"Wind Challenger" the Next Generation Hybrid Sailing Vessel

Abstract

The Wind Challenger Project which was started by The University of Tokyo and Japanese major shipping companies is researching to utilize the maximum ocean wind power for the main propulsion of a large cargo vessel. The concept of “Motor Assisted Wind Powered Vessel” is proposed as the next generation sailing vessel named UT WIND CHALLENGER. The vessel is equipped with extraordinary large rigid sails on the upper deck as a main propulsor which is made by advanced light material such as CFRP composite. The rigid sail has the crescent wing section and also has vertically telescopic reefing and self rotating mechanism to meet the wind velocity and direction. The nine pieces of rigid sails (total sail area 9,000m2) are expected to generate forward thrust enough to drive 180,000DWT Bulk Carrier at the speed of 14knots, in case of wind velocity of 12m/s from a beam. The aerodynamic interaction of the nine wing sail system is carried out with the full scale CFD simulation. Furthermore, a study on the fuel oil saving effect in the real sea such as the route between Yokohama and Seattle was carried out and about 30% of propulsion energy is acquired from the wind power in average.