rolls-royce User Manual Rolls-Royce Helicon X3 P&T Control System

signal word. The safety alert symbol is used to alert the reader about a potential risk of 

personal injury or damage to the equipment.

The following types of safety messages are used within this manual:

Warning: Risk of... Indicates the presence of a hazard which could result in death or 

personal injury.

Caution: Indicates the presence of a hazard which could result in damage to 

equipment or property and seriously impact the function of the equipment.

Note: Alerts the reader to relevant factors and conditions which may impact the 

function of the equipment.

General

This chapter provides an overview of the Helicon X3 system and a technical description 

of the main components that give the required knowledge about the system.The figures, 

drawings and text in this chapter are general and may not comply to the actual 

installation on the vessel. For details on the delivered equipment, see chapter 4 Delivery 

Specification.

2 System Overview

The Helicon X3 remote control system is a micro-processor-based system, controlling 

the propulsion units on the vessel. The following main functions are included:

• Combinator control, allowing accurate and reliable control of the propeller pitch and 

motor speed (RPM). The combinator curve optimises the pitch/speed performance to 

give the best operational conditions and fuel economy.

• Pitch control, allowing accurate and reliable control of the thruster pitch.

• Speed control, allowing accurate and reliable control of the motor speed (RPM).

• Direction control, allowing accurate and reliable control of the thrust direction.

• Follow-up backup control from control levers.

Helicon X3 consists of the following main components:

• Instruments, screens, levers and Viewcon on the bridge (1).

• Electrical cabinets in the instrument room (2) and thruster room (4).

• Instruments, screens and levers in the engine control room (3).

Helicon X3 may interface several external systems (5), like Dynamic positioning 

systems and Autopilots.

Design

3.1 Lever

Each thruster has its own lever. Their main functions are:

• Control of pitch, RPM and azimuth direction (dependant of application)

• In operation

• Command transfer

• Lever in command

• Back-up control

• Alarm

The control lever has integrated buttons and indication lamps for command transfer, 

backup system on/off, alarm indication/buzzer and push button for reset of buzzer. The 

display in the base shows set command (pitch and direction) from the lever.

The lever contains two redundant electronic circuits, one for the normal control system 

and one for the backup system.

Control Panel

The control panel (touch screen) is the main user interface for the operator and gives an 

overview of all the thrusters on the vessel. It shows the status of the system, indicates 

thruster forces, displays alarms, and shows selected modes. The flat button on the top of 

the screen is for dimming the illumination of the LCD display.

The screen is divided in two areas: a menu area in the left part of the screen, and a bigger 

command area to the right. The menu buttons to the left selects the content of the 

command area.

There is one command page for each thruster, in addition to one system overview page 

and one alarm page. The overview page shows the most essential information for all 

thrusters, but to activate functions or to view all available information for a thruster, the 

particular thrusters' page must be selected.

The graphical design is based on the following principles:

• All functions pages are only one click away

• Large and simple buttons which are easy to read.

• Same design theme for all clickable objects.

• To avoid unintentional activation of functions, all function activation buttons require 

press on the accept button to proceed.

Colour on button Function

A ring around the button The button is push able

Blue Indicates current status

Green Start

Red Stop

2 buttons flashing Select function

1 button flashing The button has been activated and will flash until the function 

has started/stopped

Emergency stop and dimmer panel (optional)

The emergency stop is used to shut down the thrusters immediately. 

There is one button per thruster unit.

The wheel (1) is used for dimming the background light on the indicators situated on the 

same control station.

The dimmer may be delivered in a separate panel, if the emergency stop buttons are not 

part of the delivery scope.

 Indicators

The indicators give feedback on various data and can be found on the bridge and in the 

engine control room.

There are three main types of indicators:

• Azimuth indicator

• RPM indicator

• Pitch indicator

In addition a bridge order indicator may be delivered on some vessels.

Viewcon

Network cabinet

The network cabinet(s) contains several switches. The network cabinet(s) connects the 

panel PCs and the controller cabinets.

Network

Operator stations and electronic units are linked together in an Ethernet network. The 

network is single and may contain several separate switches. 

(CAN bus is the internal communication between levers, I/O modules and Marine