Electrical Propulsion System in Ships
The shipping industry has come a long way as far as R & D for reducing costs of propulsion without increasing marine pollution is concerned. The conventional propulsion system of the ship is efficient but requires high operating costs and increases the marine pollution. Among all the prospective alternate power sources, electrical propulsion system is one of the best tried out alternative in today’s time.
Electrical Propulsion
Understanding the System
The electric propulsion system consists of a prime mover which may be of two types:
Both the systems produce less pollution as compared to conventional marine propulsion system, which involves burning of heavy oil.
The propeller shaft of the ship is connected to large motors, which can be D.C or A.C driven and are known as propulsion motors. Power for propulsion motor is supplied by the ship’s generator and prime mover assembly.
Arrangement or operation
The generator can be direct or alternating current type with diesel or steam driven prime mover, depending upon the requirement or demand of the owner/ship.
In the electrical propulsion system, the direction of the rotation of propeller is governed by either the electrical control of the motor itself or by changing the electrical supply.
Normally variable speed electrical motor is used for fixed pitch propeller system and constant or variable can be used for variable pitch propeller or CPP.
Applications
Normally electrical propulsion is used in small vessel but now a day shipping companies are adopting this system for big size cargo vessel as well.
Generally electrical propulsion is fitted in
- Tug and trawlers
- Dredgers
- Dynamic positioning vessels
- Cable laying ship
- Ice breakers
- Research ship
- Floating cranes
- Vessels for offshore industries
You may also like to read-What is Alternate Marine Power (AMP) or Cold Ironing
References:
Book on Marine Electro technology by H.D. McGeorge
Do you have info to share with us ? Suggest a correction
About Author
An ardent sailor and a techie, Anish Wankhede has voyaged on a number of ships as a marine engineer officer. He loves multitasking, networking, and troubleshooting. He is the one behind the unique creativity and aesthetics at Marine Insight.
Subscribe To Our Newsletters
By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.
Web Stories
hello, I am interested in the issue of ship electric propulsion in the direction you want information on an electric boat gave us a check. With thanks
Any demo ships already working with water as a fuel?
This site is very helpful for me .Thanks a lot for the admin
Adolfo Hannig….Your comment about Marine propulsion from ‘water’ could soon be a reality…contact me if interested for a joint conversation? RogerC-P –
MD Biomassenergytrading Ltd.
Found the Information exactly what was needed. It was brief and to the point .Thanks
??
Future belongs to ZFP propulsion, because it is a free energy that is clean and available everywhere in the entire Universe including Earth.
Hi Anish,
Very informative article. Would love to have a short discussion regarding the future of fully electric ships.
Let me know if you’d be interested in having a short 10 minute call.
Warm regards,
@Andrew: Please connect with me on anishw@marineinsight.com
Please I’d love to see the calculations showing the power losses from the generator down to the propellers..thanks..Very insightful articles too
@Kemshy: Thank you for the suggestion. We will look in to it ??
I would love to know the analysis of this. So, I know the how it affects marine mechanics and electricians