Models and Methods for Efficiency Estimation of a Marine Electric Power Grid

Abstract

Diesel electric propulsion has become industry standard for many marine applications. Typically, a significant part of the operations of vessels with diesel electric propulsion is done with low loads on the motors and generators. However, the efficiency of a drive train is typically only calculated for full load conditions. This underestimates the losses during low load conditions. This article presents modeling methods for the electric drive train, which can be used to estimate the efficiencies, also at low load. The models are established with limited parameter sets, as detailed information about of the components are seldom available. This article compares the estimated efficiency of the generator and motor with the given data from datasheets.