Seawork saw Danfoss take to the podium to talk how it is spearheading revolutionary technology behind hybrid and electric vessel systems and power converters.
The company has been perfecting its new marine drives and power management systems quietly for years, but it wants to shout about its new IC7 drive and Editron drivetrain system now as they’re equipping a multitude of new vessels.
”Robust, lightweight, efficient and reliable, those are the unique selling points of our new products,” Alan Baird, country manager, UK and Ireland told Maritime Journal.
”As far as I’m aware we are leaps ahead in terms of techology. I’ve not heard of any other company that is using silicon carbide in the way that we do and in the way that Tesla has already done in the automotive industry.”
Market leading
The IC7 drive can be used to power main vessel propulsion up to 6MW, it can also be used to power deck machines, cranes, bells active heave systems, anything where a constant torque is required.
It uses a 100% water cooled water thermal management system and because it’s modular, the system is scaleable for both large and small vessels and machinery.
The system is being used onboard the Wasoline LNG/battery hybrid ferry Aurora Botnia. It’s estimated that the new ferry will cut CO2 emissions by 50% compared to its predecessor.
Cleverly, when combined with Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation, it is possible to simulate how the IC7 will work on different vessels, a great way of testing out a drive system before making an investment.
During its presentation at the Seawork conference, Danfoss also talked about its Editron drivetrain which is a power management system geared towards medium workboats, including ferries and waterway vessels.
The system has already been used in vessels including the newbuild hybrid CTV Vivace for Orsted, which is yet to be delivered.
In the future, Danfoss said that these sytems will be able to incorporate alternative fuels just using different setups switching between diesel, electric and methanol.
For example, in new high speed passenger ferries like the Thames Clipper for Uber being built by Wight Shipyard, or the CWind hybrid SES vesel for CTruk, also being built by Wight.
Last year, Semikron joined forces with Danfoss creating a market leading partnership in power electronics.
The move created Semikron Dancross which specialises in semiconductor modules and embraces the emerging technology transition from silicon to silicon carbide, which gives improved performance, efficiency and a decrease in power consumption.
Danfoss is also working on a 2MW conatiner system for power conversion which should be coming online soon.
