Buoyancy Support System for Ships, honorably selected as New Marine and Fishery Technology for the year

- KRISO successfully developed technology designated as New Marine and Fishery Technology for the first half of 2020 -

□ On the 15th, the Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering (KRISO) announced that its technology to prevent and delay the sinking of a ship using 3D spatial information (hereinafter referred to as the "Buoyancy Support System") was selected as New Marine and Fishery Technology for the First Half of 2020.

□ The new marine and fishery technology certification program is a scheme in which the government comprehensively evaluates and certifies technologies that have been developed for the first time in the marine and fishery sector or those that have been developed by innovatively modifying and improving existing technologies, especially in terms of technical aspects and field applicability, in accordance with the Marine Science and Technology Promotion Act."

□ The Buoyancy Support System for Ships, selected as New Marine and Fishery Technology this time, was ISO-certified in recognition of its value and importance, although it had been only a year since its development program started. As a world-first technology, it received approval in principle (AIP) from the Korean Register of Shipping (2018), and patents were registered for the technology in the US, Europe, and Japan in 2019. Details of the technology were published in an SCI international journal paper in 2018.

□ All ships are designed and built not to sink when an accident occurs in accordance with international standards. In particular, large-scale ships are specially designed not to sink even when two adjacent compartments are flooded at the same time, or when the portion of the ship corresponding to 15% of the total length of the ship is damaged, and when water flows into them. Nonetheless, when aged ships get into accidents or the resultant damage is beyond the critical level, it is difficult to keep them from sinking.

□ The Buoyancy Support System for Ships was developed to ensure that people aboard can have sufficient time to safely escape when the ship is structurally damaged, thereby minimizing the resultant environmental damage and property losses.

□ This system has the advantage that, even inside a ship where different pipes are intricately intertwined, it is possible to design and build a 3D buoyancy support body that fits the given space using 3D laser scanning information. Also, the system uses the fixed fire main that is already installed in a ship as a gas injector to fabricate a buoyancy support body, reducing production cost and time.

□ The Buoyancy Support System for Ships is expected to be widely used in various applications thanks to its technological and economic benefits, superior to those of existing technology. Notably, it is also expected that this system will be preferentially applied to eco-friendly ships, such as electric passenger and vehicle ships that are scheduled to be built.

□ Booki Kim, the President of KRISO, said, "The biggest advantage of the Buoyancy Support System for Ships is that it can be applied to various types of ships, from coastal passenger ships to naval vessels. I hope that this system will make a great contribution to reducing the human losses caused by ship sinking accidents."

"This technology will make ships and vessels even safer and significantly increase the public awareness of ship safety in the maritime industry sector, which encompasses marine tourism and transportation," he added.

□ Last April, KRISO transferred this technology to five SMEs free of charge, taking one step closer to ensuring marine safety for the future.