U.S. patent application number 11/059506 was filed with the patent office on 2005-08-04 for motor unit for a ship.
This patent application is currently assigned to ABB OY. Invention is credited to Varis, Jukka.
Application Number | 20050170709 11/059506 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 8557266 |
Filed Date | 2005-08-04 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050170709 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Varis, Jukka |
August 4, 2005 |
Motor unit for a ship
Abstract
A propulsion unit arrangement for a ship including a motor
housing, which is arranged in the water and contains a motor and a
control unit. A propeller is arranged at a motor shaft. The motor
housing is arranged as a separate modular motor unit, which can be
attached to the ship by way of a fastening arrangement.
Inventors: |
Varis, Jukka; (Espoo,
FI) |
Correspondence
Address: |
ARENT FOX PLLC
1050 CONNECTICUT AVENUE, N.W.
SUITE 400
WASHINGTON
DC
20036
US
|
Assignee: |
ABB OY
|
Family ID: |
8557266 |
Appl. No.: |
11/059506 |
Filed: |
February 17, 2005 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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11059506 |
Feb 17, 2005 |
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10169731 |
Nov 14, 2002 |
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10169731 |
Nov 14, 2002 |
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PCT/FI01/00076 |
Jan 26, 2001 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
440/6 |
Current CPC
Class: |
Y02T 10/70 20130101;
B63H 21/383 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
440/006 |
International
Class: |
B60L 011/02; B60L
011/16; B60L 011/18; B63H 021/17 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jan 28, 2000 |
FI |
20000191 |
Claims
1. A propulsion unit arrangement for a ship, said arrangement
including at least one motor housing as well as a motor arranged
therein, and further including control devices related thereto and
a propeller arranged at one outermost end of a motor shaft wherein
said at least one motor housing is arranged as a separate modular
motor unit which is attachable as an entity to said ship by means
of a supporting system including fastening means which are arranged
at that end of said modular motor unit which is opposite to said
propeller, wherein said supporting system includes means for
conveying power supply or control functions to at least one
separate modular motor unit attached to said ship.
2. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein said fastening
means include flange means.
3. The arrangement according to claim 2, wherein said flange means
are arranged so that at least one separate modular motor unit's
propeller shaft extends essentially horizontally.
4. The arrangement according to claim 2, wherein said flange means
are arranged so that the propeller shaft of a least one separate
modular motor unit extends in a direction which differs from the
horizontal direction.
5. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein flange means
arranged for attachment of at least one separate modular motor
unit, are arranged permanently to the ship's hull.
6. The arrangement according to claim 5, wherein said flange means
arranged for the attachment of said at least one separate modular
motor unit are arranged permanently to a protrusion arranged on
said hull, so that said at least one separate modular motor unit
can be attached to said fastening means to form a structural
extension of the hull in the water.
7. The arrangement according to claim 1, wherein at least one
separate modular motor unit is cooled through a casing structure of
the unit directly to a medium located outside said unit.
8. The arrangement according to claim 7, wherein at least one
separate modular motor unit is provided with additional means for
setting in motion a medium inside said at least one separate
modular motor unit in order to enhance a heat transfer between said
at least one separate modular motor and said medium located outside
said unit.
9. A propulsion unit arrangement for a ship comprising: at least
one modular motor housing; at least one flange means connectable to
the at least one modular motor housing and to a hull of a ship; a
motor disposed in the at least one modular motor housing; a
plurality of control devices operatively connected to the ship and
the at least one modular motor housing through a mounting assembly
or hull of the ship; and a motor shaft arranged in the at least one
modular motor housing connected to a propeller wherein the at least
one flange means is arranged at said housing at a front end axially
opposite to said propeller, wherein a supporting arrangement
connected to the ship comprises connecting means for conveying
control and power functions to the at least one modular motor
housing, and having at least one flange means at one end for
attaching the at least one motor housing unit to the support
member.
10. The arrangement as in claim 9, wherein the at least one flange
is arranged so that the shaft of the at least one modular motor
housing extends in a direction other than a horizontal direction.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This is a Continuation Application which claims the benefit
of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/169,731, filed Nov.
