EP2781449B1 - Mechanically driven hubless ship propeller - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a mechanically driven, hubless ship propulsor according to the preamble of patent claim 1.

A correspondingly mechanically driven hubless ship propulsor is from the WO 2011/029550 A1 known. In this ship's propulsor, its drive shaft is guided within the ship's hull, with the drive energy being transmitted to the rotors by means of toothed rings provided on the outer ring of the rotors. In the case of from the WO 2011/029550 A1 known ship propulsors, a comparatively high degree of efficiency is achieved and a stepless change in the thrust in the direction of travel from forwards to backwards is possible.

The well-known ship's propulsor has rotors, the wings of which are arranged in a ring and which are designed with a ring gear and are connected to a ship's engine via a drive shaft with a pinion for the transmission of a rotary movement. Furthermore, this well-known ship's propulsor has a nozzle in which the rotors are arranged. The rotating vanes of the rotors are designed to be individually adjustable in angle and can be constantly adjusted with respect to their angular position to local flow conditions with each revolution, with the inflow conditions in the nozzle being of particular importance here. The well-known ship's propulsor is designed as a double propulsor and has two rotors which are arranged one behind the other in the direction of flow of the water and can rotate in opposite directions.

Proceeding from the prior art described above, the invention is based on the object of further developing the mechanically driven, hubless ship propulsor in such a way that the maneuverability of a ship equipped with such a ship propulsor is improved.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by a mechanically driven hubless ship propulsor which, in addition to the features specified in the preamble of patent claim 1, also has the features specified in the characterizing part of patent claim 1. According to the invention, it is possible for such ship propulsors to also generate thrust transversely to the direction of travel of the ship. Accordingly, a rudder is no longer required to ensure the maneuverability of the ship. According to the invention, a gearless and rudderless design of the propulsion system of the ship is thus made possible. The direction of travel of the ship can be controlled with the rotatable ship propulsor. The overall resistance of the ship is thus significantly reduced. In addition, the rotatability of the ship's propulsor according to the invention has significant advantages for the dynamic positioning and maintaining the position of ships and platforms in rough seas. This opens up a wide range of possible applications for the mechanically driven, hubless ship propulsor according to the invention in the installation and maintenance of offshore wind turbines.

For structural simplification, the ship's propulsor according to the invention has a drive gear which is drive-connected to the pinion of the drive shaft and meshes with the outer toothed gears of the two rotors.

In an advantageous embodiment of the ship's propulsor according to the invention, the torque requirement of the rotors can be controlled by shifting the guide rails causing the angular adjustment of the rotating blades of the rotors and/or by rotating the ship's propulsor.

It is particularly expedient if the operating point of the ship's engine can be maintained when the ship's propulsor is swiveled out, because swiveling the ship's propulsor increases the torque requirement of the rotors considerably, which could lead to the ship's engine being overloaded with the risk of failure. The torque requirement of the ship's propulsor can be throttled to a constant value through optimized control of the adjustment. This has an advantageous effect on the efficiency of the ship's engine and accordingly results in reduced wear due to less load variation and lower loads on the mechanical components of the ship's engine.

In order to ensure even better adaptability of the ship's propulsor according to the invention to the inflow conditions to the nozzle, it is advantageous if the inclination of the ship's propulsor can be adjusted vertically and horizontally to the flow direction.

It is advantageous that the direction of thrust of the ship's propulsor according to the invention can be reversed by shifting guide rails, which bring about the angular adjustment of the rotating blades of the rotors, and/or by rotating the ship's propulsor. This improves the maneuverability of a ship even in the event of technical malfunctions.

In order to ensure a gearless design of the ship's propulsion system having the ship's propulsor according to the invention, it is advantageous if the number of teeth of the outer ring gears and the number of teeth of the pinion of the drive shaft are selected in such a way that the transmission of the rotary movement between the ship's engine and the ship's propulsor can be implemented without gears.

If the ship's propulsor according to the invention is arranged with its nozzle at a distance below a ship's bottom, there is the advantage that the influence of the boundary layer on the ship's bottom on the inflow to the nozzle is reduced. Furthermore, the axes of rotation of the rotors no longer have to run parallel to the longitudinal axis of symmetry of the ship, they can be adapted to the local inflow direction. This results in a more uniform inflow to the nozzle, which increases the efficiency of the ship's propulsor according to the invention. In addition, this reduces the vibrations, as a result of which the sensitivity of the ship's propulsor according to the invention to cavitation decreases.

In order to increase the efficiency of the ship's propulsion system, the ship's propulsor according to the invention has a control device in an advantageous embodiment, by means of which the angle of the rotating blades of the rotors can be adjusted so that the ship's engine can be operated in the optimum operating state.

