In the past curative maintenance was transferred towards preventive maintenance aboard ships. Machines were fixed only when it broke down (curative maintenance). Nowadays technicians do maintenance on certain time intervals for reliability purposes. In these maintenance ball bearings and other machinery components, subjected to wear and tear, will be replaced to guarantee sufficient reliability.

Because most of the components are replaced before the end of their life-cycle, preventive maintenance is not the most efficient maintenance method. Therefore, in the future it is preferred that maintenance action on board of ships is changed to predictive maintenance.

With predictive maintenance we will monitor the condition of the components of machinery and replace only when they are at the end of their life-cycle. These components will be replaced ideally just before they break down, maximising their cost-efficiency and sometimes minimizing work load (as condition monitoring will allow a good work schedule).

Nowadays the measurement equipment to perform condition monitoring and predictive maintenance, has become less and less costly. What was reserved in the past for specialised firms in condition monitoring may become an affordable item for common companies. This is already the case in land-based industry. However, in shipping companies this is not yet a common habit.

In our study, we examine the possibilities of modern ’low budget’ measurement equipment in the domains of thermo-graphics and vibration analysis for application of condition monitoring on board of ships. Therefore a Leonova Infinity ® vibration analyser and a FLIR InfraCAM SD ® thermo-graphical camera have been bought.

Prosecuting the know-how to operate the equipment and researching the possibilities of them will enable the Antwerp Maritime Academy to gather the knowledge of condition monitoring & predictive maintenance and to give introduction courses into both domains (condition monitoring & predictive maintenance).The methodology used aims to achieve a successful learning that allows students to fulfil the future demands of work on board of ships.

Keywords: Research, links between education and research, project based learning, multi-disciplinary cooperation, maritime field.