Pilot Study of Electric Hubless Rim-Driven Propellers for Transport in Inland Waterways
Research Project, 2022

The performance of conventional marine propellers is substantially influenced by the power transmission through the hub and gearbox. This accounts for power loss, large space usage, heavy weights, noise and vibration.  In contrast to conventional propellers, the concept of hubless Rim-Driven Propellers (RDP) is a radical design, whose blades are driven by an outer rim rather than a hub. The outer rim can be easily driven by electric motors.

However, the necessary technology for designing efficient electric RDP is still missing in the literature and the industry. The present project is proposed to explore the technology of the RDP concept for rescue vessels. Given the general basis of the knowledge, the outcomes from this project will serve as the starting point to develop the general technology of the RDP design for electric vessels in inland waterways.

Participants

Huadong Yao (contact)

Chalmers, Mechanics and Maritime Sciences (M2), Fluid Dynamics

Funding

Lighthouse

Project ID: FS24_2022/Hållbar sjöfart
Funding Chalmers participation during 2022

Related Areas of Advance and Infrastructure

Transport

Areas of Advance

Energy

Areas of Advance

C3SE (Chalmers Centre for Computational Science and Engineering)

Infrastructure

Publications

More information

Latest update

2022-11-01