Using such a control device, the speed of the ship's propulsor and the angular position of the rotating wings can be optimized as a function of influencing parameters of a wake field, e.g. taking into account a trim position and loading condition of the ship and possibly other influencing variables.

To connect the ship's propulsor according to the invention to the drive shaft of the ship's engine or the pinion provided on this drive shaft, it is advantageous if the ship's propulsor has a transmission shaft which is arranged perpendicularly to the axis of rotation of the rotors of the ship's propulsor and extends upwards from the drive gear of the ship's propulsor to and extends through the ship's bottom, in which case an input gear should also be provided which is arranged at the end of the transmission shaft which is arranged above the ship's bottom and meshes with the pinion of the drive shaft.

The rotatability of the ship's propulsor according to the invention can be realized with comparatively little technical and structural effort if the transmission shaft is rotatably accommodated in a vertical support designed to be streamlined in its cross section to the ship's bottom rotatably arranged turntable and propulsor side is firmly attached to the nozzle.

Advantageously, the turntable can be rotated in a fixed manner in the axial direction and is held tightly in the ship's bottom in such a way that it can be used to transmit thrust forces to the ship's hull, the turntable being rotatable by means of electric servomotors or hydraulic actuators and being fixable in a once assumed position.

If the input gear of the transmission shaft of the ship's propulsor is preferably arranged at right angles to the pinion of the drive shaft, it can be made possible with comparatively little technical and design effort that the input gear can be driven by other pinions or other drive shafts. As a result, the operational reliability of the ship's propulsor according to the invention can be increased in that it can be connected to a number of different ship's engines. In addition, it is also conceivable for the ship's propulsor according to the invention to be driven simultaneously by a number of ship's engines. The rotary power can be generated mechanically or electrically.

The invention is explained in more detail below using an embodiment with reference to the drawing.

Figur 1

eine Seitenansicht zur Leistungsübertragung im Falle einer Ausführungsform eines erfindungsgemäßen Schiffspropulsors erforderlichen Bauteile;

Figur 2

eine Schnittdarstellung A - A in Figur 1;

Figur 3

eine Darstellung zur Verdeutlichung der Verstellung von Flügeln von Rotoren des in Figur 1 gezeigten erfindungsgemäßen Schiffspropulsors; und

Figur 4

eine Prinzipdarstellung zur Veranschaulichung der Verstellung der in Figur 3 gezeigten Flügel.

Show it:

figure 1

a side view of the components required for power transmission in the case of an embodiment of a ship propulsor according to the invention;

figure 2

a sectional view A - A in figure 1 ;

figure 3

a representation to clarify the adjustment of blades of rotors in figure 1 shown ship propulsors according to the invention; and

figure 4

a schematic diagram to illustrate the adjustment of the in figure 3 shown wings.

At an in figure 1 shown embodiment of a ship propulsor according to the invention this is driven by a drive shaft 1 of a ship's engine. At its end on the ship's propulsor side, the drive shaft 1 has a pinion 2, by means of which the mechanical energy is transmitted from the drive shaft 1 to an input gear wheel 22 of the ship's propulsor. The input gear 22 is arranged with its axis of rotation at right angles to the axis of rotation of the pinion 2 in the illustrated embodiment. The toothing of the pinion 2 or the input gear wheel 22 is designed accordingly. In the illustrated embodiment, a drive shaft 1 and a pinion 2, which meshes with the input gear 22, are provided. In principle, there is the possibility of allowing several drive shafts and pinions 2 to act on the input gear wheel 22 .

The input gear 22 is at in figure 1 arranged at the upper end of a transmission shaft 23, the upper end of the transmission shaft 23 having the input gear wheel 22 being arranged above a ship's bottom 21 designed as a double bottom 27 in the exemplary embodiment shown.

From the input gear 22, the transmission shaft 23 extends in a downward direction through the ship's bottom 21 towards the rotors 4, 5 of the ship's propulsor.

The two rotors 4, 5 of the in figure 1 shown embodiment of the ship's propulsor according to the invention are arranged in a nozzle 8 of the ship's propulsor. A jet stream flows through the jet in the flow direction shown by arrow F. In this flow direction F, the two rotors 4, 5 of the ship's propulsor are arranged one behind the other. It should be noted that in figure 1 both the nozzle 8 and the rotors 4, 5 are each shown only with their upper part facing the bottom 21 of the ship.

with her inside figure 1 At the lower end, opposite its input gear 22, the transmission shaft 23 of the ship's propulsor protrudes into the nozzle 8 and carries a drive gear 25 there with an outer ring gear 20 which is formed on the side of the second rotor 5 facing the drive gear 25 . Correspondingly, the two rotors 4, 5 rotate in opposite directions, as shown by the arrow 17 for the first rotor 4 and the arrow 18 for the second rotor 5.

