SHIPS SERVICE ELECTRIC-POWER - ENHANCED SURVIVABILITY VIA EARLY DETECTION OF INCIPIENT CABLE FAULTS

Researchers at Texas A&M Universitv have studied the effects of battle damage on ship power distribution cables, with particular interest in damaged cables which did not fail immediately. The electrical signatu res of partiallv damaged cables are significant and are detectable wit h advanced protection methods used on terrestrial power svstems. Findi ngs show that the damaged cable signatures are similar to those of arc ing faults on terrestrial power distribution svstems, which can be rel iably detected using an on-line expert svstem [1,2,3]. The implication s of these findings are significant. Since the abilitv of a damaged sh ip to right through an encounter is entirelv dependent on keeping oper ational its various systems which rely on electric power, the ability to automatically detect and re-route power around damaged regions is i mperative. By identifving the characteristics of failing power cables before catastrophic failure occurs, the protection process can be inte grated into the ship automatic control system. The overall result is a more survivable ship.