STREAMLINE – Strategic Research for Innovative Marine Propulsion Concepts
Increasing environmental concerns and soaring oil prices are creating a new focus on fuel efficiency for the marine industry. Combining low emissions with demands for more advanced vessels than ever before, drives the need for radically new propulsion concepts delivering a step-change in efficiency.
STREAMLINE is the response of the marine community to this demand that will be addressed through:
- Demonstrating radically new propulsion concepts delivering an increase in efficiency of at least 15 per cent over current state-of-the-art
- Investigating methods to optimise fully current state-of-the-art systems
- Development of advanced CFD tools and methods to optimise the hydrodynamic performance of the new propulsion concepts
- Characterisation of the operational, economic and classification aspects of each of the new propulsion concepts
The STREAMLINE consortium is led by Rolls-Royce and is made up of 22 partners from 8 countries, providing world leading expertise and capability from the EU marine industry.
More information can be found at http://www.streamline-project.eu/
PROPSEAS - Propulsion in Seaways
PropSeas is a research project about forces on azimuthing thruster propellers in calm water and in waves. It uses a wide range of model tests, numerical methods and unique full-scale measurements on the offshore supply vessel "Far Searcher" being used for the research.
The primary objective is to obtain knowledge about the forces acting on propellers and thrusters in operation in heavy seas, in order to ensure optimum reliability for new designs and to enable operational guidance on existing systems.
The research consists of experimental and numerical investigations followed by analysis and evaluation, which will finally result in recommendations and guidelines. The Propseas consortium includes a research institute, two universities, a marine propulsor manufacturer (Rolls-Royce), a classification society and an instrumentation development company.
More information can be found at http://www.propseas.com
POSE2IDON - Power Optimized Ship for Environment with Electric Innovative Designs ONboard
The POSE²IDON consortium consisting of 30 partners is to investigate the potential for the commercially effective application of electric ship technology in an about Euro 20 million European Union funded project.
The project which began in January 2009, aim to provide a working guide on how to improve efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of the combined European commercial shipping fleet and to enhance the electric ship concept so that it can be applied to a wider range of vessels than is currently the case.
The principal barrier to adoption of the electric ship concept in smaller merchant ships is the size of the generating equipment and propulsion motor. The consortium is focused on achieving size reduction through the development of new technologies across all aspects of marine electrical engineering. A key element of this will be the application of High Temperature Superconductivity (HTS) technology that will allow for smaller principal electrical components and an increase in efficiency. Additionally, electric auxiliaries, wireless technology and fail safe power distribution will be studied.
More information can be found at http://www.poseidon-ip.eu
LEEDS – Low Energy and Emission Design for Ships
Ship design sets the baseline for energy usage and emission levels; to meet the challenges of reducing energy usage and emission levels from shipping, a continuous line of new ship designs are required.
LEEDS aims at creating world-leading competence in advanced ship design methodology by bringing together expertise in ship design with expertise in the various specialized disciplines that ship design relies upon.
With support from Rolls-Royce at the NTNU “Performance in a Seaway” research centre, novel solutions will be developing targeting a reduction in energy and emissions. This is achieved through both knowledge of low energy and emission ship design, as well as the education to challenge conventional ship design.
Safe Arc – Safe Arctic Operations
The demand for vessels and surface platforms operating in arctic areas are expected to increase in the years to come, opening new possibilities for Rolls-Royce and the Norwegian maritime cluster. However, the current knowledge on arctic operational loads and constraints in arctic waters is very limited, with no specific research undertaken on propulsion systems.
With the Rolls-Royce development of the electric podded propulsion system, which acts as both a rudder and propulsor, the benefits of use in arctic conditions are becoming more significant, with low noise & vibration, excellent maneuverability, and the minimized risk of oil leaks due to the electrical drive.
With the help of DNV, the primary objective of the Safe Arc R&D programme is to develop and document improved knowledge of ice loads acting on podded propulsion systems that operates in arctic waters. This will enable best practice design and operational guidelines for arctic service, in particularly associated with offshore gas and oil exploration.
