Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B63—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; RELATED EQUIPMENT
  • B63H—MARINE PROPULSION OR STEERING
  • B63H25/00—Steering; Slowing-down otherwise than by use of propulsive elements; Dynamic anchoring, i.e. positioning vessels by means of main or auxiliary propulsive elements
  • B63H25/42—Steering or dynamic anchoring by propulsive elements; Steering or dynamic anchoring by propellers used therefor only; Steering or dynamic anchoring by rudders carrying propellers
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B63—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; RELATED EQUIPMENT
  • B63H—MARINE PROPULSION OR STEERING
  • B63H5/00—Arrangements on vessels of propulsion elements directly acting on water
  • B63H5/07—Arrangements on vessels of propulsion elements directly acting on water of propellers
  • B63H5/125—Arrangements on vessels of propulsion elements directly acting on water of propellers movably mounted with respect to hull, e.g. adjustable in direction, e.g. podded azimuthing thrusters
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B63—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; RELATED EQUIPMENT
  • B63H—MARINE PROPULSION OR STEERING
  • B63H23/00—Transmitting power from propulsion power plant to propulsive elements
  • B63H23/30—Transmitting power from propulsion power plant to propulsive elements characterised by use of clutches
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B63—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; RELATED EQUIPMENT
  • B63H—MARINE PROPULSION OR STEERING
  • B63H5/00—Arrangements on vessels of propulsion elements directly acting on water
  • B63H5/07—Arrangements on vessels of propulsion elements directly acting on water of propellers
  • B63H5/08—Arrangements on vessels of propulsion elements directly acting on water of propellers of more than one propeller
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B63—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; RELATED EQUIPMENT
  • B63H—MARINE PROPULSION OR STEERING
  • B63H5/00—Arrangements on vessels of propulsion elements directly acting on water
  • B63H5/07—Arrangements on vessels of propulsion elements directly acting on water of propellers
  • B63H5/125—Arrangements on vessels of propulsion elements directly acting on water of propellers movably mounted with respect to hull, e.g. adjustable in direction, e.g. podded azimuthing thrusters
  • B63H2005/1254—Podded azimuthing thrusters, i.e. podded thruster units arranged inboard for rotation about vertical axis
  • B63H2005/1258—Podded azimuthing thrusters, i.e. podded thruster units arranged inboard for rotation about vertical axis with electric power transmission to propellers, i.e. with integrated electric propeller motors
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B63—SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; RELATED EQUIPMENT
  • B63H—MARINE PROPULSION OR STEERING
  • B63H3/00—Propeller-blade pitch changing

