Build A Power Boat , Powered By Wind

Mr. Aranda says it much more eloquently than I would have.

Therefore, This is all I shall say on the subject.

Roger

 

build a monohull is much easier than multi

I think it is much easier and cheaper to build a monohull boat, since the moment of wind turbine is not so much as many people think. And , if we adopt multi-hull, The smaller hull will not accommodate the living cabin. The cabin must be way above water line. That will rise the gravity of the boat.

 

this project using the technologies those been knew by public

There are facts knew by public. motor spins to propel boat, wind turbine
generate electricity, batteries store electric energy. And, the 150KW motor
is not a big deal. You may check " AC propulsion", this company developed
many motors & power electronic units for brand name electric cars. Suchas, Benz, Bmw,Lexus.

 

But you are still missing the very fundamental problem that you CANNOT generate enough electricity to run the motor that you have chosen from the wind generator you have selected and you CANNOT store more than about 30 minutes worth of power to run this big motor at full power with the battery pack you have chosen.

You're missing the really fundamental issue here, which is all about how much energy the vessel needs for the usage profile you're designing for and how much power you can realistically generate and store from the wind turbine and battery pack that you can reasonably fit in this size of vessel.

If you are serious about this project then you need to go back to the requirement you're aiming to meet, determine a hull size and shape that will use the minimum amount of energy for the desired cruise speed, select a propulsion system that is sized to meet the hull power requirement and then select a wind generator and battery system that will give you the range that you need. This process will be iterative and need some compromise, most probably on range and speed, as current electric propulsion technology, particularly batteries and wind generators, doesn't compare well with fossil fuel powered systems.

 

I have said it before, and I will say it again. The only green technology currently capable of reasonable usage on a boat is sails. There is not a single energy storage device capable of containing the amount of power even a small efficient design needed to propel a boat at any reasonable speed over any reasonable distance (nuclear devices don't count since you can't buy them).

Further adding wind generation simply compounds an already difficult design spiral. Do you have any idea how much drag that wind turbine will add to the boat underway? I would be willing to be it will increase wind drag so significantly that it is a net user of power over it's lifespan.

 

http://www.navagear.com/2007/02/21/wind-turbine-powered-sailboat/

 

srimes - yes you can do that but its totally different concept and sails will generally do a much better job. Unless you insist on the novelty of being able to drive directly into wind.

jeremy said it best. 90batteries 100ah at 12V each =

90*100*12=108,000Wh=108kWh assuming 100% rated capacity which is not nearly true.
50% is more realistic so you have about 55kWh of energy at your disposal.
1h at 55kw, 2h @ 22.5kw power output.

Hardly worth the effort. And if the idea is that it takes 2weeks to charge then one should leave the wind turbine at the mooring spot instead trying to drag it along.

 

Windboat
You gotta try and realize that these guys get this question about once a week if not more. Every novice designer on the planet wants to come up with a working electric boat and for several very basic reasons its simply not presently practical.

your battery pack based on your motor size has been estimated ( by someone who definitely knows what he's talking about ) to have a 30 minute capacity. That fact alone far exceeds the batteries abilities to discharge without damaging them. Your recharging time was estimated at 1/50 operational time, based on the energy density of the wind and the efficiency of the generator. One thing that might not have been considered is that there is also a minimum charge current and the larger the systems capacity the larger that minimum input is. So your required wind speed must also be considered.

Basically if your floating the idea as investment potential its not going to work, these guys are pretty sharp and not likely to go in on a loosing proposition. Electric boats at this time have very limited practical applications at this time, maybe a launch or something but certainly not as a day tripper. A really really efficient one day a week or so for maybe a half a day trip, maybe, but unless you go to lithium ion batteries ( really expensive ) and start your design process from scratch your not likely to pull much capital out of a bunch of broke *** yacht designers.

I'd suggest listening carefully to each issue that has been presented and then go back reconsider the overall design. Might also help to do a site search of electric boat suggestions and do some reading.

cheers
B

and welcome to the forum

 

Yes , calculations are wonderful

Yes, the boat need hydrodynamics calculations. If there is a professor,
who want to do this job that will be wonderful. Re the motor, a 150KW
will make the boat faster than a 50KW. Under today's technology, a 150kw
motor could output 50KW (consume electricy similar to a 50KW motor)also.
So, I chose 150KW.

 

Gentlemen, with no intention to offend - I think that what you need is a deeper knowledge on issues that have been brought out here.

