The relative wind is a crucial factor in designing aircrafts, trains, propellers and sailing boats. But for the design of commercial vessels, this is a revolutionary brand new way of thinking. Inspired by the aerospace industry and the sailboat environment, the Vindskip is designed to utilize wind for propulsion. The unique is the shape of the hull, both above and below the water line.
Sustainable sea transport is dependent of the development of a new technology that can utilize the renewable resources on the sea. The wind has been made predictable thanks to modern meteorology. Through a computerized weighting of a steady flow of meteorological information, a computer program can calculate the best route taking advantage of the available wind energy. This makes it easy for the captain of Vindskip™ selecting the best course to propel the ship
Purpose
To develop concept Vindskip™ hybrid merchant vessel for sustainable sea transport to an optimal form and function.
Function
A vessel with a hull shaped like a symmetrical air foil going in the relative wind, will generate an aerodynamic lift giving a pull in the ships direction, within an angular sector of the course. This is Vindskip’s Wind Power System. The relative wind, measured on board a ship, is given by the ships course and speed and the direction and strength of the True Wind.
With an LNG-electric propulsion system as well, starting the ship from zero up to the desired speed, the aerodynamic lift now generated can be exploited to generate pull and thus saving fuel: Forming a dynamic system that maintains a constant speed of the ship. Ship types that are particularly relevant to the Vindskip design are the so-called dry cargo ships type such as RoRo, RoPax, PCTC, passenger and container ships.
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Uncubed thought - I love it. It would be really cool to see this concept put into use... soon.
