Performance tests of flowmeters for fuel consumption measurements in fishing vessels

In the study, we developed a flowmeter to be mounted on fishing vessels to measure their fuel consumption in the sea, and evaluated the performance of the flowmeter under the dynamic conditions of a fishing vessel. In order to analyze the dynamic behavior of the fishing vessel in the sea, dynamic motions (pitch and heave) based on the speed of the fishing vessel were obtained through simulation and field test. In the presence of vibration, the uncertainty of the ultrasonic flowmeter increased from 0.12% to 0.5%. The measurement error of the ultrasonic flowmeter also increased from 0.5% up to 2% when dynamic behavior motions (pitch and heave) increased with the speed of the fishing vessel. The results confirmed that the measurement errors of ultrasonic flowmeter were consistent at the same flow rate and speed of the fishing vessel in the dynamic test bed and sea field test. Additionally, to confirm the long-term stability of the developed flowmeter, a long-term test of the flowmeter was performed for three days in actual fishing conditions. The results indicated that the ultrasonic flowmeter developed in the study can measure the fuel consumption of an actual fishing vessel. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to measure the fuel consumption in the sea via mounting a flowmeter on an actual fishing vessel.