Design and Performance evaluation of Single axis gyrostabilizer for motion stabilization of a scaled Barge model

This paper concentrates on the design and performance evaluation of uni-axis gyrostabilizer for motion stabilization of a 1:50 scaled model of ITI Energy barge. The focus of the experimental study in the wave flume is to measure the angular motion of the barge fitted with gyrostabilizer `on' and `off'. A suitable single axis gyrostabilizer is designed and fabricated with respect to the barge inner hull design constraints. The salient design details and performance evaluation of gyrostabilizer are discussed. Design of gyrostabilizer involves the exploration of basic hardware architecture and its operating scheme for scaled model studies of ITI Energy barge. The essential concepts of performance evaluation involves the free decay analysis, aerodynamic action of the rotating flywheel, stress analysis of flywheel, precision torque loss, estimation of gyroscopic moment envelope using in-house fabricated dry test rig. Preliminary studies performed on barge fitted with gyrostabilizer, subjected to beam wave's shows significant reduction in the roll/pitch motion proving the efficacy of the designed gyrostabilizer.