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BirdUp69 t1_iu5b0en wrote

Reply to comment by hoehater in World’s 1st bulker powered by wind sails into Port of Newcastle by edweirdmuybridge

Would be interesting to see a comparison across all wind conditions. And the installation/maintenance costs would also make for an interesting comparison

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hoehater t1_iu5izhl wrote

Wind turbine are generally far less then 50% efficient at turning the kinetic energy of wind into mechanical energy, most are under 40%. The theoretical maximum is about 59%.

Losses from the transmission and generator are 10-20%.

Losses from power transmission and conditioning would be another 5-10%.

Losses at the electric motor would 3-5%.

The loss of most boat props is between 20-40%.

Then there’s the issue of forces on the ship caused by a wind turbine, by design would be working AGAINST the motion of the ship with anything except a tail wind.

So yeah, it would be totally useless.

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BirdUp69 t1_iu6oppk wrote

What about directly driving the prop, mechanically?

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hoehater t1_iu79zme wrote

With what? A wind turbine? That would be like blowing into your own sail, just like using it to drive an electric motor.

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