Engineering
Energy consumption
You are here
Overview
Publishing
information
Energy consumption
In
calculating energy needs, the drive motors are excluded here,
since
these are treated in the section entitled “Drive”.
This
is
based
on the
strategy of first calculating available energy and then deducting
on-board
energy requirements, so as to be able to use the remainder, with the
addition
of stored energy, for the motors. |
caters to an
international
market,
while the spreadsheet “Mcalc” is written in English. We may thus assume
that it
is based on energy consumption habits prevalent in the and the,
where energy is used less sparingly than in Germany. In addition, the
company’s
business interests make it likely that a more generous estimate of
energy needs
is provided by “Mcalc”. It may, on the other hand, be assumed that the
crew of
the “Eco-Trimaran” will be inclined toward an environmentally
conscious use of
energy. Thus we remain on the safe side in using “Mcalc” to estimate
energy
needs. We have omitted or rated conservatively in “Mcalc” the larger battery charging devices. Only a smaller, 530 W charger has been included; such a device would be able to be used on the “Eco-Trimaran” to chargea lead-acid battery for the emergency power supply (in the event that the fuel cells fail). The assumption for the energy consumed by air conditioning and refrigeration has been reduced to one-half, since the cold collected from compressing the hydrogen gas when filling the storage tank could additionally be used for these purposes. The |
heat
obtained from decompression 1 when the hydrogen tank is
emptied is to
be used for heating. Once the storage tanks are full, the hydrogen that
continues to be produced can be used directly for heating. The estimate
of
energy requirements for the bow thruster has also been reduced by
one half,
since, due its special design involving three movable floats, the
“Eco- Trimaran” is expected to require significantly less energy when
turning.
Energy estimates for equipment serving to stabilise the position of the
vessel’s hull in rough seas as well as for equipment to heat diesel
fuel have
been eliminated entirely. On the
other hand, the energy needed to power the bilge pumps has been
increased, as
three of these are required (i.e. for the three floats). Values given
for
lighting have been maintained. In this respect, significant
energy savings
may be expected in the future as LED technology is further developed,
yet
presently “energy-saving light __________________________ 1 Unlike most other gases, hydrogen cools when compressed and becomes warmer with reduced pressure. |
| bulbs” are still just as efficient. However, the energy needed for lighting amounts to a mere 2.34 kWh per day. No distinction has been made between the northern and southern area of operation in this regard, since the amount of energy saved in the north from air conditioning is conversely required there for heating. Under the conditions described here, an average energy consumption rate of 33.8 kWh per day has been calculated for operating times with a crew, while no distinction is made between travel and mooring periods. The comparable figure for periods without a crew is 0.099 kWh a day, as in this case only bilge pumps, position lights as well as the electronic circuitry for controlling energy production, conversion and storage would need to be powered. |
| Home
pageEngineering
Energy consumption
You are here
Overview
Publishing
information |