MOTGEN

Calculation and Development of a highly energy efficient Hybrid propulsion system for ships 

Financed by:

Program: "Gipuzkoan Science, Technology and Innovation Network" 

Partners

• OBEKI ELECTRIC MACHINES S.L.: coordinador del proyecto.

• OBEKI INNOBE: diseño de la mecánica.

• CEIT: Investigación térmica y electromagnética.

Summary

The idiosyncrasy of the naval sector itself, its high competitiveness, the reduction of existing natural resources and the growing environmental sensitivity of society, impose the need to acquire new knowledge that represents a technological leap in the design and construction of ships, which establish new processes of both intelligent and innovative construction and exploitation, more efficient and sustainable.

Diesel engines are the main source of energy in most of the ships that sail the world, but the costs of non-renewable energy and restrictions on emissions of polluting gases from engines by international organizations, concerned due to environmental pollution, it makes you think of other forms of propulsion for ships.

This proposal stems from the need to develop a new high-power, low-voltage electric main propulsion system for small-sized boats as an alternative to current diesel-powered solutions.

In order to satisfy this need, the project proposes research into useful and necessary technologies for the design, development, manufacture, implementation and operation of engines for hybrid-powered boats.

Goals

The main objective of this project is to develop a new high-power, low-voltage electric main propulsion system for small boats as an alternative to current diesel propulsion solutions.

This general objective is specified based on the following series of partial objectives:

1. Desarrollo de nuevo producto energéticamente eficiente con unas restricciones importantes de potencia/kg de motor, logrando un motor de mayor eficiencia y menor volumen.

2. Desarrollar conocimiento relativo al diseño eléctrico y métodos de refrigeración de estator y de rotor de motores eléctricos de baja tensión y altas potencias.

3. Diseño de motor eléctrico multifase para incrementar la redundancia y fiabilidad del sistema y reducir coste global de la instalación

Ceit's role in the project

Ceit's role in this project will focus on two aspects: the development of knowledge for the design of high-performance fault-tolerant motors, and the analysis of the different cooling systems with the aim of substantially reducing the volume of the machine.

Regarding the design of multiphase motors, it has been proven that the use of this type of winding configurations increases the performance of the machine. For this CEIT will analyze different types of winding configurations that allow, based on the design of a three-phase machine, to define a multiphase winding.

On the other hand, he has studied different cooling systems (water jacket, internal ventilation, water jacket with internal cooling discs), carrying out a comparison between the two, and indicating the advantages and disadvantages of each of them.

With this procedure it has been possible to establish the application ranges of each refrigeration system which, together with the design of hexaphase motors, allows the design of more efficient electric motors for marine propulsion applications.