Xie, Y.; Li, C.; Wang, Y., and Dong, Q., 2020. A new method for ship control valve overload protection in complex marine environments. In: Hu, C. and Cai, M. (eds.), Geo-informatics and Oceanography. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 105, pp. 228–232. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.

The marine environment is complex and always changing, which brings additional load to ship's control valves. When subjected to additional load, the ship's control valves can break or operate abnormally, resulting in valve external leakage, which might lead to a marine environmental disaster. To avoid potential environmental pollution, control valves should have overload protection. To address the shortcomings of traditional valve overload protection methods, an all-electronic overload protection method is proposed. The method is based on the principle that the valve actuator always works to overcome the load torque, and the electromagnetic torque of the actuator motor has a one-to-one correspondence to the valve load. Therefore, calculating the actuator load based on the electromagnetic torque of the motor enables the valve to determine its load. Based on the load, the valve controller's built-in diagnostic program can achieve self-diagnosis and instigate emergency overload protection actions. This all-electronic overload protection has strong anti-interference ability, is not subject to the wear and fatigue of mechanical parts, and has an ability to withstand large loads. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed overload protection method.