Thordon Bearings and Wärtsilä have introduced the formation of the Blue Ocean Alliance to develop and promote a stern tube-less ship idea.
The Blue Ocean Alliance brings collectively Thordon Bearings, Wärtsilä, the Faculty of Naval Structure & Marine Engineering of the Nationwide Technical College of Athens (NTUA), naval architect SDARI (Shanghai Service provider Ship Design & Analysis Institute CSSC) and ABS.
The businesses say that the idea of a ship design that doesn’t require a stern tube and eliminates the necessity for oil-lubricated stern tube seals and bearings is prone to save ship homeowners tons of of hundreds of {dollars} in capital and operational expenditure over a vessel’s lifespan, together with zero requirement for lubricating oil or biodegradable lubricants.
ABS has estimated that in a stern tube-less ship design, a two-week dry-dock re-alignment or bearing and seal alternative job, can as a substitute be accomplished in a single day whereas the vessel is afloat.
Ship designer SDARI, in partnership with Thordon and NTUA, has already been granted an Approval in Precept (AIP) from ABS for the idea design of the strict tube-less vessel with Thordon’s COMPAC Cut up Seawater-Lubricated Aft Bearing. ABS is additional creating a pertinent Information and Notation for such a ship.
Thordon is asking the idea T-BOSS (Thordon-Blue Ocean Stern House). The vessel’s stern tube cooling tank is changed with a dry irregularly formed chamber, thus permitting for inspection and upkeep of a seawater-lubricated single bearing and seal from contained in the ship, whereas afloat, with none must withdraw the shaft.
The T-BOSS makes use of Thordon’s seawater-lubricated COMPAC propeller shaft bearing system and the Wärtsilä Enviroguard Seal, which requires no upkeep between deliberate overhauls of as much as 5 years. In addition to eliminating the necessity to withdraw the propeller shaft for the lifetime of the ship, the COMPAC bearing comes with a lifetime bearing put on life assure.
