ELECTRIC POWER TRANSFER-AN OVERVIEW

The use of electric power for marine propulsion, particularly in modern Navy surface ship designs such as large Hydrofoils, Surface Effect Ships, SWATH ships and gas turbine powered displacement hulls is reviewed. The unconventional geometries of several of these ships require the transmission of 15,000 to 30,000 kW through several right angles and down long struts. Gas turbine powered ships can realize significant fuel economy through the flexibility of electric drive as opposed to the fixed ratio of a mechanical gear drive. A review of the possible candidate electric drive systems shows that homopolar machinery, and particularly superconducting machinery, is well suited to the requirements for lightweight, compact, high efficiency power transmission. The current status of development of this machinery is reviewed and some trends for the future discussed.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Presented at the Winter Annual Meeting of the ASME, New York, New York, December 5-10 1976.
• Corporate Authors:

  International Ergonomics Association

  41 rue Gay-Lussac
  F-75 Paris 5e,   France 

  Human Factors Society

  1134 Montana
  Santa Monica, CA  United States  90403

  American Society of Mechanical Engineers

  Two Park Avenue
  New York, NY  United States  10016-5990
• Authors:
  • Jenkins, K W
• Publication Date: 1976

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 175-195
• Serial:
  • Publication of: International Ergonomics Association
  • Publisher: International Ergonomics Association

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Electric drives; Electric power; Electric power plants; Electrical systems; High speed rail; Hydrofoils; Propulsion; Ships; Superconductivity; Surface effect ships; SWATH ships
• Old TRIS Terms: Advanced propulsion; Power plant analysis; Superconductive ship propulsion
• Subject Areas: Marine Transportation; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00157722
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Engineering Index
• Report/Paper Numbers: Proceeding
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 15 1977 12:00AM