New diesel-electric propulsion concept

摘要

In the mid- 1990s, Siemens introduced new-generation electric propulsion for offshore vessels based on the latest developments in power electronics. After successful imple-mentation in the offshore vessel »Skandi Marstein«, the market began to favour electric propulsion Systems. In the years after, the Company pushed the technological li-mits further by developing new products that increased shipowners' profitability. These include several concepts and »world firsts« that still deliver outstanding opera-ting Performance today. By 2000, Siemens was ready to tackle the challenge of optimising high speed diesel engines in the complete electric propulsion plant. The key issue was a low moment of inertia, which made it hard to adjust gen-erator voltage. In turn, this led to generators hunting for reactive power from one an-other. A second significant issue was Vibration. As part of an electric propulsion plant, the engines' vibrations caused a number of Problems, such as fatigue fracture in the common base-frame of the engine and gen-erator, broken bolts and damaged bearings.