To reduce the diameter of the drive gear 25 while maintaining the distance between the rotors 4 and 5, a pinion can be used between the drive gear and the outer ring gears 19, 20, which is not provided in the illustrated embodiment.

In other embodiments of the ship's propulsor according to the invention, in which no counter-rotating configuration of the ship's propulsor or its two rotors is implemented, one of the outer ring gears can be omitted, in which case a stator can be used. In this case, the angular position of the individual stator vanes can still be designed to be adjustable.

The transmission shaft 22 is rotatably mounted in and in relation to the nozzle 8 by means of a bearing 30 in the region of its lower end section, i.e. the end section facing the nozzle 8 . The two rotors 4, 5 are also rotatably accommodated in the nozzle 8.

As already mentioned above, the transmission shaft 23 of the ship's propulsor penetrates the ship's bottom 21. In the area of the ship's bottom 21 surrounding the transmission shaft 23, a turntable 28 is arranged fixed in the axial direction. The turntable 28 is in turn rotatable about a vertical axis with respect to the ship's bottom 21 . For this purpose, electric servomotors or hydraulic actuators 31 assigned to the turntable 28 are provided.

In its central area, the turntable 28 has a bearing 29 in which the transmission shaft 23 is rotatably supported. The axis of rotation of the turntable 28 is arranged coaxially to the axis of rotation of the transmission shaft 23 . A seal 26 is arranged between the turntable 28 on the one hand and the bottom 21 of the ship on the other hand, which seal prevents water from penetrating between the turntable 28 and the bottom 21 of the ship.

A vertical support 24 is arranged between the underside of the rotary plate 28 and the upper side of the nozzle 8 opposite it. The cross section of the vertical support 24 is, as can be seen in particular figure 2 results, aerodynamically designed, with the transmission shaft 23 of the ship's propulsor being accommodated within the vertical support 24 .

By rotating the turntable 28 by means of the servomotors or actuators 31, the vertical support 24 fixedly connected to this and the nozzle 8 fixedly connected to the vertical support 24 are rotated with the turntable 28. Accordingly, the nozzle 8 with the rotors 4, 5 can be rotated 360 degrees around the vertical axis. By means of the electric servomotors or hydraulic actuators 31, the turntable 28 and thus the nozzle 8 can be held in a position once it has been set. The transmission shaft 23 of the ship's propulsor is rotatable both in the area of the turntable 28 by means of the bearing 29 and in the area of the nozzle 8 by means of the bearing 30, but is axially fixed.

The two rotors 4, 5 of the ship's propulsor according to the invention are designed without a hub. According to wings 10 of the rotors 4, 5, as can be seen in particular figure 3 results, held on the outer edge of the rotor 4 and 5 respectively. It should be noted that in figure 3 For reasons of representation, only a single blade 10 of the rotor 4 or 5 is shown, the number of blades 10 per rotor 4, 5 of course being able to be selected according to the respective profile of requirements.

Since the rotor 4 or 5 is designed without a hub, the flow conditions within the nozzle 8 improve, so that an open flow is possible in the center of the nozzle 8 .

Each individual wing 10 is connected to the outer edge of the rotor 4 or 5 in the manner described below and can be individually adjusted with regard to its angle of attack.

Each wing 10 is assigned a bearing 7 on the outer edge of the rotor 4 or 5, in which the wing 10 is rotatably seated. A rotatably supported in the bearing 7 fastening member 9 of the wing 10 is fixedly connected to a gear 12. A toothed section of a slide 11a, 11b acts on this gear wheel 12, which is firmly connected to the fastening member 9 and thus to the wing 10. The toothed section 11a, 11b can be used to rotate the gear wheel 12 and thus adjust the setting angle of the wing 10 in relation to the rotor 4 or 5. The tooth section of the slider 11a, 11b is in the in figure 4 upper part of the same arranged. Each vane 10 is assigned a slide 11a, 11b, the slide 11a, 11b being slidably mounted on the rotor. The angular position of each vane 10 in relation to the rotor 4 or 5 can be individually adjusted as desired by means of the slides 11a, 11b.

A guide rail 13 is provided on the first rotor 4 and a guide rail 15 is provided on the second rotor 5 for adjusting the slides 11a, 11b.

On its section 11b on the guide rail side, each slide 11a, 11b is provided with bearing rollers 16, by means of which it is fixed to the respective guide rail 13 or 15.

The guide rails 13 and 15 can be adjusted in terms of their axial position relative to the rotor 4 or 5 by means of controls 14 . By adjusting the guide rails 13, 15, a corresponding displacement of the slide 11a, 11b on the rotor 4 or 5 is effected, whereby a corresponding adjustment of the angle of attack of the respective wing 10 of the rotor 4 or 5 can be realized by means of the gear wheel 12.

