R&D

The traditional power generation method has been through fossil fuels. But today, in the era of De-carbonization, technology is pushing the limits. In the path to green and sustainable energy, we incorporated Hybrid, which allowed us to innovate and combine the methods available on the table today. We research and study market-ready systems and provide our customers with the best solution towards their vision.

The hybrid power systems comprise the combination of conventional power generation, solar, wind, and battery energy storage systems (BESS). For Marine vessels, the readily available products are Diesel Generator with BESS and Wind power generation. As solar panels require a larger surface area, it is ill-suited for cargo container vessels today.

One of the Promising wind power generation products for marine vessels is Kite-power generation. The reeling-out and reeling-in motion of the kite is optimized to generate power. Battery Energy storage systems are quite-promising since it does not need to rely on the wind intensity and direction or the solar irradiance. We are actively developing and improving these two power generation methods and integrating them on marine vessels.

(1) Hybrid propulsion systems

In the face of increased environmental regulations, the marine industry is looking for technological ways to reduce its environmental impact. One such technology currently experiencing rapid growth is the integration of Lithium-ion batteries, to convert traditional diesel electric propulsion systems to diesel electric-hybrid power systems. An electric-hybrid system offers several potential advantages, including reduced fuel consumption and emissions, both locally and globally, and reduced operating hours for the diesel generators.

Mechanic and electric power work together in the propulsion train, optimizing the propulsion efficiency for ships with a flexible power demand. The combination of mechanical power, delivered by diesel engines, and electrical power, provided by electrical motors, delivers propulsion power, which assures the ship a broad operational capability, providing the right amount of power and torque to the propeller in each operation mode. Whereas a diesel-mechanic propulsion system is often designed according to its maximum power demand, which, for example, is fitted for a tanker or cargo vessel according to the most hours of the operation profile, a hybrid propulsion plant is better prepared for changes in operation during the vessel’s trip or even the vessel’s lifetime.

(2) Electric propulsion systems

In the context of alternative propulsion systems, application in ships of the electric propulsion concept, according to which the propeller is driven by an electric motor, was enabled by the development of Power Electronic Converters about two decades ago. Extending the electric propulsion, the modern technology of All Electric Ship (AES) includes the incorporation of multiple independent sources of power generation, as well as extensive electrification of main and auxiliary energy consuming systems.

This transition from the traditional diesel mechanical system, where the main engines operate only with liquid fuels (Marine Diesel Oil or Heavy Fuel Oil) towards electrical systems, leads to several advantages such as increased maneuverability, precise and smooth speed control, reduced machinery space, and low noise and pollutant emission levels. Furthermore, a careful approach in the design of an AES can result in significant savings in running and maintenance costs.

Carbon footprint refers to the amount of greenhouse gases that individuals, families, companies, or products produce during their lives or activities. The calculation formula is developed in units of carbon dioxide to measure the impact of these activities on global environment. Impact.

Greenhouse gas emissions of enterprises and industries generally refer to the emissions related to manufacturing. However, carbon footprint emissions calculation is brought out broader, which include the total amount of emissions during the extraction and transportation of raw materials, the manufacturing and assembly of products, and the use, disposal, or recycling.

In recent years, Companies have also begun to think about calculating their carbon footprint by including the supply side and the product output side together. We are currently working on developing a carbon footprint calculation method that can be applied to shipping, hoping to calculate the carbon emissions of ship transportation, and then start from the key points to effectively reduce carbon emissions.

Reverse engineering, also known as backwards engineering, is the process include reverse analysis and research of an object, and deriving design elements such as the organization structure and functional specifications of an object, to produce similar products. When the required information cannot be easily obtained, reverse engineering becomes a necessary technique for our projects and effective designing.

We applied this process to retrofit projects, in the process we developed and improved a set of our own reverse engineering technology. Our team visits on-site to 3D scan and precision measurement, output CAD data based on the measurement results. Design department use CAD data to design and piping system, and prepare a material list based on the design drawings, manufacturing the required inventory, installing the piping, and accurately completing system retrofit works.

