Container Sails
A short project pitch
By: C. Ruks, R. Schoenmakers, W. Speekenbrink, F. van Veen, D. de Waard, D. Wink
Container Sails aims to reduce fuel consumption of the shipping industry by introducing rigid containerized sails.
We are a team of six Dutch students inspired to design a green shipping solution by seeing all the ultra large container vessels in the nearby Rotterdam harbour. Realizing that this was one of the few forms of transport lacking easily deployable sustainable devices we got to work.
Currently the shipping industry is responsible for 3.5 to 4 percent of global climate change emissions. Even more, due to the poor fuel quality shipping is responsible for 18 to 30 percent of the world’s nitrogen oxide pollution and 9 percent of global sulphur oxide pollution. What is shocking is that the pollution of 15 of the largest container ships is equal to that of all the cars in the world (Vidal, 2009).
Without change, shipping emissions are scheduled to rise by 50 to 250 percent by 2050 which would seriously undermine the Paris climate agreement (European Comission, 2019). We at Container Sails believe to have found a possible solution to shipping fuel consumption.
We have designed a deployable sail within a standard 40 ft. container. This means that it will be compatible with all current infrastructure. The Containersail stows itself whilst at port making it look and handle as any normal container. At sea the Containersail deploys by opening doors on top of the container. The sail can fold out and extend telescopically with the use of a hydraulic actuator. To design this CATIA was used for concept- and detailed design as well as simulation.
Whilst at sea the Containersail extends to a height of more than 62 ft. and using an optimal high lift aerofoil it is able to use the power of the wind to create thrust. Thanks to wing fences employed at the tip, the sail is able to generate high lift whilst keeping drag at a minimum. Unlike a kite the Containersail is able to generate thrust even when facing a 45 degree headwind! This makes it suitable for all kinds of weather.
To position itself optimally with regards to the wind, the rigid sail is able to rotate around its span wise axis. This rotation is actuated using an electromotor and the sail is held in place using brake callipers. Using inboard weather data the Containersail is able to maintain an optimized angle of attack with regards to the local wind direction. When multiple Containersails are placed onboard they can share their wind data to operate more efficiently as an array.
All this performance repays itself in fuel savings. Using global wind speed data we calculated that; an average 40 ft. container on a large modern containership would save 2 tonnes of shipping fuel each week. When such a ship is outfitted with an array of 14 Containersails it would save up to half a million dollars each year in expenses (Ruks, et al., 2020). We at Container Sails believe that this is the way forward to make shipping greener as well as more affordable.
Citations
European Comission. (2019). Reducing emissions from the shipping sector. Opgehaald van European Comission Policy: https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/transport/shipping_en#tab-0-0
Ruks, C., Schoenmakers, R., Speekenbrink, W., van Veen, F., de Waard, D., & Wink, D. (2020). Container Sails: Design and Feasibility of a Container Sail.
Vidal, J. (2009, April 9). Health risks of shipping pollution have been 'underestimated'. The Guardian.
Edu POTY 2021 POTY 2021-Project
