DE102021100135A1 - Marine propulsion and ship equipped therewith - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a ship's propulsion system, comprising a tunnel-shaped housing (1) and an electrically driven propeller (2) arranged in the housing (1) and having an annular rotor (20) which carries a large number of propeller blades (21) on its radially inner side and has a stator (22) on its radially outer side for driving the rotor (20), the stator (22) extending only over a partial peripheral region of the rotor (20).

Description

The invention relates to a ship's propulsion system, comprising a tunnel-shaped housing and an electrically driven propeller arranged in the housing and having an annular rotor which carries a large number of propeller blades on its radially inner side and has a stator for driving the rotor on its radially outer side.

Such ship drives are known and are provided as so-called rim thrusters both as a main drive and as a maneuvering drive, for example in the form of transverse thrusters, particularly in passenger ships and large yachts. They form a space-saving and weight-reduced drive that converts the electrical energy directly into drive power without transmission losses. In the known rim thrusters, the propeller blades are arranged on the radially inner side of the annular rotor and the rotor is enveloped by a stator arranged concentrically on the radially outer side, which also extends annularly around the circumference of the rotor over 360°. This means that the active part of the electrically driven propeller, formed by the stator, is completely submerged, completely enclosing the rotor and at the same time forming the foundation for absorbing the propulsion forces. Depending on the design of the rim thruster, the rotor is also mounted on the stator in sliding guides or the ends of the propeller blades protruding radially on the inside are mounted on a centrally arranged hub, which in turn is supported on the housing. Examples of such rim thrusters are in EP 1 739 007 A1 and the U.S. 3,708,251 A disclosed.

A disadvantage of such rim thrusters compared to a conventional transverse thruster is the complex installation and maintenance of the electrical active part of the motor located under water, in particular the stator, which can only be carried out by docking the ship equipped with the rim thruster. Although this problem can be circumvented by installing a relatively complex, large-scale well in the ship's hull, such a procedure is very cost-intensive and requires considerable installation space. Another disadvantage of a rim thruster when used as a (main) drive with a nozzle, for example in the form of an azimuth drive or in a swing-out design, is the comparatively large nozzle cross section, which is required to accommodate the rotor and stator. Another disadvantage is the high gap losses of known rim thrusters.

The object of the invention is to propose a ship propulsion system of the type mentioned at the outset, in particular in the form of a rim thruster, which avoids the disadvantages of the prior art.

To solve the problem, the design of a ship's propulsion system with the features of patent claim 1 is proposed according to the invention.

Advantageous refinements and developments of the invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims.

The proposal according to the invention provides that the stator only extends over a partial peripheral area of the rotor. Such a configuration makes it possible according to the invention to reduce the installation space of the ship's propulsion system required by the parts standing in the water, which has advantages in terms of flow technology. In addition, the stator can be arranged in relation to the annular rotor at a suitable position such that it can be arranged in a corresponding installation space in the ship's hull, so that it can be accessed via the ship's hull and in particular installed and removed without docking of the ship is required. Furthermore, the design according to the invention results in improved design options for the gap between the rotor and the stator, in order to minimize the gap losses.

The arrangement of an annular rotor with a stator extending only over a partial peripheral area of the rotor is derived from linear drives, in which the usually long, straight rail of the linear drive is converted into a rotor with an annular extension.

It has surprisingly been shown within the scope of the invention that with such an arrangement an electrically driven propeller of a ship's propulsion system can be created even in continuous operation with high performance and extremely advantageous structural design options.

According to one proposal of the invention, the stator is arranged in the upper area of the propeller, for example when viewed in the direction of the propeller axis of rotation between a position at around 10:00 o'clock and at around 2:00 o'clock.

According to a further proposal of the invention, the stator runs over a ring segment which is arranged concentrically to the rotor and is delimited by an angle of between approximately 90 and 150°, in particular approximately 120°.

According to the invention it is further provided that the propeller blades and the rotor are rotatably mounted on a centrally arranged hub and the hub is supported on the housing.

According to one proposal of the invention, the housing has a shaft in the area of its upper side, into which the stator can be inserted. This insertion of the stator into the housing directly adjacent to the rotor can be facilitated in that, according to a further proposal of the invention, the stator is arranged in a watertight stator housing that can be inserted into the shaft.

In order to influence the gap dimensions, the stator housing can also be arranged in the shaft so that it can be adjusted in height.

According to one embodiment of the invention, the rotor can be formed with a multiplicity of permanent magnets which are arranged at regular intervals along the circumference of the rotor and are optionally coated.

In addition to such a permanently excited rotor, according to an alternative proposal of the invention, the rotor can also be designed as a squirrel-cage rotor.

