Electric Power Management Philosophy: a Value Driven Engineering Innovation for Affordability, Reduced Risk and Improved Readiness in Navy Surface Ships

摘要

Recent advancements in dramatically more efficient electrical power system generation, transmission, fault tolerant conversion, and autonomous intelligent control, stem from an unprecedented multi-disciplinary convergence across a wide range of developments in engineering, materials science, and digital communication domains. These innovations offer strategic opportunities for reduced acquisition and sustainment costs, smaller component size and weight, less heat, reduced increased efficiency, simplified power transmission, reduced fuel consumption, and lower total emissions. Effectively applied in U.S. Navy surface ships, these innovations promise greater operational performance resilience and relevance, reduced machinery wear, improved readiness to full service life, and better accommodation for the larger power demands of the Navy's envisioned active sensor and weapon systems. While the benefits of innovations such as variable frequency drives, centralized load start / management, high performance motors, and medium voltage distribution systems use are clear, a guiding electric power management philosophy outlining a best practice standard power architecture and configuration is critical to realize a persistent, repeatable yield of these innovations in surface ships.