Industrial generators come aboard - commercial generator adapted for navy application

摘要

Electric propulsion has been used over many years in a variety of ship applications, including research vessels, ice-breakers, offshore vessels and deep sea trawlers, as well as conventional submarines. Recent commercial marine developments in high power, variable speed alternating current propulsion systems have opened up new opportunities in warship design. The increasing use of electric propulsion has produced a requirement for generating plants of significantly larger capacity than has previously been necessary for the supply of ship's services alone. The benefits of integrated systems include the reduction of numbers of prime movers, more closely matching the installed generating capacity to the overall ship's requirements. Cost effectiveness is an essential ingredient in the justification of future warship systems. The commercial market utilises gas turbine generator sets in a number of industries and advantage can be taken of this commercial expertise to develop generating plant for naval applications. By using tried and proven generator designs, a relatively small number of modifications are necessary to adapt commercial designs to the requiremnets of naval installations with their emphasis on high power density, shock withstand capability and noise signatures. This paper describes the adaptation of a commercial generator to the requirements of the US Navy's Integrated Power System Full Scale Advanced Development for which the power generation module comprises a gas turbine driving a 21 Mwe turbogenerator at 3600 rev/min to provide both propulsion and ship's service power. The paper addresses the standard commercial generator, its characteristics and design changes required to adapt it to the specific naval requirements of the IPS module. It is belived that the approach has resulted in a compliant, cost-effective package.