AWARD YEAR
2015
CATEGORY
Community
GOALS
Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure
KEYWORDS
transportation, Environment, energy
COUNTRY
Finland
DESIGNED BY
Concept is design by an interdisciplinary group of students of Aalto University sponsored by ABB Oy Marine & Cranes.
List of designers, Finland, Austria, China, India:
Ville Kallis
Ville Pyötsiä
Jürgen Neubauer
Sabyasachi Ghosh
Esa Jaakkola
Inka Luhtanen
Rahul Kallada Janardhan
Rachit Jain
Pontus Salminen
Feng Dawei
Mang Hangshing
WEBSITE
http://pdp.fi/portfolio-items/thrust-in-nature-2013-14/
Nature-inspired propulsion system
The nature-inspired ship propulsion system makes travel cheaper & reduces environmental impact.
Present-day ship may consume as much energy as 20000 average Finnish households do on a given day! The propulsion system of a ship accounts for an immense chunk of that fuel consumption, and loses around 40% energy. Our team's challenge was to make huge energy savings in ships a reality. To achieve this, we designed and developed a novel ship propulsion system, which emulates the wave-like natural movement of a dolphin's tail. Scientific studies have predicted that this next generation nature-inspired propulsion mechanism will save up to 30% more energy than existing systems, resulting in tremendous environmental benefit. In addition, ship travel costs are expected to be reduced by a significant amount for the global community. The preliminary test results of our patent-pending design were promising, which makes it potentially the next giant leap in propulsion technology. This student project has been operated in partnership with ABB marine.