside other ship or towed, for mooring, warping equipment are collectively referred to as mooring equipment. Mooring equipment is composed by the mooring line, mooring device, bitts, warping machinery, reel and mooring fittings.
(1). Mooring Line
Mooring line also calls the mooring cable, when berth, it used to tie the boat, when towing, used to pass drag force. Ideal mooring line should have moderate strength, flexibility, corrosion resistance, resistance to friction, small density, soft texture, easily to use, etc, two kinds of commonly used types: steel wire cable and chemical fiber cable.
When mooring, it should followed the situation of the dock, the length of ship, the strength of cable, the time of berthing, weather and tidal conditions to use the number and arrangement the cable. In general, there are at least six cables for ship, i.e. two first cables, two stern cables, two spring cables being the bow and stern.
When the ship is big or the wind is heavy, it still needs to increase the cables to achieve the goal of tying up ship safely.
(2). Mooring Device
When mooring, it is used for guiding the mooring cable by inboard to outboard changing the direction, limiting the export location and reducing the cable wearing. It is a fairlead with mooring hole, chock, guide roller and column, etc.
(3). Bitts
Bitts are for belaying, installed near the mooring device of the deck to fix the free end of the mooring line. Its force is very big, and required base must be very strong. The deck near the bitts must be strengthened. Its types: vertical type, Dou type, cross type and mooring claw type.
(4). Warping Machinery
It is also called the mooring winch, and used for collecting the cable. Warping machinery is divided into vertical one and horizontal one. Vertical mooring winch is called capstan. According to the different power, it also can be divided into steam warping machinery, electric and hydraulic warping machinery.
The warping machinery of the bow uses the warping drum configured by the windlass to warp. The setting on the stern is separated, and other parts finish the warping with warping drum configured by the nearest cargo winch.
(5). Reel
It is also called roll, a device for the cable furling and storage. It is mainly composed of warping cylinder and cylinder supporting mount. Just shaking the handle or turn the armrest, the cable can be loose or furled, and the brake pedal is used to control the speed of the roll.
(6). Mooring Fittings
It is Included the heaving line, fender, drawstring or chain and blocked rat board. The heaving line is string with 40 m in length and 6 mm in diam. The front end of the rope is a heaving line head with a certain weight. When the ship is docked, the rope is tossed from the boat to the dock workers, as the index rope sent to the wharf.
Fender is commonly known as downloading and made of rope textile, and filled with the spheres with corks or palms such soft materials. When the ship is docked, it is used to buffer the impact and friction between the hull and terminal in order to protect the ship’s rail. When the ship is mooring,
drawstring or chain is used for temporarily knotting in the mooring line to bear the cable tension, as the special rigging. Drawstring is made by fiber rope, and chain is made by steel wire rope. Blocked rat board generally made by sheet steel or plastic board, when the ship is docked, it is used to prevent rodents moving along the rope.
When the cable is tied well, don’t forget to hang the blocked rat board.