Marine propeller parametric optimisation and matching to electric motor

Abstract

There is still room to establish a methodology to optimise marine propellers, considering design requirements of the vessel, and match it to an electric motor. The method proposed herein consists in an optimisation whose objective function is power required in the electric motor shaft, and design variables are the parameters of Wageningen B-screw series propellers. A differential evolution optimisation algorithm was programmed in MATLAB environment to assess a number of propeller designs. Technical constraints of strength, cavitation, and peripheral velocity were considered. An actual ferryboat designed to operate in a lake in southeastern Brazil is proposed as the case study. The worst individual of the final population of propellers had its objective function increased by 25%, compared with the worst individual of the initial population, within only 123 s processing time. Substantially dissimilar propeller designs were found for direct and geared drive with open water propeller efficiency between 36.18 and 40.49%. The approach has shown significant gains as an early-stage design tool and highlighted the need for exploring a broad range of propellers to find the optimal motor-propeller matching.

A Propulsion System Design Methodology Based on Overall Efficiency Optimization for Electrically Powered Vessels

“…The features obtained for 60-series vessels and B-series propellers result in appropriate efficiency of the propeller-hull system. Another example of the optimization of the system from an unified perspective is presented in Marques et al (2019b). In this work, an optimization methodology for B-series propellers by means of a differential evolutionary algorithm is presented.…”

“…Transforming the motor angular velocity into an optimum n value for the propeller depends on the reduction ratio and is the key design parameter in the process of getting the driving machinery and the load synchronized. Equilibrium is achieved when the P B and the power demanded by the propeller are equal, which makes the system operate in stationary conditions, giving rise to the socalled operating points (Marques et al, 2019b). An operating point is found whenever the load curve intersects the drive curve under stationary conditions (Klein Woud and Stapersma, 2019).…”

A novel exponential‐type anti‐windup method applied to the power converter in marine electrical propeller system

“…Electric propulsion ships have become the most important development trend of modern ship propulsion because of their advantages of low vibration, high energy utilization, high automation, high reliability and simple maintenance [1,2], of which the most critical technology is the excellent control of propulsion motors [3]. The permanent magnet synchronous motor itself has high power efficiency as well as a high power factor and low heat generation, so the motor cooling system has a simple structure, small size and low noise; the permanent magnet synchronous motor allows a high overload current, high reliability and other advantages widely used in the field of electric propulsion.…”