KEB Automation helps automate Parisian river restaurant boat

April 29, 2019 - Alain Ducasse is a chef who recently opened his new restaurant – a boat on the river Seine in Paris. The  boat, Ducasse sur Seine, offers regular cruises along the Seine with views of the Eiffel Tower. This all-round experience is made possible not only by its cuisine, but also by the onboard automation systems, which were developed and installed by KEB Automation.

The 300-ton vessel, which is 38 meters long and can hold up to 200 passengers, will offer more than 700 cruises per year, with each cruise featuring a two-hour journey through Paris.

Working in cooperation with ZF Marine and French company SFMNI, KEB Automation supplied panel PCs, HMIs and various drives for the onboard electrical motors.

A typical restaurant boat powered by conventional diesel or diesel-electric drivesemits on average, around 150g of CO₂ per passenger per km. Compare that with the Ducasse sur Seine, which releases a single gram (1.0g) of CO₂ per passenger per km. 

The drive and motor technology at the heart of the vessel was designed and built by a group of companies under the leadership of SFMNI, the French specialist for civil nautical motorization and industrial energy. KEB’s role in the project revolved around the motors, onboard electrical system and general automation, while ZF Marine was responsible for the directional azimuth drives. The group also included a battery supplier.

The fundamental concept involves two fully autonomous engine rooms, with redundancy designed to ensure full mobility and operation of the vessel should one of the drive systems fail. Both engine rooms are fitted with independent battery packs which, by means of a DC bus, supply the energy necessary for the drive and for the operation of equipment.

The vessel’s tours along the Seine are powered by a front and rear KEB drive train comprising an asynchronous motor with KEB’s COMBIVERT F5-K drive controller.

The COMBIVERT F5 is the standard frequency inverter for controlled and regulated applications for heavy-duty tasks in machines with performance in stages up to 900kW. COMBIVERT F5 is the control solution for both asynchronous AC motors and synchronous servo-drives. The modular software provided meets maximum demands in terms of speed, torque and breakaway torque with or without encoder feedback.

The restaurant boat is controlled and steered by azimuth engines supplied by ZF Marine including a certified remote-control system, which is also controlled via COMBIVERT. It is driven by liquid-cooled motors from KEB along with ZF engines.

The centralised controls and complete functional display are provided by a C6 E22 panel PC from KEB that features dual CAN communications. The entire drive system and energy management facilities are connected to this PC in series (in connection with the BMS and battery charging equipment).

Together with ZF and SFMNI, the team at KEB France designed all of the control cabinets and implemented the C6 panel PC programs in the engine room and wheelhouse.

The fanless C6 E22 IPC panel PC offers the functionality of the Intel Bay Trail platform with quad-core processor. In applications with a high demand for display and visualisation, the E22 is ideal. The motherboard includes Ethernet, serial RS232, and USB interfaces, as well as an EtherCAT master. Additional optional fieldbus interfaces enable connection to higher ranking controls and can be configured based on installation space and location. All KEB Panel IPCs are available in a range of display formats and sizes, and users can select either resistive or capacitive touch technology.

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