SHIPBUILDING & EQUIPMENT | PROPULSION & MANOEUVRING TECHNOLOGY

Next-generation Azipod
propulsion system
ABB MARINE Azipod, the azimuth thruster propulsion system developed by ABB Marine, has
so far been installed on more than 100 vessels of different types. By launching the next-generation Azipod XO pod design, the company aims to further improve operational performance,
reliability, maintainability and environmental protection.
Jukka Varis

he propulsion efciency of the Azipod propulsion, originally installed

on the Carnival Cruise Lines Fantasy
class cruise ships Elation and Paradise in
the mid-1990s, improved by around 9%
when compared through full scale measurements with earlier identical sister ships
with traditional diesel-electric shaft line
driven propellers.
By changing the shape of the Azipod and
hydrodynamically optimising the positioning and angular placement of the pods
when integrated with the hull, ABB Marine
has since improved the system by another
9%, representing a total optimisation of
some 18% in propulsion efciency over
that of shaft lines in the mid-1990s.
ABB compared shaft lines with Azipod propulsion in model tests last year at MARIN
(Maritime Research Institute Netherlands)
and found that Azipod propulsion compared to latest xed shaft line propulsion
designs still had a 6% - 8% lead in propulsion efciency.
Factory workshop tests at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, which were
also conducted in 2010, focused on different types of thrust bearings, the sliding
bearing intended primarily for the new XO
pod and a roller bearing version of current
type for comparison and retrot purposes.
The two bearings were rigged against each
other with a rotating shaft line in between
and tested for full load, 1.6 times full load
and almost 2.5 times the load expected in
real operation. Rapid load changes were
also applied to simulate changing operating conditions. Using hydraulics, both
axial and radial forces were induced.
The roller bearing typically has a minimum oil lm between the surfaces of
some 2 to 4, or 0.002mm to 0.004mm,
respectively. With the sliding bearings
tested, the minimum thickness was some
40 even with higher loads. ABB Marine
did continuous measurements of this
lm thickness, which proved sufcient
even during the toughest impact tests,
simulating extremely heavy ice loads.

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Ship & Offshore | 2011 | No 4

The new Azipod XO comes with many innovative features, improved fuel efciency
and reduced maintenance costs

The tests proved that the sliding bearing

design has a very good safety margin for
normal static and dynamic loads in the
unacceptable event of metal beginning to
slide against metal.
The new seal design developed for the
new Azipod drive can be changed from
inside the pod by using a temporary inatable seal placed around the pod.This
method is for an emergency, however, as
the seal would normally be changed during a dry-docking.
Current orders

Celebrity Cruises fth generation vessel

Celebrity Reection, which is under construction at Meyer Werft in Germany and
due for delivery in 2012, will be the rst of
the operators ve sister ships to be tted
with the new XO pods. In addition, Norwegian Cruise Line has agreed a USD 50 million deal for Azipod XO drives for its two
newbuildings ordered from Meyer Werft.
The vessels, each weighing 143,500 tonnes
gross and capable of carrying 4,000 pas-

sengers, will be the largest cruise ships ever

built in Germany.
A key element in Celebritys decision was
the requirement to reduce fuel consumption and equipment costs. The propulsion
power was reduced to 2x17.5 MW from approximately 2x20 MW, and the maximum
speed of the vessel is some two knots less
than the speed of the earlier vessels. The
speed was also affected by the vessels larger main dimensions. However, the smaller Azipod units performed as well as the
previous larger pods and the difference in
power input was gained through the higher
efciency of the new XO pod in spite of the
smaller torque of the motor and the smaller propeller diameter.
ABBs comprehensive solutions for our
shipbuilding customers ensure reliable
power supplies on board, as well as technologically advanced propulsion systems
that help big ships navigate quickly and
safely, using less fuel, said Veli-Matti Reinikkala, head of ABBs Process Automation
X
division.

SHIPBUILDING & EQUIPMENT | PROPULSION & MANOEUVRING TECHNOLOGY

Each of the the two cruise ships, Allure of the Seas and Oasis
of the Seas is tted with three 20MW Azipod propulsion units

Interspace shaft seal arrangement makes it possible to maintain seals inside the Azipod XO

Arctic operation

ing shaft seal, placed between the

ships hull and the vertical pod
structure, can now be changed
from below and even without
dry-docking, provided the vessel
can be trimmed in such a way
that the upper part of the pod
can be raised sufciently above
the water surface.
Furthermore, ABB recently established a dedicated US-based
Azipod service organisation and
a range of Azipod service products. Service operations are overseen from ABB Marines service
centre in Miami. ABB also has a
network of dedicated centres in
Houston, Murmansk and Shanghai, where operations started in
February and the group now employs 15,000 people.
Last autumn ABB and Eniram
Oy announced a research and
development study to optimise
the energy efciency of Azipod installations on board vessels. The joint project is based
on the nding that further fuel
consumption savings can be

The concept of azimuthing propulsion using a variable-speed

electric motor placed inside the
propeller pod, which is controlled by frequency converters onboard the diesel-electric vessel,
was developed for an ice-going
vessel in Finland. The turning
pods make the vessels particularly manoeuvrable and by going
astern, with the Azipod propulsion units ahead, less energy is
needed for the vessel to proceed
through ice, thanks to the pods
that suck and blow the ice away
from the vessel hull.
Azipod propulsion has recently been tted on ve Arctic
70,000dwt shuttle tankers, built
in South Korea and in Russia,
and is used on a series of Arctic
container ships built in Finland
and Germany, all operating in
Arctic Russia. In all, some 30
dedicated ice-breaking vessels
use Azipod propulsion today. If
we can dimension the Azipod
to reliably operate in conditions

where its pod and propeller hit

several-metre-thick ice blocks, it
makes the task of dimensioning
pods for open water operation
much easier.
Recent developments

Last year ABB Marine introduced

the concept of long-term service
agreements. It should be possible to serve, and even replace,
the most critical components
without dry-docking the vessel,
said Antti Ruohonen, director
of Propulsion Products Services.
We developed a new type of
shaft sealing that can be replaced
from inside the pod, without the
need for dry docking. We developed the sliding thrust bearing
in a way that allows the wearing parts, the thrust pads, to be
replaced from inside the pod. It
takes one day to replace the seal,
and the thrust bearing components can be replaced in about
eight hours, meaning critical
parts can be replaced during a
normal port call. Also the turn-

reached by optimising the toe

(steering) angle of the installed
Azipod units, in addition to the
angle optimisation already done
at the design stage of the vessels.
It is estimated that the fuel consumption of the vessel can be
reduced by up to 2% by optimising Azipod toe angles. The savings reached have been evaluated
and veried by the partners, who
are to develop and manufacture
intelligent systems providing
Azipod toe angle optimisation
in real-time operation based on
the Enirams VMS (Vessel Management System), currently developed for optimisation of the
vessels trim. The system is to be
used on both newbuildings tted with Azipod propulsion and
on existing vessels.
The author:
Jukka Varis,
Vice President, Product
Management Propulsion
Products, ABB Oy Marine,
Helsinki, Finland

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Ship & Offshore | 2011 | No 4

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