Objective
Merchant ships are large consumers of fossil fuels, which means that the operators' energy costs are high and that impact of emissions on atmospheric pollution is significant in coastal areas. One of the ways to improve the utilisation of energy is to improve the efficiency of the ship's propeller. Certainly, the conventional propeller has for practical purposes reached the upper efficiency limit of its development and it is therefore necessary to look to innovative means of achieving significant improvements in this area. One of such means is the application of non planar wing theory to propeller design. This theory was originally investigated and developed for use in the aviation industry and a number of commercial airliners now feature non planar wings in the form of winglets at the wing tips giving increased performance from the airfoil wing resulting in improved fuel consumption and a greater operating range. There is a history of technology transfer from the aviation industry to the marine industry.
The unique feature of the KAPPEL propeller is that the theory of non planar wings and winglets has been transformed to marine propellers and applied to a propeller concept where the propeller blade and "winglet" are designed as one integral curved blade to reduce the energy losses inevitably present at the ends or tips of airfoil devices. Hydrodynamic design and analysis procedures have been formulated and are being refined by KAPPEL Marine Concept in association with the Technical University of Denmark. The mathematical and physical modelling carried out to date indicate that it is realistic to expect fuel savings of up to 7% compared with a well designed conventional propeller. In the case of a medium sized container vessel of the type to be investigated in this proposal, this could amount to a daily fuel reduction of over six tonnes, a saving of approximately US.
Fields of science
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
3400 Hillerod
Denmark