Control of the Diesel-Electric Hybrid Propulsion in a Practical Cruise Vessel

This paper describes the principle of a hybrid propulsion system for marine application. The vessel is designed to operate under electrical motor drive for low power demand while under hybrid mode for high power demand to increase the efficiency of the whole system. The consideration of electrical motor design, controller design, and operating mode transfers are discussed in details. Moreover, the implementation of the proposed hybrid propulsion system in a real river cruise vessel is introduced. Experimental results show the validation of the proposed system.