In each embodiment of the ship's propulsion system according to the invention, the cooling of the propulsion system is largely effected by the water flowing around it. If necessary, the stator can be additionally cooled in a targeted manner by water or air cooling.

The invention also relates to a ship with a hull and a tunnel running through the hull and a well opening into the tunnel from above, in which a ship's drive as explained above is used, the housing of the ship's drive forming a section of the tunnel in the area of the well and this extent continues in alignment. The well can be designed in a very simple and space-saving manner, since it only has to accommodate the ship's propulsion system, which can be used from above, in particular vertically over the hull.

It is provided in particular that the stator in the ship's hull is accessible from the top of the well, which considerably simplifies both installation and maintenance, since the ship does not need to be docked.

As a further variant, it is conceivable to integrate the function of the tunnel-shaped housing of the ship's drive directly into the tunnel provided on the ship's side.

In addition, the tunnel-shaped housing of the ship's drive can also form the complete tunnel on the ship's side.

• 1 eine erste Ausführungsform eines Schiffsantriebes gemäß der Erfindung in einer Explosionsdarstellung;
• 2 die Ausgestaltung gemäß 1 in montierter Konfiguration aus einem veränderten Blickwinkel betrachtet;
• 3 die Ausgestaltung gemäß 2 in einer vertikalen Schnittdarstellung;
• 4 eine weitere Ausführungsform eines Schiffsantriebes gemäß der Erfindung;
• 5 einen vertikalen Schnitt durch die Ausführungsform gemäß 4;
• 6 in schematisierten Darstellung ein mit einem Schiffsantrieb ausgerüstetes Schiff.

Further configurations and details of the invention are explained below using exemplary embodiments in the drawing. Show it:

• 1 a first embodiment of a ship's propulsion system according to the invention in an exploded view;
• 2 the design according to 1 viewed from a different perspective in mounted configuration;
• 3 the design according to 2 in a vertical sectional view;
• 4 a further embodiment of a ship propulsion system according to the invention;
• 5 a vertical section through the embodiment according to 4 ;
• 6 in a schematic representation, a ship equipped with a ship's propulsion system.

From the 6 shows a highly simplified sectional view of a ship with a hull 3 and a tunnel 30 running through the hull 3 transversely to the longitudinal axis of the hull 3, which accommodates a propeller 2 encased by a housing 1, with which a water flow in the tunnel 30 to the right or left according to accelerated the graphic representation and can be ejected from the hull 3, with which the ship can be maneuvered, for example, transverse to the longitudinal axis. As will be explained in more detail below, the housing 1 accommodating the propeller 2 is in turn tunnel-shaped and forms a section of the tunnel 30 in the region of the well 4 in which it continues the walls of the tunnel 30 flush or aligned. The propeller 2 is constructed and electrically driven in the manner described below.

The entire drive unit is in further details from the 1 evident. One can see the sections of the tunnel 30 which lead out horizontally from the well shaft 40 on both sides of the well 4 and end in the corresponding hull openings, not shown here.

From the top of the well 4, an electric ship's propulsion system is inserted into the well shaft 40 in the vertical direction, which has a tunnel-shaped housing 1 that, when installed in the well shaft, continues the sections of the tunnel 30 in the area of the well 4, which in this respect is tubular with the geometry of the Tunnels 30 adapted dimensions is executed.

Inside the tunnel-shaped housing 1, the electrically driven propeller 2 is arranged, which carries a plurality of propeller blades 21, usual Typically five or seven such propeller blades 21. For the rotatable mounting of the propeller 2, the radially inner ends of the propeller blades 21 are fastened to a horizontally extending hub 23, which is rotatably mounted on a fixed axis by means of roller bearings in a manner not shown in detail. The hub 23 or its axis is connected to the housing 1 via a support structure with a plurality of struts 210 and is supported on it. The bearing is usually oil-lubricated, and seals seal off the roller bearing space.

The radially outer ends of the propeller blades 21 are connected to an annular, permanently excited rotor 20 which rotates in the region of the inner surface of the tubular or tunnel-shaped housing 1.

For the electrical rotary drive of the permanently excited rotor 20, a stator 22 is provided in a manner known per se, which carries a large number of windings for forming current-carrying coils and their external connections, which are collectively identified by reference numeral 221 in the figures. The stator 22 is housed in an associated stator housing 220, which is sealed against the ingress of liquid on the tunnel side and is inserted into a shaft 10 placed on top of the tunnel-shaped housing 1, so that the stator 22 is positioned coaxially and directly adjacent to the annular rotor 20 . The height of the stator 22 together with the housing 220 relative to the ring-shaped rotor 20 within the shaft 10 can be adjusted by means of a height adjustment (not shown in detail), for example in order to set the gap between the rotor 20 and the stator 22 exactly.

