T-Pain Is On A Boat: [Electric Boats] Re: Searching the ideal electric propulsion system

Friday, August 14, 2009

[Electric Boats] Re: Searching the ideal electric propulsion system

Hi Matti,
I've been watching the E-jet site for a while and they don't seem close to cutting metal any time soon, (sorry if I'm wrong e-jet guys). The product in English would be a ring thruster (care with googleing this!!!) a US company promises one here; www.compositecarbonfiberprop.com/ring_thruster_prop.htm (usual caveats apply) It seems to have been invented by a company called Schilling who make underwater robots. It's a great layout for an electrical propusion system; water cooled, large diameter for good torque, no fouling etc. I don't know if any are being delivered though.
Cheers
Perry

--- In electricboats@yahoogroups.com, "matikanpoika" <matikanpoika@...> wrote:
>
> Hi everyone
>
> I have been reading the messages on this forum and other fora for the last year because I am interested in converting my sailboat from gas outboard to an electric drive. Since the previous owner of my boat got rid of the inboard engine and at the same time glassed the opening for the shaft I was predominantly looking at e-pods and electric outboards from torqeedo to avoid fitting a new shaft into the boat. Both sytems have their pros and cons and I was not completely convinced of either at that time. Then I came along an article in a german sailboat magazine (Palstek) where they discussed electric engine alternatives and came up with a system I had never heard of before. The electric engine used in this system is called "Ringläufer" in german maybe something like "ringrunner". (The article is available for download on torqeedos homepage http://www.torqeedo.com/uploads/media/Palstek_09_08_deutsch_DE_.pdf maybe the pictures discribe what I mean with ring engine) When I searched for the company producing these engines on the net there was only a website stating that these engines were under development and sales would start earliest 2009/10. Else there was not much information but about the size range of engines and the different modes of application as electric propulsion for boats, high efficiency water pumps and thrusters. Now they have a picture of some kind of minirigg and a link to videos and pictures and they seem to get going.
> The reason I write is that as a biologist I am not the most talented electrician/mechanic and might not be aware of downsides of a system like that. I just see the obvious. No shaft, no sealings no mechanical parts to wear out... and I would only need to drill one hole to fit it into my boat... What do you, who have a lot of experience with different systems think about that?
>
> And no I am not involved with the company. They seem to be somewhere in western germany and I live unfortunately for my electric refit north of the polar circle in northern Norway where there is no-one selling electric engines other than trolling crap.
>
> Oh yes and you don't have to read the palstek article they call their engine e-jet electric drive (www.ejet.org) with also some videos on youtube.
>
> I hope somebody finds time to look at their pictures and films (since there doesn't seem to be much more on their homepage) and tell me if I am completeley wrong when thinking it looks quite trouble free... Again... maybe it's only advertisement.
>
> Thanks
>
> Matti
>