Gasoline is the dominant fuel source for Fast Rescue Boats aboard merchant ships but it is difficult to obtain, dangerous to store and has a limited shelf life aboard ship. Diesel fuel has none of those problems. Can it be a suitable replacement? The United States Coast Guard has been researching this topic. Here is their report: by Loretta … [Read more...]
World’s Biggest Ship Lift Opens in China
Officials in China have began testing the world's largest ship lift at the massive Three Gorges Dam in Central China. The shiplift can lift vessels up to 3,000 tons across a vertical distance of 113 meters from the reservoir to the river below. The ship chamber itself has a pool of water 120-meters long by 18-meters wide and 3.5-meters deep. The lift was built to accommodate … [Read more...]
Falkirk Wheel Time-Lapse – The World’s Only Rotating Boat Lift
Unless you've seen the Scotland's Falkirk Wheel in action, we can pretty much guarantee that you have never seen anything like it in your life. The Falkirk Wheel was inaugurated in May 2002 and connects the Forth and Clyde Canal and the Union Canal, 35 meters above the level of the Forth and Clyde. Prior to the wheel's construction, the two canals were linked at Falkirk, … [Read more...]
DNV GL: Transparent Aluminum Isn’t Science Fiction
In the 1986 movie Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home, Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott went back in time, along with the rest of the Enterprise crew to capture a pair of humpback whales in order to save humanity from an alien space probe. To do so, Scott offered the formula for "transparent aluminum" in exchange for the huge plates of plexiglas needed to contain the whales on board … [Read more...]
This Tilting Lock Could Solve Traffic Problems Caused By Movable Bridges
A Dutch engineering firm has come up with a unique solution that it believes could be the answer to road and waterway traffic congestion caused by the raising or opening of low movable bridges so that tall vessels can pass below. To solve this problem, Royal HaskoningDHV proposes that instead opening or raising the bridge itself, why not just use gravity to lower boats … [Read more...]
First Carbon Fiber Main Propeller Installed On a Merchant Ship
Classification society ClassNK and Nakashima Propeller Co. this week announced the world’s first installation of a carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) propeller on the main propulsion system of a merchant vessel. The CFRP propeller, which was manufactured by Nakashima Propeller, was installed in May on the Taiko Maru, a domestic 499 GT chemical tanker owned by Sowa Kaiun … [Read more...]
With a $2 Billion Yearly Fuel Bill, the US Navy is Looking at Reinventing the Engine
- By Donna McKinney, US Navy Research Laboratory With its strong dependence on gas-turbine engines for propulsion, the U.S. Navy is always looking for ways to improve the fuel consumption of these engines. At the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), scientists are studying the complex physics of Rotating Detonation Engines (RDEs) which offer the potential for high dollar savings … [Read more...]