Piening Propeller Propulsion Systems
08 October 2007
Piening Propeller is currently developing propulsion systems for new customised Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull (SWATH) ships. These ships are under construction at Nordseewerke in Emden. The buoyancy of a SWATH ship is provided by two submarine hulls connected to the upper platform by twin narrow struts from each of the submarine hulls.
The cross-sectional area at the sea surface is approximately one-sixth that of a comparable ship, which minimises motions in open seas. The propellers have to fit to the given flow conditions of the hulls and stern gears as well as be optimised in weight, because every kilogram which can be saved is important for the sensitive draught of this ship type.
PATROL BOAT PROPULSION SYSTEMS
Furthermore, Piening Propeller currently designs and manufactures propulsion systems for patrol boats of the German border police and foreign navies. Even in these projects the aim is not only to transmit the given driving power via the relaying drive system into the water or reaching a certain speed: in addition, there are clearly defined demands for smooth running and system efficiency. The same applies to propulsion systems for yachts.
SHIPBUILDING COMPONENTS
The success of a yacht project depends on the interplay of the individual components. This is the main task the Piening Propeller design team is facing. Shipyards are increasingly interested in system solutions such as the ones designed and offered by Piening Propeller. In addition to the hydrodynamic optimisation of the propellers and the design of the shaftings, Piening Propeller also supplies shipbuilding components such as propeller brackets and hence all components that make a system solution.
Shortly, the newly-constructed MY Kismet and MY ST. Nicolas from Lürssen Rendsburg, as well as the MY 777 from TKMS Nobiskrug, will have been successfully handed over with complete propulsion systems from Piening Propeller.
TWIN-SCREW PROPULSION SYSTEMS
Besides new systems for commercial ships and patrol boats, Piening Propeller has in its order books 17 twin-screw systems for yachts with a length between 50m and 120m, which are currently under construction at shipyards all over Northern Germany. In addition we are close to sealing orders for seven more projects.
Internationally, the performance of Piening Propeller has become increasingly popular and a couple of systems for yachts have already been successfully delivered to Italy, Turkey, the Ukraine and the Netherlands.
