A High Fidelity Integrated System Model for Marine Power Systems

By providing a common power supply to both the propulsion and service loads on ships, integrated full electric propulsion (IFEP) offers benefits of increased design flexibility and reduced running costs. Whilst presenting power system challenges commonly seen in land based grid systems, the prevalence of power electronics, high power density, and the significance of individual loads (such as propulsion drives) creates particular challenges for modelling and simulation tools. Operating challenges also exist, which require the use of multi-disciplinary modelling and simulation to investigate. This paper presents a high fidelity integrated IFEP simulation tool, which contains models from the electrical, mechanical and thermal physical domain. This model enables investigation from a systems level point of view. Some of the key challenges identified in the development of this model are discussed, focusing on aspects such as the existence of different time constants and the difficulties of system validation. The chosen solutions to the challenges listed above are presented and discussed. The effectiveness of the integrated IFEP simulation tool is demonstrated through a case study on the loss of propulsion load.