All-Electric Ship Design: From Electrical Propulsion to Integrated Electrical and Electronic Power Systems

Abstract

Electrical propulsion is not a novel concept in marine systems. However, the availability of power electronic converters has proved to be the Key Enabling Technology for electrification of large ships. This paper starts with a summary of EP drives, which led to the birth of all-electric ships. Electric power generation and control systems are then presented, which make it possible to exploit the integrated electrical power system. To ease comprehension of the issues in designing such a system, its conventional design process is given. Then, the reasons that are pushing ahead the research in the shipboard power systems sector are discussed. The need for research in the design methods area is demonstrated through an overview of the latest results of technological research. Finally, a summary of the most significant results on the design tools research is given, including early stage design, dependable-oriented design, and the improvements achievable through software simulators and hardware-in-the-loop are discussed. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate why research on design methods is as important as a technological one, on the basis of the needs concerning the design, integration, and management of future "integrated electrical and electronic power systems" (power systems with power conversion quota approaching 100%).Index Terms-All-electric ships (AESs), design tools, electric power generation and control, electric propulsion, hardwarein-the-loop (HIL), integrated electrical and electronic power systems (IEEPSs), ship design, shipboard power systems, simulator, technological research.

Upper Bound Performance of Shipboard Power and Energy Systems for Early-Stage Design

“…D ESIGNING power systems for naval and marine vessels is increasingly challenging due to dynamic power demands from electric propulsion, positioning thrusters, cranes, sensors, weapons, and other mission loads [1], [2]. As new technologies are deployed to serve these demanding loads, the initial system design process needs better tools to study the equipment type, rating, and interconnection while considering system dynamics.…”

A review of power electronics equipment for all-electric ship MVDC power systems

“…Nevertheless, MVDC power systems pose several technical challenges [22][23][24]27], such as system protection [28] and network stability [29,30], and further development of industrial equipment for MVDC applications is needed in order for the transition to MVDC shipboard power systems to become a significant reality [31].…”

Distributed speed control for multi-three phase electrical motors with improved power sharing capability

“…Due to their advantages if compared against standard three-phase systems [2], multi-three phase electrical motors and multi-drive applications are still widely investigated, i.e. aerospace [3], [4], mining machines [5], [6], ships [7], [8], and road vehicles [9]. One of their main benefit is redundancy, leading to increased fault tolerance and reliability.…”