May

G.E. Developing a Diesel Hybrid… Tugboat?

Posted by admin Published in Diesel, Hybrids

Engineers are putting hybrid drivetrains into everything from SUVs to locomotives these days, and General Electric wants to take the technology to sea in a tugboat that would burn 35 percent less fuel and emit 80 percent less pollution than anything else on the water.

The notion makes more sense than might first seem. The shipping industry generates twice as much C02 as aviation and has been criticized as slow to clean up its act. The feds are tightening emissions regulations on marine engines and California Sen. Dianne Feinstein has introduced legislation requiring vessels to burn cleaner fuels in port. So anything that makes the shipping trade greener is certain to sell.

GE and the Texas maritime engineering and management firm C-MAR are starting with diesel-electric tugboats, but John Manison, GE’s head of maritime stationary potential division, says the technology could have “far-reaching applications for other sectors of the maritime industry.”

“We believe there is strong demand for a hybrid technology to improve fuel efficiency and to help customers comply with increasingly stringent emissions regulations,” he says.

GE says it could have the boat on the water within two years. But why start with tugboats?

There are about 4,000 tugboats in America, according to the American Waterways Operators, and Tom Kelly of C-Mar says they’re well-suited to diesel-electric drivetrains. Tugs spend a lot of moment idling on standby, next require a short burst of high potential to

escort freighters and tankers. Batteries would allow them to do both without burning loads of fuel or emitting lots of pollution.

GE and C-MAR are developing a series hybrid system that would use an electric motor to drive the prop and a diesel engine to drive a generator that would keep the batteries charged. It’s a design similar in concept, whether not scale, to the system General Motors is developing for the Chevrolet Volt.

Under the partnership, GE will supply the engine, electric motor and batteries while C-MAR will design the vessel, supply the “Green ability Module” that will integrate them and manage the project. The tug will use a GE V228 or V250 diesel engine like those used in the Clear Point (pictured) that produces more than 1,400 horsepower. There’s no word on the electric motor or batteries, but earlier that year GE Financial Services invested more than $20 million in lithium ion battery maker A123Systems.

You don’t have to be tugboat skipper to go green on the water, though. Earlier that year, Austrian boat maker Frauscher Bootswerft unveiled the first diesel-electric recreational boat. The vessel uses electric potential up to 5 knots, next switches to diesel potential.

Photo by GE.

Original post by Chuck Squatriglia