Optimal Design of Actuators for Small Electric Vessels

This article presents a method for the optimal design of actuators for electric vessels that utilize DC motors. Typically, these vessels are small, unmanned craft that can be Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) or Unmanned Underwater Vessels (UUVs). The propulsion systems for these vessels are currently hindered because most propulsion system research targets large, open ocean vessels. These vessels are either low-speed Diesel or Diesel-electric craft that turn propellers at slow speeds, in the tens or hundreds of revolutions per minute. The smaller vessels, on the other hand, utilize DC motors that operate at thousands or tens of thousands of revolutions per minute. Therefore, there is limited research on the design of propellers that considers the difference in speed and performance of these DC motors. This paper will demonstrate a series of use cases for where traditional propeller performance analysis fails and will demonstrate a method to integrate propeller design and motor performance. The focus of this paper will be on the well-studied Wageningen B-Series propellers due to their known performance characteristics. MATLAB R2022b models will be utilized to demonstrate the performance of the actuator systems.