The US Navy has awarded GE Marine a contract for the navy’s warship Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) fuel efficient and power dense demonstrator competition.
Under this contract the company will develop and demonstrate the technology required to enable significant annual fuel savings by creating a hybrid mechanical-electric drive power plant.
The company will prove that the modified system will satisfy all the ship’s power requirements at set speeds with a reduced operation of gas turbines eventually saving fuel.
The project plan by the company also incorporates system integration, component and control technology development and a partial system demonstration.
The laboratory demonstration of the key electrical system features will help the company to investigate and formalise the bi-directional drive technology.
The company is confident that the technology will combine the features of both electric and mechanical drive systems and can be applied to other ship classes.
The work will be performed at GE’s Global Research Center in Niskayuna, New York.