As in particular from the other representations of the ship's drive according to 2 and 3 As can be seen in the installed position, not only is the housing 1 inserted into the well shaft 40 of the well 4 from above, but the stator 22 is also inserted with its stator housing 220 from above into the shaft 10 of the housing 1 . Thus, in particular the stator 22 together with its coils and external connections 221 is accessible upwards to the engine room arranged in the hull 3 of the ship and can be assembled and serviced from the hull 3 without the ship having to be docked.

An essential feature of the arrangement shown is that the stator 22, as in particular from the 3 as can be seen, runs only in the upper area of the propeller 2 along a partial peripheral area of the rotor 20 in such a way that the stator 22 runs over a ring segment which is arranged concentrically to the rotor and which is delimited by an angle α of approximately 120°. Since the rotor 20 rotating below the status 22 has a large number of permanent magnets 200 arranged at equal intervals, the rotor 20, together with the propeller blades 21 attached to it, is set in rotation by the stator 22, which is only arranged in one ring segment, in the manner of a linear drive laid in the form of a ring offset and driven with the necessary drive torque.

The electric drive is mainly cooled by the water flowing around it. If necessary, the stator can be additionally cooled in a targeted manner by water or air cooling

In contrast, the illustrations according to 4 and 5 a modified embodiment of the invention, in which the same parts have been given the same reference numbers and, in order to avoid repetition, are not explained again unless this is necessary for understanding the invention.

In contrast to the design according to 1 until 3 the tunnel-shaped housing 1 is not used as a separate component in a well 4 of the ship, not shown, but the tunnel 30 of the ship also assumes the function of the housing 1 of the ship's drive and takes the rotor 20 rotating. In this respect, in this embodiment, the stator 22 with its stator housing 220 is inserted directly into the well 4 formed above the tunnel 30 and is therefore also accessible in this embodiment via the hull 3 of the ship.

It goes without saying that instead of arranging a large number of magnets 200 on the rotor 20, the design of a rotor 20 as a squirrel-cage rotor can also be considered.

With the ship propulsion system explained above, a significantly reduced flow resistance is achieved through significantly smaller surfaces that are perpendicular to the flow.

In addition, the maintenance and handling of the electric drive of the propeller 2 is significantly simplified by the separation of the stator 22 from the rotor 20 provided according to the invention, which is further promoted by the fact that the entire drive can be operated without docking the ship via the well accessible from the hull 3 of the ship 4 can be done.

Reference List

1

Housing

2

propeller

3

hull

4

Spring

10

shaft

20

rotor

21

propeller blades

22

stator

23

hub

30

tunnel

40

well shaft

200

permanent magnet

210

striving

220

stator housing

221

connections and windings

a

angle

QUOTES INCLUDED IN DESCRIPTION

This list of documents cited by the applicant was generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Patent Literature Cited

• EP 1739007 A1 [0002]
• US3708251A [0002]

Claims (10)

Ship propulsion system, comprising a tunnel-shaped housing (1) and an electrically driven propeller (2) arranged in the housing (1) and having an annular rotor (20) which carries a plurality of propeller blades (21) on its radially inner side and on its radially outer side has a stator (22) for driving the rotor (20), characterized in that the stator (22) extends only over a partial peripheral region of the rotor (20). ship propulsion claim 1 , characterized in that the stator (22) is arranged in the upper area of the propeller (2). ship propulsion claim 1 or 2 , characterized in that the stator (22) extends over a ring segment which is arranged concentrically to the rotor (20) and is delimited by an angle (α) of between 90 and 150°. Ship propulsion according to one of the Claims 1 until 3 , characterized in that the propeller blades (21) and the rotor (20) are rotatably mounted on a centrally arranged hub (23) and the hub is supported on the housing (1). Ship propulsion according to one of the Claims 1 until 4 , characterized in that the housing (1) has a shaft (10) in the region of its upper side, in which the stator (22) can be inserted. ship propulsion claim 5 , characterized in that the stator (22) is arranged in a watertight stator housing (220) which can be inserted into the shaft (10). ship propulsion claim 6 , characterized in that the stator housing (220) is arranged adjustable in height in the shaft (10). Ship propulsion according to one of the Claims 1 until 7 , characterized in that the rotor (20) is provided with a plurality of permanent magnets (200) along its circumference or is designed as a squirrel-cage rotor. Ship with a hull (3) and a tunnel (30) running through the hull (3) and a well (4) opening into the tunnel (30) from above, in which a ship propulsion system according to one of the preceding claims is inserted, wherein the Housing (1) of the ship's propulsion system in the area of the well (4) forms a section of the tunnel (30). ship to claim 9 , characterized in that the stator (22) in the ship's hull (3) is accessible from the top of the well (4).

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