diesel electric power

[ChrisPy]

I'm mulling over the practicality of a diesel-electric installation for an all-electric boat, and came across this Kipor unit which seems remarkably good value. It's watercooled and relatively heavy, suggesting there's a lot of robust metal for your money. Does anyone have any experience of Kipor? Are they connected to Kipoint (the Taiwan inverter people) by any chance?

 

 

http://www.thegreenreaper.co.uk/showdetails.asp?id=964

[Yoda]

That would be a very efficient way of using a diesel. The electric unit must be matched to the sfc curve of the diesel engine to get the maximum bangs per buck and of course if driven correctly, produce 50 hz at 240 volts. Success all 'round.

[Timleech]

I'm mulling over the practicality of a diesel-electric installation for an all-electric boat, and came across this Kipor unit which seems remarkably good value. It's watercooled and relatively heavy, suggesting there's a lot of robust metal for your money. Does anyone have any experience of Kipor? Are they connected to Kipoint (the Taiwan inverter people) by any chance?

 

 

http://www.thegreenreaper.co.uk/showdetails.asp?id=964

 

My first question would be about the durability of the engine, worth at least asking the importers/dealers about expected hours & whether engine spares are available.

Kipor are known for their little suitcase 'inverter' generators.

 

Tim

[Dylan]

I think Vetus do a similar unit using the well tried Mitsubishi engine.

 

edit: http://www.malerdos.gr/pdf/GEN-SET.pdf

Edited May 5, 2008 by Dylan

[Arnot]

I'm mulling over the practicality of a diesel-electric installation for an all-electric boat, and came across this Kipor unit which seems remarkably good value. It's watercooled and relatively heavy, suggesting there's a lot of robust metal for your money. Does anyone have any experience of Kipor? Are they connected to Kipoint (the Taiwan inverter people) by any chance?

 

 

http://www.thegreenreaper.co.uk/showdetails.asp?id=964

I did actually see such a narrow boat built at or near Pete Wyatts Canal Cruising boatyard in Stone although it was built by a rather strange chap. As far as I can remember, shortly before he completed it, the boys in blue pounced and carted him off for an extended holiday at Her Majesty's pleasure and I never found out what happened to the boat.

 

In his case there was a humungous six cylinder diesel and a massive motor that together consumed about a third of the length of the boat. I did ask him why he was dong it and never got a sensible reply.

 

My thoughts...

 

1) Kipor are firmly at the bottom of the quality ladder in generators, fine for the occasional power cut but far from continuously rated. Try Harrington generators for a more robust unit but they are about three times the price. They use the good 'ole Kubota 3 cylinder jobby that with a whiff of a service every year or two seem to go on forever.

 

2) One way would be to control the generated power by routing it through an industrial inverter which will accept single phase and then convert it into three phase with controllable voltage current and frequency curves. This connected to a three phase motor would give completely variable speed and torque (within the permissible bounds of the motor design) as well as reverse. This is how large industrial motors are driven as the system provides a whole host of benefits.

 

3) A simpler way, would be to use an engine with a three phase alternator connected directly to a three phase motor providing a synchronous link. The motor can be reversed by merely swapping two of the phases. This system of driving a motor from an alternator is not popular in Europe because it is almost impossible to specify but it is very widely used almost everywhere else because there is very little to go wrong and some such systems have been pumping water in the Australian Outback reliably for over 50 years. I suspect that at lower speeds the torque would be rubbish and that motor heating would be an issue but it might work...

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards

 

Arnot