Italian company scales up rim drive units to 500kW

Now operating under the company name of Sealence, the DeepSpeed project initially developed a rim drive electric powered pod drive system for small fast boats. After proving trials with these small units, the company has announced that development will focus on larger versions that will create suitable propulsion units for larger vessels, such as patrol and workboats.

The new 500kW unit, the DS780 will develop 1500Nm of torque and will produce a peak power thrust equivalent of 780hp. A smaller unit is also in development with a power rating of 220kW and a torque rating of 560Nm which will be the equivalent of a 420hp unit. It is expected that both of these higher rated units will be available later this year and with this new development it will mean that Sealence will be able to offer units to suit most fast boat applications up to 15 metres in length.

The DS780 is being optimised for operation in the 16 to 24 knot range which will open up the possibility of using it on semi-displacement hulls as well as fully planing boats. This will widen the application in the work and patrol boat sector considerably.

At present the Sealence units are fixed units will no direction variation but in the longer term there would seem to be the prospect of adapting the units to make them fully steerable in a similar way to Volvo Penta’s Pod Drive. The actual propulsion unit is fully self contained and only needs the electricity supply to be connected.

In the longer term Sealence is proposing to be able to offer a complete electric installation that will include expandable lithium battery packs and solar panels as well as diesel generators and range extenders all combined with a single control panel. This will allow the company to offer complete hybrid and fully electric systems depending on the application.