14, 2002, which is the National Stage entry of International
Application No. PCT/FI01/00076, filed Jan. 26, 2001. The
disclosures of the prior applications are hereby incorporated
herein in their entirety by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] The present invention relates to a propulsion unit
arrangement for a ship, the arrangement including a motor housing
in the water, a motor located in the housing, associated control
devices as well as a propeller arranged at the motor's shaft.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] A conventional motor arrangement for a ship comprises a
motor arranged within the ship's hull and a propeller arranged on
the end of a motor shaft which extends in a watertight manner
through the ship's hull. As the propeller rotates it brings water
surrounding the ship into motion and thus creates a reaction force
which thrusts the ship forwards. The motor can be a directly
employed diesel engine or like combustion engine or, favorably, an
electric motor to which necessary electric power is supplied by a
conventional combustion engine, a gas turbine, a nuclear power
plant or the like. The steering of such ships is conventionally
arranged so that a pivoting rudder is provided in the propeller's
wake, the rudder deflecting the wake and thus creating a lateral
force component in relation to the longitudinal direction of the
ship.
[0006] Other types of so-called propulsion units are also known,
wherein the propeller as such can be pivoted for the purpose of
steering the ship. This pivoting motion can be accomplished by
means of a rather complicated shaft arrangement, or in such a way
that the propeller is arranged at the shaft of a motor which, as
such, is arranged to be rotatable around a vertical axis. This
latter arrangement is called an azimuthing propulsion device. Such
a device is described in, for example, the applicant's Finnish
Patent No. 76977, which is being marketed by the applicant under
the trademark AZIPOD.
[0007] Until now all arrangements implemented for ships have the
feature in common that the motors per se, as well as other devices
and means, are adapted to constitute an essentially integral part
of the ship right from the stage of building the ship. Thus, any
thorough repair or replacement of the motor can hardly take place
unless the ship is docked, after which substantial portions of the
ship are dismantled for enabling the replacement to be done. Thus,
the only repair job that is somewhat simply and easily
accomplished, is usually the task of replacing a damaged propeller,
whilst it always will take a long time indeed to perform other,
more extensive repairs.
[0008] A further disadvantage of motor arrangements which are
implemented separately for each ship is that since a motor is being
built separately for each ship in any case, the number of motor
alternatives tends to increase, and thus full advantage cannot be
taken of long serials. The production costs are affected in an
unfavorable manner by the complexity of such arrangements and short
serials.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0009] An arrangement according to the present invention has been
developed in order to eliminate these disadvantages and other ones
caused by multiformity, the characteristic features of which
arrangement are disclosed in the appended claims. Thus, the general
arrangement according to the present invention is characterized in
that the ship's propulsion arrangements include a separate motor
housing which is arranged to form such a separate modular motor
unit which can be attached to the ship by means of fastening
means.
[0010] A multitude of significant advantages are achieved by using
such a modular arrangement, particularly in connection with the
aforementioned azimuthing propulsion system, which advantages are
presented below in more detail with reference to different
embodiments of the present invention. In the specification,
exemplifying references are made to the attached drawings,
wherein:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 as a schematic section discloses an example of an
embodiment of a modular motor arrangement in connection with an
azimuthing propulsion system,
[0012] FIG. 2 in a corresponding manner discloses a favorable
embodiment of a modular motor unit, the embodiment comprising two
essentially identical motor units,
[0013] FIG. 3 in a corresponding manner discloses a solution
wherein a modular motor unit according to the present invention is
arranged as a fixed propulsion means in the stern of a ship, thus
replacing a conventional propeller arrangement, and
[0014] FIG. 4 discloses a solution wherein a motor unit is
installed in such a manner, that the propeller shaft is aligned off
the horizontal.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0015] Referring to FIG. 1, a modular motor unit 1 according to the
present invention generally comprises an electric motor 2 having a
shaft 3 provided with a propeller 4. An outer casing 5 of the motor
unit is favorably arranged so that the motor 2 gets its cooling
directly through the casing 5 from the surrounding water 6, as
explained in more detail in a co-pending patent application. Thus,
the motor unit 1, as such, constitutes such a structural part of
the ship which is in direct contact with water, wherein the outer
casing 5 of the motor unit 1 at the same time serves as the ship's
hull at the location of the motor 2, or can be compared to such a
hull.
[0016] The motor shaft 3 is mounted in bearings 7 in both ends of
the motor in a manner known per se, in connection with which
bearings gaskets, known per se, are suitably arranged so that the
interior 8 of the motor favorably is fully isolated from the
surrounding water 6 and suitably also from the interior 10 of a
mounting assembly 9.
[0017] The motor unit includes fastening means, suitably in the
form of a flange 11, by which the motor unit can be attached to
corresponding flange means 16, 16a, 16b arranged on the mounting
assembly 9, or in the case according to FIG. 3 directly to means
16c arranged at the ship's hull 12. The modular motor unit 1, as
such, constitutes a kind of extension of the mounting assembly 9,
extending into the water, i.e. mainly such a part of the propulsion
device which in the art usually is called a "pod" when it is
located at the end of a rotatable arm. In order to render the
attachment as effective as possible FIG. 1 shows schematically
using reference number 13, that connections to the motor 2, such as
a power supply, control and monitoring means, any lubricating
and/or cooling means etc., preferably are connected via a central
connector to mounting assembly 10 or to the ship's hull 12,
respectively. Further, a slip-ring 17 can be used to convey the
motor's power supply or control functions to the motor units 1,
1a.