Your first post starts with "We have designed a power boat...", but it appears that this design is still at the initial stage, where just a conceptual drawing based on a foggy idea and backed by quick erroneous calculations exists.
Since concepts like this one are not well-proven, any serious investor will first ask you to show him the numbers, and then will pass those numbers to a trusted independent reviewer. So it's much better to start with a good and scientifically sound basis.

And please let me add this: it's been a fortunate choice for you to have opened his thread before making a bad impression in the eyes of a potential investor, because the previous replies have shown some very critical deficiencies of your preliminary design. If you intend to proceed down this road (wind turbine etc.) I suggest you to come back here again after you have corrected the numbers and the design, to have a review of the version 2.0 of your idea.

Cheers!

 

A 150kW motor will possibly make the boat faster, but then again it may not, as this depends very much on the hull design. This is a displacement boat, almost certainly, because of the battery weight and limited dimensions. If the hull reaches maximum displacement speed on, say, 50kW, then adding three times more power may not make it go any faster at all. All it may do is create a bigger bow wave and greater wash, whilst consuming a lot more power.

Also, you need to consider total system efficiency. It will be critical to performance and this will mean sizing the motor and all the other components correctly. It simply isn't true to say that fitting a 150kW motor and then running it at 50kW is the right thing to do, as a 150kW motor will have much greater parasitic losses (greater eddy current loss from having more iron, greater cooling loss from needing a bigger cooling system, increased bearing frictional loss from having bigger bearings and increased windage loss from having an over-size motor rotor spinning all the time).

If you only need, say, 50kW, then use a 50kW motor, as it, together will all its associated peripherals (controller, wiring, cooling system etc) will be lighter (and cheaper) and have lower losses. There is no merit in selecting a system that is far larger than the battery and generator can handle at all.

As others have pointed out, you need to start with the hydrodynamic design, then work iteratively to design and optimise the propulsion, generation and energy storage requirements. Once you have that basic work completed you will be in a much better position to approach investors, as you will have more confidence in the likely range and performance of the boat. This in turn may help to instil confidence in possible investors, as they will be able to see that you better understand the core development risks.

 

Our project have benefits than sail boat

The drawbacks of sail boat are sailing course restricted by wind direction and
can not store wind energy. Our project using available techs ,and design a
system to use renewable energy sources. Provides the power boat user the
other new thinking. I have said that the boat is for private leisure use. Most
of the time , they are mored. Our design is not to drag the wind turbine, while the boat is under way. The main mast will low down wind turbine, just
like the radio's antenna.

 

OK. Too bad that the system will cost more than the lifetime fuel usage of such boat.

Any kind of electric vehicle (with current technology) makes only sense when you get frequent use with similar range needed every time.

-Frequent use is needed to make the costs worth it. An electric car that is used for 2000 miles a year is pointless - the battery cost is higher than fuel cost in such use.

-Similar range needed over and over again is crucial for similar reason. No point in having 30kwh (practical capacity) battery for that special day if typical use is 8kwh/day.

Current electric cars can make sense for some people who us e it for a commute that matches the vehicle specs well. For many other people gasoline/diesel is better.

Boats have totally different set or requirements and in my view lead acid setup will never be practical for anything but 15ft rowboat. More advanced batteries on the other hand are too costly too. So it isn't time for the e-boat yet.

Dear Windboat. You state that the mast comes down and the boat will do vast majority of its charging in mooring. Why would you want to carry the generator/wind turbine with you if that is the case.

 

With respect, your design, as it stands, is for a boat with the following performance:

1. It will run for around 30 minutes at full power before the batteries run flat, or maybe 1 1/2 hours if you run at around 1/3rd maximum power. At 18kts and full power it will have a range of about 9 nautical miles.

2. The charging system you have specified will take at least 54 hours to recharge the batteries in order to give you another 1/2 hour of full power cruise time, assuming that there is sufficient wind available for the whole charging time.


I mentioned my solar powered boat earlier in this thread. It was designed so that it will cruise for 8 hours on a single battery charge and need 12 hours of sunlight to bring the batteries back to full charge (8 hours of which might be during the cruise time). This is a little limiting, but very significantly better than your ratio of 1/2 hour full power cruise and 54 hours waiting for the wind to recharge the batteries.

If you think that your very limited performance design is OK, then go ahead, but I doubt that many investors would be interested in putting money into a project with such a poor performance. What is more, if you actually build the boat and its poor performance is publicly reported then it will not be good publicity for alternative boat propulsion systems.

 

Hey Jerry
didn't you do a thread on your boat somewhere and if so could you post a link

thanks
B