Marine propulsion systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9941772-B2
Application number	US-201013878865-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 14, 2010
Priority date	Oct 14, 2010
Publication date	Apr 10, 2018
Grant date	Apr 10, 2018

Abstract

The present invention provides a marine propulsion system that is suitable for any civilian and military marine vessels and which offers operational flexibility. The marine propulsion system includes a pair of ac busbars, each in parallel connection with a power converter. The respective power converters each connected in parallel to a propulsion motor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A marine propulsion system including a plurality of propulsion drive trains, comprising:
first and second alternating current (AC) busbars;
a plurality of first and second active front end (AFE) power converters having ac input terminals respectively connected to the first and second AC busbars;
wherein ac output terminals of each of the first plurality of AFE power converters are respectively connected to AC output terminals of the second plurality of AFE power converters; and
a plurality of propulsion motors, each having an AC terminal connected to the AC output terminals of a corresponding one of the plurality of first and second AFE power converters; and
wherein each AFE power converter includes (i) a first active rectifier/inverter connected to the respective busbar via its AC input terminal and (ii) a second active rectifier/converter connected to the corresponding propulsion motor via its AC output terminal, DC terminals of the first and second active rectifier/inverters of each of the AFE power converters being coupled together;
wherein the first and second active rectifier/inverters are configured for respective operation as a rectifier and an inverter simultaneously, the rectifier supplying power to the DC terminals, the inverter supplying power to at least one of the propulsion motors; and
wherein a rating of the first and second active rectifier/inverters is adjustable to control an amount of the supplied power to the at least one propulsion motor in accordance with at least one of (i) a predetermined level and (ii) a ratio selected based upon required power during a fault condition.

2. A marine propulsion system according to claim 1 further comprising at least one generator connected to the first busbar and at least one generator connected to the second busbar.

3. A marine propulsion system according to claim 1 further comprising a first filter system connected between one of the first converters and the first busbar and a second filter system connected between one of the second converters and the second busbar.

4. A marine propulsion system according to claim 1 wherein the first converter is configured to, in the event of a short circuit, be isolated from the first propulsion motor.

5. A marine propulsion system according to claim 1 , wherein the rectifier/inverters are adjustable in real-time.

6. A method for controlling a marine propulsion system including first and second alternating current (AC) busbars, each AC busbar configured to provide power in a dual fed arrangement to a plurality of propulsion motors via a corresponding plurality of propulsion drive trains, the drive trains including first and second active front end (AFE) power converters, each including active rectifier/inverters, the method comprising:
converting to direct current (DC) power, within one of the active rectifier/inverters of each of the first and second power converters, AC power received from the AC busbars for supply to a corresponding one of the propulsion motors, each motor being configured to receive power from each of the AC busbars;
configuring each of the AFE converters via a modulation strategy to supply the power to its corresponding propulsion motor at a predetermined level in accordance with a ratio;
detecting a fault condition within at least one of the AFE converters; and
selecting the ratio based upon required power when the fault condition is detected.

7. A method for controlling a marine propulsion system according to claim 6 , wherein the modulation strategy includes modulating a width of control pulses to control a switching of semiconductor devices within the AFE converters.

8. A method for controlling a marine propulsion system according to claim 6 , wherein the detecting occurs via a detecting sensor within a corresponding one of the propulsion drive trains.

9. A method for controlling a marine propulsion system according to claim 6 , wherein the ration is selected in real-time.

10. A method for controlling a marine propulsion system according to claim 6 , further comprising isolating the faulty AFE converter, the isolating limiting fault to the corresponding AC busbar.

Assignees

• Lewis Eric Anthony
• Ge Energy Power Conversion Technology Ltd

Inventors

• Lewis Eric Anthony

Classifications

• B63H23/24

  electric {(dynamo-electric machines H02K)} · CPC title

• H02K7/183

  wherein the turbine is a wind turbine (adaptation of a wind turbine to an electric generator F03D9/25) · CPC title

• H02J3/34

  Arrangements for transfer of electric power between networks of substantially different frequency · CPC title

• B63B2241/22

  for providing redundancy to equipment or functionality of a vessel, e.g. for steering · CPC title

• B63H21/17

  by electric motor · CPC title