The Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education offers a newly revamped Marine Electrician course that emphasizes practical instruction while also including classroom sessions.“It’s a very thorough course designed for students who are serious about becoming marine electricians,” noted J.C. Wiegman, assistant director of training at the Piney Point, Md. facility. “Overall, I’d describe it as challenging, worthwhile and very up-to-date.”
The curriculum includes eight weeks (280 hours) of instruction and provides engine department personnel with the theoretical and practical knowledge and skills necessary to perform maintenance and repair operations on motors, generators and controllers on board ships. Successful completion of the course will entitle the students to receive the electrician’s endorsement on their merchant mariner’s document.
The topics covered by the course include electrical safety (precautions and results of disregarding them); electrical fundamentals (discussion of electron theory and voltage production); batteries (description of the operation and maintenance of marine electrical batteries); direct current theory (defining Ohm’s law and basic problem-solving in series and parallel circuits); and marine electrical hardware (explanation of conduit, stuffing tubes, cables and their ratings).
Additionally, the class covers electrical test equipment; practical demonstrations of the devices and wiring methods for shipboard 120 VAC systems; an explanation of the operation of the ship’s main electrical power distribution system; a description of sine wave formation and problem solving for both parallel and series AC circuits; practical operation and maintenance on AC generators; practical maintenance and overhaul techniques for AC 3 phase motors; and practical maintenance and troubleshooting techniques for AC motor controllers.
Also included are an explanation of the operation and maintenance of DC generators; practical demonstration of DC motor operation and maintenance; practical demonstration of DC motor controller maintenance and troubleshooting techniques; practical demonstration reading and interpreting electrical diagrams; and practical demonstration for the repair of small appliances.
A section on shipboard maintenance techniques features a description of the operation and maintenance of electric forklift trucks, elevators, cargo winches, anchor windlass, sound-powered telephone systems, engine order telegraphs, steering control systems, salinity monitoring systems, HVAC controls, auxiliary boiler flame safeguard controls, cathodic protection systems and shipboard alarms systems.
The next Marine Electrician course at Piney Point is scheduled to begin May 10.
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