A design tool for the performances comparison of innovative energy systems for naval applications

Abstract

This paper aims to develop a tool for the performances comparison of innovative energy systems on board ships, both for concentrated and distributed generation applications. In the first part of the study, the tool database has been developed throughout a wide analysis of the available market solutions in terms of energy generation devices (i.e. fuel cells, internal combustion engines, micro gas turbines), fuels (hydrogen, natural gas, diesel) and related storage technologies. Many of these data have been collected also thanks to the laboratory experience of the authors’ research group on different innovative energy systems. From the database, a wide range of maps has been created, correlating costs, volumes, weights and emissions with the installed power and the operational hours required, given by the user as input. The tool highlights the best solution according to the different relevance chosen by the user for each key parameter (i.e. costs, volumes, emissions). In the second part, two different case studies are presented in order to underline how the installed power, the different ship typology and the user requirements affect the choice of the best solution. It is worth noting that the methodology has a general value, as the tool can be applied to both the design of new ships, and to the retrofit of already existing ships in order to respect new requirements (e.g. more and more stringent normative in terms of pollutant emissions in ports and restricted areas). Furthermore, the database can be easily extended to other generation and storage technologies.