Page 38: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2023)

INTERVIEW: DON MACPHERSON "You have companies that are already well entrenched in a culture of sustainability, with an interest in creating quiet s s s s ships. And so now you're e e e e e e going to ask them to g get even quieter, which h i is [unfair &] much more d d d d dif? cult. It's really easy to o o o o o o make a noisy ship quiet.

It's not easy to make a q q q quiet ship quieter without t t t t really extensive energy saving devices or ? ow manipulation devices."

Copyright Denys Yelmanov/AdobeStock

With some of the testing that is being proposed, what jet surface drive or cycloidal drive. Then you have relation- they're saying is that we're not going to bring everybody ships up the drive line from the propulsor to the prime mover, down to a noise level. What we're going to initially propose which could be a diesel engine, a gasoline engine, electric mo- is that all ships get quieter by a certain decibel, a certain tor of a variety of different types.

sound pressure level. And then you have to provide an energy source, an energy

That's totally unfair because you have companies that are source that might be liquid in terms of a fuel that has a certain already well entrenched in a culture of sustainability, with an heating value and densities associated with it. Or it might be interest in creating quiet ships. And so now you're going to an electric motor amperage demand where you're looking at ask them to get even quieter, which is much more dif? cult to trying to establish a battery budget or what you have to do in do. It's really easy to make a noisy ship quiet. It's not easy to order to provide for recharging at different locations if it's a make a quiet ship quieter without really extensive energy sav- ferry. What NavCad can provide is the ability to look at differ- ing devices or ? ow manipulation devices. ent ‘what if’ scenarios early in the design stage, where you're going to get the greatest bang for your buck in achieving the

So how is HydroComp a part of that emission re- best outcomes. duction discussion? Early on you may have opportunities where slight changes

Principally through our NavCad software tool, [with users] in whole geometry can achieve signi? cant savings in resis- from small surface vessels, UV companies to the largest mer- tance, savings that extend through thrust demand and up the chant shipbuilders, designers, operators. With NavCad you power train into fuel consumption and GHG emissions. And have a variety of different abilities to answer those ‘what if’ NavCad takes you all the way through to that GHG produc- questions as a part of this hydrodynamic and propulsion sys- tion predictions and estimates of what you're going to be tem simulation. able to see.

We view everything here at HydroComp as a system prob- That can then lead to very interesting discussions early on lem ? rst, and the system is a vessel propulsor drive system because it's a good way to communicate to stakeholders, and where you have interrelated aspects of performance between you don't have to have a special PhD or advanced degree to the vessel and the propulsor. This could be a propeller or water run those calculations. 38 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • August 2023

MR #8 (34-49).indd 38 8/3/2023 9:32:22 AM