Norse power

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The Finnish company Norsepower was founded at the end of 2012 to spread rotor sails based on the Flettner principle in shipping.

Propulsion on the ship through the Magnus Effect
Estraden with 2 Flettner rotors
Viking Grace with Flettner rotor

history

The founders Moray Martin and Erik Floman developed the rotor sail principle further and automated the handling of the rotor sail. The European Commission's Horizon 2020 Framework Program for Research and Innovation has supported the development and Norsepower has raised around USD 15 million from investors for further funding.

Starting in 2014, Norsepower equipped the following three ships with rotor sails, which, depending on the area and wind conditions, save 5 - 10% in fuel.

The Estraden ferry from the Spliethoff Group in the Netherlands received a rotor sail (Rotor Sail 18x3) in November 2014 and November 2015. Viking Line's Viking Grace ferry , which operates on the Turku, Finland - Stockholm, Sweden route, received a rotor sail (Rotor Sail 24x4) in April 2018. In addition, the Maersk Pelican tanker was equipped with two rotor sails (Rotor Sails 30x5) by Maersk Tanker in August 2018.

description

The Flettner principle with the rotor sails is known and can be used to propel ships at low speeds. At today's ship speeds of 10–20 knots, rotor sails can only act as an auxiliary drive.

The Flettner principle is an active sailing system consisting of one or more rotatable cylinders on the deck of a ship. The cylinder is set in rotation by an electric motor. The impact of the wind creates a force across the flow, which serves to propel the ship. Table tennis players know this Magnus effect and refer to the principle as “cutting”. This gives the table tennis ball a twist, which gives the ball an arcuate trajectory.

The rotor sail principle from Norsepower consists of the thrust-imparting rotating rotor sail with electric drive on deck, the control panel on the bridge and the fully automatic control system for thrust optimization.

Rotor sails from Norsepower

  • Rotor Sails 18x3: height 18 m, diameter 3 m, electric motor 55 kW, max. Thrust 100 kN
  • Rotor Sails 24x4: height 24 m, diameter 4 m, electric motor 90 kW, max. Thrust 175 kN
  • Rotor Sails 30x5: height 30 m, diameter 5 m, electric motor 110 kW, max. Thrust 270 kN

See also

E-Ship 1

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.norsepower.com/references
  2. ↑ https://www.golem.de/news/norsepower-stahlsegel-helfen-der-umwelt-und-sparen-treibstoff-1810-136849.html
  3. ↑ https://www.dvz.de/rubriken/see/detail/news/produktentanker-mit-rotorsegel.html , accessed on December 26, 2014

Web links