VESSEL PROPULSION APPARATUS, VESSEL INCLUDING THE SAME AND A METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A VESSEL PROPULSION APPARATUS

摘要

A vessel propulsion apparatus (100) includes a cylindrical duct (41) including a stator (47) and a propeller (42). The propeller (42) includes a rim (51) including a rotor (53) disposed at a position facing the stator (47) and defining an electric motor (50) in combination with the stator (47), and blades (52) on an inner side in a radial direction of the rim (51). A fluid bearing (20) is provided on the duct (41) and defines a gap (23) into which surrounding water is introduced between the fluid bearing (20) and the rim (51), and is water-lubricated with respect to the rim (51) due to water introduced into the gap (23) from the surroundings. The vessel propulsion apparatus (100) further includes a motor controller (86) that drives the electric motor (50) by rotation speed control in a rotation speed control region in which an output command is not more than a predetermined value, and drives the electric motor (50) by torque control in a torque control region in which an output command is more than the predetermined value.