For precision measurement, we implement our own methodology. Through Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR), we scan required workspace, to obtain scanned three-dimensional point cloud data from ranging and angle measurement, and then scan with different perspectives to fit the common point cloud of different stations. Processed 3D point cloud data are stitched to obtain virtual workspace. Then our design team interprets the 3D data to identify the existing piping system and establish 3D model for integration and hassle free installation without compromising other existing systems.

Marine fuel contains elements such as nitrogen, carbon and sulfur, which will cause the production of NOx, SOx and CO2 when burned. These gases are prone to negatively affect the human body and the environment, and are also the main culprits of acid rain. Therefore, how to reduce the emissions of these gases has become an important issue in today's major transportation industries.

For NOx, the installation of selective catalytic converter SCR (Selective catalytic reactor) or exhaust gas recirculation technology EGR (Exhaust Gas Recircultation) is often used as a solution. SCR mainly uses catalysts to convert nitrogen oxides into nitrogen and oxygen, while EGR controls the proportion of combustion oxygen to reduce the production of nitrogen oxides.

For SOx, an open loop system or a closed loop system is used to achieve the desulfurization effect. The open loop system uses seawater to wash the exhaust gas, which can remove more than 95% of the SOx in the exhaust gas. The closed loop system runs a certain amount of seawater, with the addition of NaOH and Mg-based strong alkali chemicals to avoid wasting a lot of seawater to achieve the effect of washing and exhausting exhaust gas.

Carbon capture technology is regarded as one of the effective ways to reduce CO2. By absorbing CO2 with strong alkali, it can reduce the amount of emission to the atmosphere.

Before the actual installation of Scrubber, we will use Aspen to simulate the SO2 absorption of Scrubber to predict the effectiveness of the installation. After the actual installation, we then use the sea trial data for model calibration to evaluate the CO2 absorption effect of Scrubber. With EGR or SCR system, it can simultaneously reduce the exhaust gas NOx, SOx and CO2 produced by engine combustion.

After years of academia and industry collaboration with Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan University, jointly researching and simulating the exhaust gas scrubbing model for marine applications, we successfully published an article "Comparison of open and closed loop operating strategies for exhaust gas scrubbing in marine applications: Modeling and sea-trial data" on October 5, 2022 in Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part M: Journal of Engineering for the Maritime Environment (SCI).

In the article, by using sea trial data and chemical reaction simulation software, we established an exhaust gas scrubbing model for hybrid vessels to describe the performance of exhaust gas scrubbing equipment in open loop and closed loop operating strategies. Through published data, the model is able to successfully validate predictions of solubility and reaction equilibria, and further sensitivity analyses were conducted to investigate the effect of various operating parameters on open-loop versus closed-loop scrubbing performance.

According to the survey of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) by International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 2009, global shipping industry’s carbon dioxide emissions were approximately 1.046 billion tons in 2007, accounting for 3.3% of the total global carbon dioxide emissions. Without restrictions, shipping industry’s carbon dioxide emissions will increase by 150%-250% in 2050, accounting for 12% to 18% of global CO2 emissions. In order to meet strict requirements of regulations on emissions, all shipping countries in the world have gradually replaced traditional vessels with "Green Ships." Green energy has been regarded as the future of shipping industry.

Under the background of rising environment awareness, all countries in the world, including China, are facing the problem of energy structure reform. The development and utilization of clean energy, such as solar, wind, hydropower, hydrogen and liquefied natural gas (LNG), are all effective ways to save energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

For land-based applications, hybrid technology that combines motive power and energy storage has been successfully applied to vehicles in the automotive industry, proving that it can effectively reduce carbon dioxide emissions. In shipping, recent research is also going towards hybrid power. Most of them use extra electricity from renewable energy sources. Research has focused on determining the best electrical and storage components. It is imperative to install "Energy Storage Devices".