Gyrostabilization for Marine Vessels

Maine Aerospace Consulting is providing control system, simulation and analysis support to Small Craft Engineering, LLC of Portland, Maine in the design and development of a gyrostabilization system for boats. The primary objective of the system is as a means of mitigating rolling motion of a boat or yacht at anchor or operating at very low speeds, when standard control surfaces (fins, rudders, etc.) are not functional.

The gyrostabilizer is a system fixed in the vessel that consists of a rapidly spinning rotor mounted on a gimbal so as to allow the rotor to tilt, i.e. pitch. This pitching motion, coupled with the angular momentum stored in the spin (yaw) axis of the rotor, induces a gyroscopic torque (also referred to as an Euler torque) which is directed along the roll axis of the vessel (this method of control is common in spacecraft work, for example, since no fluid (air, water) is available for generating control torques). In this way, the gyrostabilization approach can generate corrective control torques, to mitigate unwanted rolling motions, even while the boat is at rest.

While the primary application of this work is for anchored or slow-moving boats, other candidate applications have been identified as well. Examples include:

       - Boarding operations for small patrol boats approaching large ships producing dangerous wake wash
       - Orientation control for a high-speed vessel launched from a wave, out of the water
       - Small craft river operations and maneuvering

Control system algorithms and software are employed to provide optimal stabilization by computing precise commands, based on sensed vehicle states, for the gyrostabilization system. Maine Aerospace Consulting is providing control system algorithm support as well as simulation design and analysis for the Small Craft Engineering gyrostabilization effort.