As a key partner in the SKYTUG Design team, ICE recently arranged successful towing tank tests of the proposed catamaran hull. The purpose of the tests was to compare and validate the CFD results, and to observe the overall behaviour of the system and measure forces, angles, and moments.
Pictured here are: Dragos Totolici (centre-left), ICE Department Manager, Initial Design, and James McGarley (centre-right), Managing Director, Bluewater Engineering Limited – the inventors and promoters of the SKYTUG concept – together with towing tank staff.
The SKYTUG Project (www.skytug.co.uk) is supported as part of the UK’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, funded by the Department for Transport and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK. The Project will initially focus on developing and assessing the feasibility of the key elements of the SKYTUG concept, with a view to approving the design and building of an integrated demonstrator in 2022/23.
About SKYTUG
SKYTUG is a zero carbon propulsion solution for ships, old and new, large and small.
It is a wind-propelled ocean tug, which offers a breakthrough solution to the technology adoption dilemma, because it can offer clean propulsion as a service, without the need for shipowners to invest in the installation, maintenance and operation of complex technology.
SKYTUG can also provide up to 100% of ships’ propulsion on passage. It has three intended sizes: Handy, Panamax and Capesize; each will carry sufficient kite power to tow a ship of the corresponding category at full speed, even in low wind speeds.
“All Ships, All Ships, All Ships…”
SKYTUG offers the power of the wind without the inconvenience of ship-based installations. No compromises on cargo space, cargo handling, stability, air draught or harbour manoeuvring. No capital required up front, nor any downtime for installation, maintenance and repairs. Simply rendezvous with a SKYTUG outbound, enjoy thousands of low-carbon sea miles and cast off on approach to destination, paying only for the service, not the equipment.
Freedom from spatial constraints gives SKYTUG the room to pack a powerful kite array, far beyond the limits of that which could be stowed aboard ship. This, coupled with patent-pending systems technology, is what enables it to provide full-speed propulsion for ships, using only the wind.
, ICE Department Manager, Initial Design, and James McGarley (centre-right), Managing Director, Bluewater Engineering Limited – the inventors and promoters of the SKYTUG concept – together with towing tank staff.The SKYTUG Project (www.skytug.co.uk) is supported as part of the UK’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, funded by the Department for Transport and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK. The Project will initially focus on developing and assessing the feasibility of the key elements of the SKYTUG concept, with a view to approving the design and building of an integrated demonstrator in 2022/23.){kind=link}