[0018] Several considerable advantages are achieved by a general
arrangement according to the present invention. Firstly, the motor
unit can be given an extremely compact design. Since the device in
question to a large extent is a standard set-up, which as such is
applicable to a multitude of uses, the motor unit 2, which in
itself contains even complex technology, can be produced in long
series without any significant consideration of the final use. This
also ensures that the supply of spare parts for the motor unit can
be very extensive, to start with having complete units as such
available as goods in stock at the most important shipyards or even
carried on board the ship.
[0019] Due to its compact design the arrangement according to the
present invention provides a significantly smaller cross section in
the flow direction, compared to present ones, which provides better
propulsion efficiency with a smaller propeller. It is also usually
possible to use smaller bearings 7. One important advantage is also
the fact that it is easy to implement redundancy.
[0020] From the aspects of product delivery and maintenance, the
arrangement according to the present invention enables rapid
production and shorter stock turnover time. Maintenance is fast and
simple due to inter-changeability and standard models, which is a
significant advantage considering the fact, that ship delays for
maintenance or repair can become extremely expensive.
[0021] Favorably, the arrangement disclosed in FIG. 1 functionally
represents the azimuthing propulsion system described above, i.e.,
the whole assembly 9 is rotatable around a vertical axis A-A. Thus,
the assembly including the motor replaces the propeller-rudder
assembly of more old-fashioned technology and, among other things,
provides clearly better efficiency and improved turning
characteristics compared to that. The assembly 9 in the embodiment
according to FIG. 1 comprises a preferably essentially hollow and
suitably at least to some extent, a curved body part attached by
flanges to arrangements for turning, such as a turning gear, a
power supply, and control, which are known per se in the art, and
which are referred to only allusively by reference number 14. Due
to the curved mounting assembly the whole device turns in an
optimal way in a similar manner as the azimuthing propulsion
devices known thus far.
[0022] Cooling directly through the outer casing 5 of the motor
unit 1, as implemented according to a co-pending patent
application, can be implemented particularly well by the
arrangement according to the present invention, wherein a symmetry
required for balanced cooling is easily achieved. Due to the
modular structure, there are no such external parts of the unit
which would cause discontinuance locations in regard to cooling.
Thus access is provided everywhere for the surrounding water 6 to
act as a coolant. The modular motor unit 1, 1a is provided with fan
a 18 for setting in motion the surrounding water 6 inside the
modular motor unit 1, 1a in order to enhance a heat transfer
between the modular motor 2, 2a and the surrounding water 6 located
outside the unit. Along with the arrangement a conventional
air-cooling including ducts and special arrangements can be
omitted. Thus, production of the motor unit is facilitated and
speeded up, and the weight of the unit will be small, and thus the
size of any production equipment required for the production of the
unit can be reduced as well.
[0023] A particularly favorable solution is presented in FIG. 2,
wherein two modular motor units 1 and la are attached to a common
rotatable assembly 9a. These motor units 1 and 1a can each have a
separate power supply or a common one. According to one embodiment
the two motors 2 and 2a in tandem can, if necessary, further be
mechanically interconnected by a clutch generally referred to as
15. Alternatively, the motors 1 and 1a also can be operated in
opposite directions. Thus, the arrangement here offers the
possibility of both a common control of the two motors 2, 2a as
well as individual control so that each motor is driven on controls
of its own.
[0024] In the embodiments in FIGS. 1 and 2 described above, as well
as in the one in FIG. 4 to be discussed later, the motor units 1,
1a according to the present invention are attached to rotatable arm
assemblies to provide an azimuthing propulsion system. FIG. 3, on
the other hand, discloses a solution where a modular motor unit 1
according to the present invention is attached directly to the
ship's 12 hull, thus replacing a conventional propeller assembly.
Also, in this case, a considerable number of the advantages offered
by the modular structure can be achieved.
[0025] Finally, FIG. 4 shows that a modular motor unit according to
the present invention in some special applications can also be
mounted so that the direction of the motor shaft differs from the
horizontal.
[0026] Above, some favorable embodiments of the present invention
have been disclosed by way of example, but for a person skilled in
the art it will be clear that the invention is not limited to those
alone, but that it can be modified in many different ways within
the scope of the appended claims.
* * * * *