Drive Arrangement For A Cycloidal Marine Propulsion Unit, A Cycloidal Marine Propulsion Unit And A Method Of Operating Such A Drive Arrangement

• Main Authors: HEINE, Timo, FRANSSON, Peter, KOKKILA, Kimmo, LIU, Bin, PELJO, Veli-Pekka, TRANGARD, Arne, LIPPONEN, Harri
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 20.01.2022
• Subjects: ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT OR PROPULSION OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLEDVEHICLES; ELECTRODYNAMIC BRAKE SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLES, IN GENERAL; MAGNETIC SUSPENSION OR LEVITATION FOR VEHICLES; MARINE PROPULSION OR STEERING; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; RELATED EQUIPMENT; SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; TRANSPORTING; VEHICLES IN GENERAL

A drive arrangement for a cycloidal marine propulsion unit including at least two electrical blade motors each associated to a respective blade for pivoting thereof, each blade motor being operationally coupled to a respective blade drive for actuating the corresponding blade motor. The at least two blade drives each include a respective blade drive power converter operationally coupled to a first common intermediate DC-link, wherein the at least two blade drives being configured to feed power from the first common intermediate DC-link to their respective blade motors, and to feed regenerative power from their respective blade motors to the first common intermediate DC-link. The disclosure also concerns a marine propulsion unit having such a drive arrangement, and a method of operating such a drive arrangement.