Korea Maritime and Ocean University opens ERV HILS for Electric Propulsion Vessels ... "Building an ideal industry-academia business model"

Korea Maritime and Ocean University (KMOU) held the opening ceremony of "ERV HILS" for electric propulsion ships with Donghwa Entec, KTE, and Hyundai LNG Shipping on the 28th and decided to take the lead in commercializing the integrated Energy Management System called, "EMS".

For your reference, ERV stands for Education-Research-Verification, and HILS as Hardware-In-Loop-Simulation.

Donghwa Entec Chairman Kim Kang-hee, CEO Kim Dong-gun, KTE CEO Koo Bon-seung, and Hyundai LNG Shipping's Choi Jang-pal attended the opening ceremony held at the International Conference Room of Korea Maritime University.

From KMOU side, President Dodeok Hee, Director Oh Jin-seok of the Industrial-Academic Research ETRS Center, and professors of related departments were present.

ERV HILS for electric propulsion ships is based on EMS, an integrated energy management system, which is a patented technology of Oh Jin-seok, a professor of engineering at Korea Maritime University with combining excellent technologies from each company.

EMS is an energy management system that operates the most efficient power supply system by reflecting the characteristics of various power sources of vessels.

Those companies that participated in the event are Donghwa Entec, KTE, and Hyundai LNG Shipping. The university actively collaborated with them to develop the industry and establish an industry-academia business model.

Donghwa Entec donated 'equipment materials such as batteries, fuel cells, and energy saving devices (ESSs)' (worth 200 million won).

KTE donated 'Inverter Drive, Propulsion Load, Generator-PMS Simulator Equipment for Ship' (worth 300 million won), and Hyundai LNG Shipping also donated 'Integrated Automation System-KONGSBERG' (worth 160 million won).

The donation ceremony was held together at the opening ceremony.

As a result, ERV HILS has the ability to adjust parameters (power generation capacity, power generation conditions, interlocking conditions, etc.) based on the vessel’s type and operation characteristics.

In addition, it is built to be used in various ways such as training EMS-related personnel necessary for next-generation smart ships, electric propulsion ships, and special purpose ships, and R&D and verification.

Korea's shipbuilding industry boasts the world's No. 1, but eco-friendly ship technology is led by Europe, said Dodeok-hee, president of KMOU. " Therefore, this ERV HILS will be an ideal industry-academia business model for industrial demand and future industrial development."

Oh Jin-seok, director of the ETRS Center at KMOU, who organizes ERV HILS, presented a demonstration, saying "We will focus on education and research with the goal of commercializing EMS and training core personnel and technologies with massive help from Donghwa Entec, KTE, and Hyundai LNG Shipping."

The Industrial-Academic ETRS Center will support the performance and reliability of the 'PEMS' (Power Energy Management System) algorithm, a key technology for eco-friendly ships, and conduct real-world operation-based performance improvement research and experiments through an inverter propulsion system donated by KTE.

It will also open nine courses for equipment and system engineers according to the characteristics of each power generation source (generator, battery, fuel cell), as well as a curriculum for marine engineers to familiarize a customized next-generation ship centered on IAS (Intergrated Automation System) simulator-based practice.