DC Power System for Fishing Boat

In this paper, DC electric propulsion system was designed and applied to a small fishing boat to demonstrate the advantages of DC system over AC system. A 10-ton class DC fishing boat was built and tested not only in land-based test site but also in sea trials. In design phase, 30% reduction in the weight of the electrical equipment and 20~25% reduction in the fuel consumption were expected in the DC system compared to AC system, and 22% reduction in the fuel consumption was achieved in sea trial with full-size experimental setup. More efficient engine operation with variable speed drive contributed to 16% reduction in the fuel consumption and the reduced propulsion power thanks to the reduced weight of the electrical equipment contributed to the other 6% reduction.