A new state-of-the-art fixed pitch propeller (FPP) design concept, the FPP Opti Design, has been introduced by Wärtsilä.
The designers say that the new design offers fuel savings of up to 4 per cent and highly reliable full scale performance predictions, having been developed utilising the latest computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology.
The Wärtsilä FPP Opti Design has been developed at the company's Technology and Service Centre in the Netherlands, and is the result of highly experienced design engineers having access to the very latest and most sophisticated software and analysis tools. CFD calculations analyse not only the propeller performance but most importantly also, the interaction between the propeller and hull. This provides extremely accurate information to achieve design and parametric optimisation.
"Wärtsilä has more than 100 years of experience in developing high quality propeller solutions. To this huge knowledge resource we have now been able to add a highly sophisticated state-of-the-art design approach that is unmatched in the industry. The hull and the propeller, and the interaction between the two, can both now be taken into account during the design process. The result is a higher level of efficiency and lower operating costs," says Arto Lehtinen, Vice President, Propulsion, Wärtsilä Ship Power.
Wärtsilä adds that its FPP Opti Design is being presently highlighted at the Posidonia 2014 exhibition in Athens, Greece.
