(HELSINKI) — Wartsila's EnergoProFin is an energy-saving solution that increases propeller efficiency and creates fuel savings of up to five percent. The solution is now available for both controllable pitch propellers (CPP) as well as fixed pitch propellers (FPP), yielding the same results in both propeller options. Offering the solution for technologically more challenging CPPs was previously considered impossible in the industry, but is now made possible due to development work by the Wärtsilä hydrodynamics team.
The Wartsila EnergoProFin is a specially designed propeller cap with hydrofoil section fins on the downstream side of the propeller. It is an innovative energy-saving device that can significantly reduce a vessel's fuel consumption as well as its emission levels. Such technical innovations play a major role for ship operators who are tackling rising operating costs, as it offers an opportunity to enhance the efficiency of existing assets. By improving their energy efficiency, ship operators can increase their profitability in an environmentally sound way.
Propeller caps with fins have existed for three decades, but their application has so far been primarily on FPPs. The view of the industry has been that applying an energy-saving device such as Wartsila EnergoProFin to the technologically more challenging CPP would not be possible. Wartsila took on the development task and succeeded in creating a product that offers vessels equipped with a CPP an opportunity to reduce their energy consumption. Wartsila's development work was a spinoff of an EU-funded collaborative project between Wartsila and nine other companies.
The Wartsila EnergoProFin, which rotates with the propeller, is optimized for propulsion upgrades of existing vessels and as such can be easily mounted without the need for complex structural changes. The device is designed to minimize the losses in the vortex leaving the propeller by transforming rotational energy into effective thrust, resulting in an efficiency increase that brings up to 5 percent fuel savings. The payback time for the investment is, even with the current low fuel prices, generally less than two years and can be as short as less than a year.
For more information, visit www.wartsila.com.
