I'm curious of what will be the results.
Given that they soon expect to be spending $5 billion/year on fuel for 800 ships, fuel spend is a bit north of $6 million/year for an "average" ship. But size seems to vary widely (they note that only the 80 of their largest ships are being considered for these sails).
At an installation cost of $2 million, saving 10% of an "average" ship would return 600k per year, or a 3.5 year paypack, which seems well worth doing where possible. And they'll obviously get better than that on their 80 largest.
Not a magic bullet by any means, but certainly seems worth using.
I've seen it mentioned boats/ships using electric assist will also be another catalyst for battery tech integration, fuel costs on those large ships are always a topic.
Bolt on solutions that are affordable with quick turn around on investment.
- The cost needs to be fairly easy to measure
- Some degree of competition in the industry exists (otherwise the capital could be used to increase revenue or acquire small potential rivals before they're too large to afford, among other higher return places to spend the capital)
- The industry is mature and sources of larger savings already exhausted
- Prospect for some future much bigger savings small (or at least not in conflict with the current effort)
- Prospect for the industry as a whole very good (in a shrinking market, 10% savings becomes lower priority than selling off assets quickly enough at high enough cost without subsidizing a competitor or startup)
- Industry consolidated enough (or capital costs of the improvement low enough) to finance the upfront cost
I always thought sails were partially defined by being passive. I wonder why these aren't called "rotor fans" if they're electrically driven?
Is there anywhere it's discussed when rotors are expected to outperform normal fans? They seem to be used only on large ships, but I can't see a first-principles explanation for that.
These rotors create lift in a forwards direction from the wind blowing across them, a bit like having a fixed wing pointing up.
https://www.odt.co.nz/sport/yachting/how-fast-can-americas-c...
> No. Literally the same point, but in different words and with a feel of authority.
You should consider using words other than "No" if you agree with the point.
Years ago on /. I saw a post about how wales bumps on the leading edges of their fins/flippers were to increase/modify the eddies around their fins in such a way as to provide them more thrust (or something, it's been years since I read the article) - and I was curious what it would look like to have helicopter blades with leading edge bumps on them similar to wales...
So, I'd like to see what dimples both convex and concave would have on the surfaces if these - like a golf ball.
Also, if you have never done it, take a cylindrical plastic cup and, in a bathtub full of water spin the cup as hard as you can on the surface of the water - like a top - and see how long you can get it to stand up. Kids like this trick.
I always thought it would be interesting to have a barge like flat boat on top of several cylindrical feet like floats, which can spin rapidly along the Z access and use it as thrust.
https://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/22/mythbusters-golf-ball-li...
They explain that in the article, and the fact that it newer tech and lighter columns to get a net benefit.
Having grown up in France, I knew about Cousteau's Alcyone (it was a big deal at the time) and had been wondering why it hadn't been used more since then.
It’s not a turbosail. Turbo sails don’t rotate..