Project Vindskip®

The relative wind is a crucial factor in designing aircrafts, trains, propellers and sailing boats. But for the design of commercial vessels, this is a revolutionary brand new way of thinking. Inspired by the aerospace industry and the sailboat environment, the Vindskip is designed to utilize wind for propulsion. The unique is the shape of the hull, both above and below the water line.

Sustainable sea transport is dependent of the development of a new technology that can utilize the renewable resources on the sea. The wind has been made predictable thanks to modern meteorology. Through a computerized weighting of a steady flow of meteorological information, a computer program can calculate the best route taking advantage of the available wind energy. This makes it easy for the captain of Vindskip® selecting the best course to propel the ship

Purpose

To develop concept Vindskip® hybrid merchant vessel for sustainable sea transport to an optimal form and function.

Function

A vessel with a hull shaped like a symmetrical air foil going in the relative wind, will generate an aerodynamic lift giving a pull in the ships direction, within an angular sector of the course. This is Vindskip’s Wind Power System. The relative wind, measured on board a ship, is given by the ships course and speed and the direction and strength of the True Wind.

With an LNG-electric propulsion system as well, starting the ship from zero up to the desired speed, the aerodynamic lift now generated can be exploited to generate pull and thus saving fuel: Forming a dynamic system that maintains a constant speed of the ship. Ship types that are particularly relevant to the Vindskip design are the so-called dry cargo ships type such as RoRo, RoPax, PCTC, passenger and container ships.

Patent – State of the Art

To be granted a patent, there must be an innovation present in the actual new solution. It involves a substantial degree of innovation in the project and confirming that it is not found any competing patents either nationally or internationally, making it the State of the Art. Company Lade AS has been granted the following patents for concept Vindskip:

– Norwegian Patent No. 331872 pr. 04/23/2012
– WIPO PCT International Patent WO/2012/087146 date. 28/06/2012

The patents is mainly related to the ships Wind Power System, i.e., the ability the above water and the underwater hull has to generate and transform an aerodynamic lift into a positive force working in the longitudinal direction of the vessel.

The Dynamic Propulsion System

The Wind Power System.
The Wind Power System will give a varying positive contribution to the propulsion of the ship in period of time.

Computer program calculating the available wind energy.
Using computerized weighting of meteorological data, a computer program calculates the best sailing route to exploit the available wind energy potential. Thus making it easy for the captain of the Vindskip® to harness this energy to propel the ship.

Cruise Control
Over time, the contribution of the ship’s Wind Power System to the actual propulsion of the ship will vary. However, the Cruise Control will balance the LNG-electric propulsion system so that it works as a dynamic entity together with the Wind Power System. Keeping a constant speed of the ship. By firstly adjust the pitch on propeller and then the rpm, it will make it possible to obtain a lower fuel consumption.

Relative wind (Apparent Wind) – true wind (True Wind)
True wind is the wind measured on board a stationary ship. When the ship starts moving, the so-called relative wind is being generated: The apparent wind measured on board a ship. The Wind Power System of Vindskip utilizes this Apparent Wind and generates a positive force in the longitudinal direction of the ship as a function of the angle of attack.

The concept of the Apparent Wind
The concept is introduced to simplify the study of the forces acting on a sail. By postulating an apparent wind we can consider a sail at rest with airflow over it. Thus, for example, we can use a wind tunnel to simulate actual sailing conditions. In a similar manner to the aircraft designer who can study the forces acting on a stationary aeroplane model operating in an airstream generated in the wind tunnel.

Ref.: C.A. Marchaj, AERO-HYDRODYNAMICS OF SAILING

Ships speed – VS
True wind – VT
Apparent wind – VA
Angle of Attack – angle between the chord line of the air foil and the apparent wind vector – â
Angle between the chord line of the air foil and the True wind vector at VS=0 – ã
VS = A – B
cot â = A/C
VS/VT = sin ã x cot â – cos ã