Low Energy and Emission Design for Ships

How can MSc students in naval architecture and marine engineering contribute to ship designs and solutions for future energy efficient maritime transport? For the Low Energy and Emission Design of Ships, LEEDS project one tool is to engage students at NTNU to explore innovative solutions for increased maritime energy efficiency through design of and competing with model boats, as well as establishing insights through digital twins of vessels. Students from Department of Marine Technology, NTNU, supported by the LEEDS project, participate in collaboration with HydroContest (www.hydrocontest.org) to further develop such a Maritime Ship Eco Marathon. HydroContest establish opportunities for innovative thinking in relation to improved energy efficient ship solutions, both in terms of design and operation. HydroContest is an international student competition with about 30 teams dedicated to maritime energy efficiency. Here, future engineers from around the world gather around a common problem: Energy-efficient maritime transport - carry more, faster, using less energy. All teams are given equal electric motor and battery and compete in three classes: Circle course sailing in lightweight class with 20 kg payload and heavyweight class of 200 kg payload, and the long-distance class where you sail as long as possible in two hours - or until the battery is empty. The long-distance class provides several aspects comparative to actual shipping, as it is important to take into account the energy consumption in relation to sea conditions and remaining distance (time) relative to energy consumption and remaining energy in the battery. Sharing of ideas and contributions to new design and improvement are central. For instance, knowledge sharing takes place through 'tech talks' every night, where the teams present their ship designs, and specific issues that the organizers consider particularly important to share from individual teams' designs. Department of Marine Technology, NTNU, has participated with one team and two boats in HydroContest from 2016 until 2019. The team covers discipline knowledge such as ship design and marine engineering, marine hydrodynamics, electrical engineering, marine cybernetics, technical operations and reliability technology, as well as project management. To design and build the boats, hulls must be designed and constructed, propellers constructed and tested in relation to best propulsion performance and battery performance. Monohull, catamaran and trimaran designs have been tested, and also foils that will drastically reduce the boat's resistance in water, with associated foil control systems. Digitization as an important potential technology can also contribute positively to insight into energy efficient design and operation of vessels. The LEEDS project has supported the planning and development of a digital twin of NTNU's research vessel R/V Gunnerus. Students have worked to develop a 3D model of R/V Gunnerus, established overview of sensors aboard the vessel, made a product model of the vessel, as well as an information dashboard that provides insight into the operating profile, as well as performance and consumption profiles. Operation profiles for various vessels and shipping segments can be established based on AIS data. This requires a database of AIS data that is searchable and can establish extracts of data for the segments of vessels to be analyzed and for relevant time periods. Combined with metocean data, this provides a good basis for simulation-based studies of different ship designs and configuration of machinery and propulsion system under different operating schemes. This will provide a basis for marine technology students to access a digital twin of a real vessel in operation from which they can gain continuous insight into status and real-time operation as well as time series with data. Improved insight into design and operation for energy efficiency and low emissions is an important issue that digital twins can be used for, giving students direct insight into the relationship between metocean conditions, operating profiles, performance parameters and energy consumption. These provides an important basis for research driven approaches to design and development of future energy-efficient and low-emission shipping.

Økt energieffektivitet krever innsikt i ny teknologi og operasjonelle betingelser, samt evne til å prosjektere ny teknologi inn i nye løsninger. Utvikling og deltakelse i student-ship-eco-marathonen HydroContest bidratt til nytteverdi ved at studenter får delta i FoU aktivitet med mål om økt energieffektivitet, og doktorgradskandidater med forskningskompetanse som er tatt opp i industri, akademia og nyskapingsvirksomhet. Teknologivalgene fra HydroContest er hvert år presentert for skolelever under Ocean Space Race. Industri har fått tilgang til sivilingeniører med praktisk prosjekteringserfaring av skipstekniske løsninger for økt energieffektivitet, samt doktorgradskandidater med forskningskompetanse om spesifikke forbedringsområder for økt energieffektivitet i sjøtransport. Samfunnet forøvrig har fått flere kandidater på ulike utdanningsnivå med kompetanse som kan bidra til forbedret energieffektivitet innen sjøtransport og kan ta del i ansvarlige diskusjoner om tiltak og effekt.

The baseline for energy usage and emission level is to a large degree set with the the ship design. As such, to meet the challenges to reduce energy usage and emission levels from shipping, a continuous line of new ship designs are required. This project will contribute both with new knowledge of low energy and emission ship design, as well as the education of personell with confidence and background to challenge low energy and emission ship design that can become key personnel in the maritime industry fo r developing novel solutions for energy and emission reduction. The project aims at creating world-leading competence in advanced ship design methodology by bringing together expertise in ship design with expertise in the various specialized disciplines that ship design relies on. Furthermore, the project will involve students at different levels in this process. Thus, the project will produce both new knowledge and tools in environmentally friendly ship design as well young people with expert knowledge in this field. The project will contribute to preserving and enhancing the position of Norway as a global maritime knowledge and innovation hub, and will stimulate the innovation process in that respect at the Department of marine technology at NTNU, wh ich is the main supplier of master candidates of maritime technology in Norway.