Definitions

• the invention relates to marine vessel propulsion system according to the preamble of claim 1 .
• the invention relates also to method of operating a marine vessel propulsion system according to the preamble of claim 8.
• ROPAX Roll On/Roll Off Passenger
• azimuthing propulsion drives such as so called pod drives
• pod drives instead of conventional mechanical shaft propulsion.
• the pod drives are favourable in a sense that they are flexible having azimuthing control possibility, and they also provide freedom in location of main engines.
• the pod drives are of high cost and the electric power transmission cause considerable transmission losses.
• marine vessel propulsion system which comprises engine system for producing propulsion power and several propulsion means at its stern section, including a combination of at least two pro- pulsion arrangements capable of steering action and at least one shaft driven propeller drive having a controllable pitch propeller, and being adjustable to substantially feathering conditions.
• the at least two propulsion arrangements capable of steering are azimuthing propulsion arrangements, which may be provided with either variable or constant pitch propeller systems.
• the azimuthing propulsion arrangements are preferably powered by electric motor, the power to which being supplied by piston engine generator set.
• the shaft driven propeller drive is mechanically connected to a piston engine by means of a gear system or alike.
• water jet propulsion systems may be used as propulsion arrangements capable of steering.
• the propulsion system according to invention is arranged to be driven differently at different operation modes, namely specifically at normal/cruise speed operation mode and at low speed / harbour manoeuvring operation mode.
• normal/cruise speed operation mode both the at least two azimuthing propulsion arrangements and the at least one shaft driven propeller drive are adapted to at least cause thrust in order to move the vessel.
• low speed / harbour manoeuvring operation mode only the at least two azimuthing propulsion arrangements are adapted to cause thrust in order to move the vessel. This way the manoeuvring behaviour is more advantageous.
• the steering of the vessel is accom- pushed always by means of the at least two propulsion arrangements capable of steering action i.e. the azimuthing propulsion arrangements.
• the pitch angle of blades in the propeller of shaft driven propeller drive is adjustable to be at angle ⁇ 80° - 100° in respect of the normal of the shaft of the shaft driven propeller drive.
• the blades of the propeller are rotated to either direction until they are substantially parallel to longitudinal axis of the vessel.
• the direction of rotation may be selected according to the shape of the blades so that the flow resistance is minimised.
• the engine system comprises a gear and a coupling means connecting the propeller drive shaft to an en- gine and being shiftable to disengaged position. This result in a benefit of stopping the transmission of power to the drive shaft before and while the propeller is at feathering conditions.
• Providing the propeller drive with coupling means also results in a possibility of keeping the engine running while the power transmission is disengaged. However, it is advantageous to stop the engine e.g. in order to reduce unnecessary emissions.
• a marine vessel propulsion system comprising at its stern section at least two propulsion arrangements capable of steering action and at least one shaft driven propeller drive having a controllable pitch propeller
• the propulsion thrust is provided by the shaft driven propeller drive and the propulsion arrangements capable of steering action.
• Steering thrust is provided by the propulsion arrangements capable of steering action, and the thrust of the shaft driven propeller drive is mainly adjusted by adjusting pitch angle of propeller.
• the shaft driven propeller drive is adjusted to be feathering and that power transmission to the propeller is stopped. This is accomplished by adjusting the pitch angle of the shaft driven propeller.
• the pitch angle of propeller of the shaft driven propeller drive is adjusted to be advantageously either + 80-100° or - 80-100°.
• the at least two propulsion arrangements capable of steering action are preferably pow- ered by electric motors, the power to which being supplied by one or more piston engine generator sets.
• piston engines of the piston engine generator sets are operated at greater speed than idle speed, substantially at their most efficient constant speed, and preferably substantially independently from the power consumption of said propulsion arrangements. This manner the engines may run at optimum circumstances regardless of the power demand and prevailing speed of the vessel.
• the invention provides several advantages over prior art. First of all the propulsion system causes lower investment costs compared to conven- tional diesel-electric propulsion system. It also provides excellent manoeuvring characteristics as well as excellent propulsion efficiency for high speed ships. With the present invention, at the low speed / manoeuvring operation the engines may operate at optimum conditions and there is no risk of cavitation of the shaft driven propeller drive. Also one of the advantage of the present invention is that the number of diesel generator sets connected to the network can be varied according to the load demand i.e. the engines may be started and stopped. This way the load of the engine may be kept closer to the optimum.
• - Figure 1 shows schematically an embodiment of the propulsion system according to the invention at normal operation
• Figure 2 shows the propulsion system according to figure 1 in low speed / manoeuvring operation.
• the vessel is provided with engine system 2 having a number of piston engine generator sets 2.1 and number of piston engines 2.2 mechanically connected to a shaft driven mechanical propeller drive 3.
• the shaft driven propeller drive 3 comprises a gear and a clutch 4 through which the engines 2.2 are connected to a drive shaft 5 of the propeller drive 3.
• the shaft driven propeller system drive 3 comprises a controllable pitch propeller 6 and an arrangement 7 for adjusting its pitch angle A, which is shown herein very schematically.
• the arrangement 7 for adjusting the pitch angle may be hydraulic or mechanically operated commercially available system known as such.
• the pitch angle adjusting arrangement 7 is such that the pitch of the propeller is adjustable to substantially feathering conditions. In practise this means that the mechanism for turning the propeller blades allows the blades to turn over to greater angle than in normal pitch adjusting. This will be described later in more detailed manner with the reference to figure 2.
• the piston engine generator sets 2.1 produce electric power and supply it to a network 8, through which power may be transmitted to the propulsion arrangements capable of steering action, such as pod drive units 9.
• the pod drive unit 9 is turnable about its vertical axis as depicted by the arrows in the figures. This feature is utilised in the present invention so that the pod units 9 operate as steering devices and the shaft driven propeller drive 3 is without any rudder system.
• the shaft driven propeller drive 3 is positioned at centre line of the hull. In case there would be several shaft driven propeller drives it is desired to position them symmetrically in respect of the centre line of the hull 1 .
• the two propulsion arrangements capable of steering action i.e. the pod drives 9 are positioned at both sides of the shaft driven pro- peller drive 3 and substantially same longitudinal position as the propeller 6 of the shaft driven propeller drive 3.
• the shaft driven propeller drive 3 and the pod drives 9 are used for producing thrust force for moving the vessel.
• the pod drives 9 are provided with variable speed propeller systems and the thrust force of the pod drives 9 is adjusted by controlling the rotational speed of their propellers.
• the thrust force may also be controlled by controlling propeller pitch angle, in the case they are provided with controllable pitch propellers.
• the thrust force of the shaft driven propeller drive 3 is mainly adjusted by adjusting propeller pitch angle. Naturally, it is possible to adjust rotational speed by adjusting the engine speed.
• the pitch angle of the shaft driven propeller drive is adjusted such that its flow resistance is substantially decreased. This situation is shown in figure 2. This way the overall efficiency may be increased.
• the pitch angle (A) of the shaft driven propeller drive 3 is adjusted such that the propeller is feathering.
• feathering or feathering conditions it is meant here that the angle (A) of the blades is positioned so that the chords, straight line between the leading and the trailing edge of a blade, become approximately parallel to the water streamline or longitudinal axis of the vessel.
• the blade angle (A) means an angle between normal of the drive shaft axis and a mean direction of straight line joining the leading and trailing edges of a blade.
• the total power production may be greater than actual demand of the pod drives 9. It is also advantageous to shut down the engine system 2.2. According to the invention, in this operation mode the engine sys- tem 2 is operated in most advantageous manner resulting in low emissions and vibrations to the vessels hull constructions.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Ocean & Marine Engineering (AREA)
• Aviation & Aerospace Engineering (AREA)
• Connection Of Motors, Electrical Generators, Mechanical Devices, And The Like (AREA)
• Control Of Vehicle Engines Or Engines For Specific Uses (AREA)
• Control Of Eletrric Generators (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (2)

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Family Applications (1)

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• 2002
  • 2002-05-24 FI FI20020981A patent/FI115128B/fi not_active IP Right Cessation
• 2003
  • 2003-05-15 JP JP2004507321A patent/JP4253636B2/ja not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-05-15 EP EP03730242A patent/EP1513724B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-05-15 DK DK03730242T patent/DK1513724T3/da active
  • 2003-05-15 CN CNB03811884XA patent/CN100509554C/zh not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-05-15 US US10/515,161 patent/US20050164574A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2003-05-15 DE DE60311260T patent/DE60311260T2/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-05-15 AU AU2003240876A patent/AU2003240876A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2003-05-15 ES ES03730242T patent/ES2278164T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2003-05-15 WO PCT/FI2003/000374 patent/WO2003099651A1/en active IP Right Grant
  • 2003-05-15 KR KR1020047018999A patent/KR101010119B1/ko active IP Right Grant

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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