Abstract
Energy efficiency generally implies the efficient use of energy in all sectors of final consumption—industry, services, agriculture, households and transport. Shipping accounts for nearly 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, making it the sixth largest CO2 producer in the world. This is a result of inefficient ship design, lack of planning and optimal use of resources. As the transport sector expands, so does the pressure for a greener and cleaner maritime industry. Reducing fuel consumption is a major driver of the need for energy efficiency on ships. In this paper, due to the importance of maritime transport, we observed the impact of reducing the dimensions of the main switchboard as a contribution to energy efficiency. This contribution is not of great importance as is the case with the optimization of the navigation route, etc., but it certainly affects the weight and, thus, the fuel consumption, which contributes to energy efficiency in the designed system. The aim of this paper is to optimize the design of the main switchboard by using 2D simulations of possible bus topologies, in order to develop six different busbar models and find one that best meets the requirements. The simulation results indicate the optimal location and dimensions of the busbars in the main switchboard in accordance with the switchgear parameters. Apart from the change in layout and dimensions of the busbars, the replacement of conventional instrument transformers with new current/voltage sensors contributes to a significant reduction in the weight and size of the switchboard, which ultimately benefits energy efficiency.
Highlights
The continuous rise in global average temperatures has raised awareness of the need to reduce energy consumption in all production and transportation processes
The distribution and transmission of electricity make a significant contribution to energy efficiency on vessels
This research is based on optimizing the dimensions of the main switchboard by combining different parameters: short-circuit current, frequency, weight, distance and weight of busbars
Summary
The continuous rise in global average temperatures has raised awareness of the need to reduce energy consumption in all production and transportation processes. The optimization is based on altering the busbar configuration and component replacement (sensor implementation) that resulted in reducing the busbar (and, the switchgear) dimensions, weight and lowering losses. The used electric current and magnetic field solvers in the AC/DC module are based on the time-domain finite-element solution of the macroscopic electromagnetic analysis subject to certain boundary conditions [28]. In these simulations, taken from [29,30], the electromagnetic heating multiphysics coupling node represents the electromagnetic losses, Qe, as a heat source in the used first law of thermodynamics, rewritten in terms of temperature and for a solid object (7). Where H is magnetic field strength, D is electric flux density, J is total current density, B is magnetic flux density, I is the rated current, FL is the Lorentz force, ρ is volumetric mass density, Cp is the specific heat capacity at constant pressure, T is absolute temperature and K is thermal conductivity
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