GB596174A - Improvements in or relating to driving systems, for example, ship propulsion systems, of the type including opposed-piston engines - Google Patents

Abstract

596,174. Propelling ships. GENERAL ELECTRIC CO., Ltd. (Smith, D. M.). July 23, 1945, No. 18857. [Class 114] [Also in Groups XXVII and XXXV] In a ship propulsion system, including an opposed-piston engine, the pistons reciprocating in a cylinder 4 are connected to two crankshafts 5, 6, each driving an electric. machine 11, 12, producing alternating current and connected electrically so as to synchronize the crankshafts. A two-stroke diesel engine is shown in which each crank-shaft drives a ship's propeller. The electric machines 11, 12 may be arranged to act as alternators at cruising speeds and as motors with paralleled windings to assist the engine at high speeds, when they receive current from alternators driven by a similar supplementary engine. Clutches may allow electric propulsion to continue if the main engine is stopped. Alternatively, the electric machines 11, 12 may be for direct current, the armature windings then being tapped to provide alternating current to synchronize the crankshafts. The crank-shafts may also be connected by a transverse shaft or other linkage incorporating a spring coupling, and arranged to carry no load, except that it may drive an excitor for the direct-current windings of the alternators 11, 12, a blower and other auxiliary machinery. Further, it may include a shearing device or an electric relay which cuts off the fuel if too much power is transferred between the shafts 5, 6, and the relay may indicate small transfers of power and thus loss of efficiency at either end of the engine. Specification 598,083 is referred to.