Okay. Here's another one from IBEX...a grrrreattttttt one. And my colleagues and I on the judging panel gave it an innovation award, too, mostly because it adds safety to a boat without adding a whole lot of extra cost and also because it obviously has developed from, in not just my opinion, a veritable stroke of genius.
The idea's pretty simple really. Groco, the outfit that's been around for years selling valves, sea strainers, sea cocks, MSDs and a host of related products, is offering a series of bronze monitors with paddlewheels (similar to those on boat speedos) installed inside. A monitor can be te-ed into any inlet waterline (downstream of the strainer typically) that feeds sea water to a temperature- and/or flow-sensitive piece of machinery, like a main engine or engines, a generator, an air-conditioner, or a cold-plate refrigeration unit.
Shortly after installation of however many monitors seem necessary, a black-box computer that's part of the system calibrates normal water flow through each monitor and makes an electronic record of it. Should the flow in any given monitor drop below normal once calibration is complete, the black-box computer sends a signal to a dashboard panel that produces both an audible and a visual (light) warning for the operator. The paddlewheels themselves can be cleared by pulling a lock-in plug from the bronze tee fitting, after closing the related sea ***, of course. And the paddlewheel can be removed entirely in the event it should become obstructive in an emergency.
Why is all this so darn groovy? Well, now and again, especially when Mr. Murphy is in a real zero-tolerance mood, a main engine or a genset will catastrophically overheat well before the full extent of the catastrophe has materialized on the dashboard gauges. Hey, it happens! A gizmo that signals a decrease in inlet cooling water well before the water even gets to the engine, on the other hand, is likely to give boat owners much timelier warnings than they are going to get from their engine gauges. Moreover, air-conditioners and refrigerator units seldom, if ever, have gauges that signal a water-flow problem. So being able to carefully monitor the water flow coming out of their related sea strainers is going to save somebody some moolah somewhere along the line. Probably big moolah!
But how does the main-engine monitor take into account all rpm settings, you may ask. The thing is simply interfaced with a tachometer (either bridge-mounted or engine-mounted) and then calibrated via the black box for an extensive variety of throttle settings, thus allowing the monitor to pick up on trouble no matter how fast or slow the boat is going.
Groco's calling the new system the SSA (Strainer Service Advice) and offering bronze paddlewheel-equipped fittings in hose sizes that range from 3/4 inch to 6 inches. A black-box computer, a dashboard panel customized for the number of monitors an owner requires, and an ample amount of wiring harness completes the package. I am not absolutely sure SSA is actually on the market yet but will find out within a day or so from Groco. I'll include pricing as well if I get it. And some drawings and pictures.