Page 56: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 2023)

TECH FEATURE SHAFT GENERATORS & THE SWITCH

All images courtesy Yaskawa Environmental Energy / The Switch

SHAFT GENERATORS 101 –

WHAT ARE THEY?

Yaskawa Environmental Energy / The Switch shines a light on how to produce electricity ef? ciently on ships.

ship is like a ? oating city that needs electricity to does it help to reduce fuel use and cut emissions? We are back power its operations and amenities on board. So to electricity production again, but these units, hidden inside how to generate that electricity while being mo- the hull, are not as mysterious as they may sound. bile? That question has been challenging the ship- Standalone generator sets (gensets) need an external fuel

A ping industry for more than 150 years, when exciting new source in order to operate and produce electricity, and this technologies were being pioneered at the forefront of the new is typically done through an auxiliary diesel engine separate age of electricity. Fast forward to today, and the challenges from the ship’s main engine.

surrounding the production of electricity on board vessels Shaft generators cut out the need for gensets and their aux- have been spurred again. The International Maritime Organ- iliary engines as they connect directly to the propeller shaft isation’s new regulations, among other new protocols, mean and make electricity by utilizing the propulsion drive already shipowners and operators must ? nd ways to cut emissions and supplied by the main engine. This is why they are called shaft make their vessels more ef? cient. generators. Gensets can then be turned off, which saves fuel

Propulsion is one obvious area to look at for improvements, and cuts emissions. and the fuels that drive that. Shaft generators also play a key role In addition, utilising the larger 2-stroke main engine in this in the modern propulsion system and so also require scrutiny. way is much more ef? cient than the 4-stroke engines that typi- cally power the gensets. Finnish company Yaskawa Environ-

Driving force mental Energy / The Switch has developed a system that it

Everyone can visualize what a propeller shaft looks like and says can cut fuel use by a further 2% to 4% more than conven- what it does, but what exactly is a shaft generator and how tional shaft generators. 56 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • May 2023

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