When designing the guide rails 13, 15, a wake field of the ship in which the ship's propulsor according to the invention is used is taken into account.

In figure 4 an inflow direction of the water into the nozzle 8 of the ship's propulsor is indicated by the arrows 0.

By adjusting the wings 10 of the two rotors 4, 5, the direction of thrust of the ship's propulsor can be continuously controlled, i.e. the direction of thrust can be changed from forwards to backwards, for example, without having to change the direction of rotation of the drive shaft 1. Accordingly, the operating point of the respective rotor 4, 5 can be adjusted to the optimal operating point of the ship's engine.

Claims (13)

1. A mechanically driven hubless ship propeller comprising at least one rotor (4, 5), the blades thereof being arranged in a ring, and said rotor being configured with a ring gear (19, 20) and being connected to a ship's engine via a drive shaft (1) with a pinion (2) for transmitting a rotational movement, and comprising a nozzle (8) in which the at least one rotor (4, 5) is arranged, wherein the rotating blades (10) of the at least one rotor (4, 5) are configured to be individually adjustable in terms of angle and with each rotation are able to be continuously adapted regarding the angular position thereof to local flow conditions, in particular the inflow conditions in the nozzle (8), wherein the ship propeller is configured as a double propeller and has two preferably counter-rotating rotors (4, 5) which are arranged one behind the other in the direction of flow of the water, characterized in that the ship propeller with the nozzle (8) and the rotors (4, 5) arranged therein is rotatable by 360 degrees about a vertical axis, and in that the ship propeller has a drive gear (25) which is connected in terms of drive to the pinion (2) of the drive shaft (1) and which meshes with external ring gears (19, 20) of the two rotors (4, 5).
2. The ship propeller according to Claim 1, wherein the torque requirement of the rotors (4, 5) is able to be controlled by displacing guide rails (13, 15) which bring about the angular adjustment of the rotating blades (10) of the rotors (4, 5) and/or by rotating the ship propeller.
3. The ship propeller according to Claim 1 and 2, wherein the operating point of the ship's engine is able to be maintained when the ship propeller is pivoted out.
4. The ship propeller according to one of Claims 1 to 3, the inclination thereof being adaptable vertically and horizontally to the direction of flow.
5. The ship propeller according to one of Claims 1 to 4, the thrust direction thereof being able to be reversed by displacing guide rails (13, 15) which bring about the angular adjustment of the rotating blades (10) of the rotors (4, 5) and/or by rotating the ship propeller.
6. The ship propeller according to one of Claims 1 to 5, wherein the number of teeth of the external ring gears (19, 20) and the number of teeth of the pinion (2) of the drive shaft (1) are selected such that the transmission of the rotational movement between the ship's engine and the ship propeller may be implemented in a gearless manner.
7. The ship propeller according to one of Claims 1 to 6, said ship propeller being arranged at a distance below a ship's bottom (21).
8. The ship propeller according to one of Claims 1 to 7, comprising a control device, the angle of the rotating blades (10) of the rotors (4, 5) being able to be set thereby such that the ship's engine is able to be operated in an optimal operating state.
9. The ship propeller according to Claim 8, the rotational speed thereof and the angular position of the rotating blades (10) being able to be optimized by means of the control device thereof as a function of influence parameters of a wake field, for example by taking into consideration a trim position and a loading state of the ship, and optionally further influence variables.
10. The ship propeller according to one of Claims 1 to 9, comprising a transmission shaft (23) which is arranged perpendicularly to the rotational axis of the rotors (4, 5) of the ship propeller and which extends from the drive gear (25) of the ship propeller in the upward direction toward and through the ship's bottom (21), and comprising an input gear (22) which is arranged at the end of the transmission shaft (23) arranged above the ship's bottom (21) and which meshes with the pinion (2) of the drive shaft (1).
11. The ship propeller according to Claim 10, wherein the transmission shaft (23) is rotatably received in a vertical support (24) which is designed to be aerodynamic in the cross section thereof and which is fixedly attached on the ship's bottom side to a turntable (28), which is rotatably arranged relative to the ship's bottom (21), and on the propeller side to the nozzle (8).
12. The ship propeller according to Claim 11, wherein the turntable (28) which is fixed in the axial direction is rotatably and sealingly received in the ship's bottom (21) such that thrust forces may be transmitted thereby to the ship's hull, and wherein the turntable (28) is rotatable by means of electrical actuating motors or hydraulic actuators (31) and is able to be fixed in a position.
13. The ship propeller according to one of Claims 10 to 12, wherein the input gear (22) of the transmission shaft (23) of the ship propeller is preferably arranged at right-angles to the pinion (2) of the drive shaft (11), such that said input gear is able to be driven by further pinions of further drive shafts.

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