Micah,
From my time serving in the engine room on a fast attack submarine the backup EP system made an impression. you surely were not going to go very far or very fast but it worked.
Recently I made contact with a retired designer of props for Subs. He was more into the silent running part but he has an interest in sailing and is excited to go out on my Cat. He still has contacts at the lab so I might get him to run a theoretical prop design. Who knows, maybe the guys in the fabrication shop at the lab are sailors to!
Distance would be important and I had considered dual electric motors driven by generators for main propulsion but the savings there seemed to be a bit cloudy and expensive so I was hoping to make something work and milk all I could out of solar panels and recoup some of the expense in saving fuel.
The dual motors are a huge plus on maneuverability plus you have that redundancy thing going for you. I only have 1 generator, 16KW but really would like 22KW. The motors I have are good to 60A each but have been tested to 120A so a few more Amps on board would be nice when under Genset.
then would it be practical to mount the EP motor aft of the transmission so that you use a single shaft to drive on EP and have the same motor running 'regen' whent he shaft is engaged and driven by the diesel?
“Electra Glide” runs straight shafts off the motors. I really don’t understand why this isn’t a no brainer. Get rid of the sail drives, I’m not even sure I understand why a boat has to have a transmission other than to switch to reverse and Electrics are much simpler when it comes to that. Run the Genset and send power directly to the EP’s or if not using the full Amperage what’s left over goes to the batteries. I run a 144V system with a 220V to144V charger to a 144V to 12V charger for the house bank. My inverter is 144V to 120V. I have 2 connections at shore, 220V and 120V so we can run the 120V straight off of shore and keep the batteries all charged. I’m more of a HyBrid then straight Eectric like most are here but most here are not trying to do a 1 year trip. And even so the Honda 2000 Generator comes up often as a backup. It doesn’t make sense to not take advantage of every means to stay safe (and comfortable). Running 1 genset at a designed speed is far less of a gas guzzler than 2 diesel motors plus a lot less moving parts (2?) in an electric motor. My monthly electric bill has never been more than $25 and roughly 35 gal of fuel over 31/2 years. (I have to replace 2 fuel tank senders, I think the rusted in place! :o) Wife has all the Wifey stuff to use any time she wants but I limit her under sail to less demanding stuff or when the genset is running. Regen is good enough to keep the batteries in a safe range but I’ll depend on the Genset if we get down to 50% discharge on the batteries which hasn’t happened to often. Keep in mind this is all on the Bay not out in open water which the boat ran for days with nothing other than the Regen and sails to the point the A/C had to be put on to burn off some electricity. Like I said I agree with the solar power whole heartedly and wish to get it on board EG but the system is a fair chunk of change for what I want but it will be done. Litho’s are on the shorter list.
so many choices, but options are nice
Options are always nice :o)
Steve in Solomons MD
Lagoon 410 SE
No comments:
Post a Comment