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The Future of Life on the Water

We are on the cusp of one of the most transformative advances in leisure boat technology since steam replaced sail.

For more than a century, leisurely life on the water presumed boats would be built around internal combustion engines and piloted by a person at the helm competent in a variety of skills not the least of which was engine maintenance and repair.

At present in Miami a leisure craft is taking shape under the direction of a team led by design engineer Cyril Silberman that up ends the traditional models. The vessel team is creating an electric boat that embodies a hybrid-electric propulsion system composed of highly efficient diesel engines, lithium-ion batteries that are chargeable by the diesels, solar cells, dockside power and even tidal currents. And this is only one way the prototype vessel, Sobe Sunset, is a huge leap forward. The HVAC system (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) is solar-powered variable-speed; the helm is a sidestick; differential thrusters replace a conventional rudder system; performance data is continuously sent ashore by satellite; and operational commands can be sent back from an onshore operations center via satellite as well. The result is life on the water that is simpler, safer, less worrisome, less expensive, and less dependent on an onboard mechanically skilled crew.

Ever since leisure craft have had motors, owners have grumbled that the most annoying aspect of watercraft ownership is maintenance and repair; it is both too expensive and too time-consuming. Another annoyance: needing a trained mechanic as crew on long voyages.

Now much of these aggravations that went hand-in-hand with 20th-century leisure craft can be eliminated by the kind of 21st-century vessel being crafted in Miami.

The Uni-Systems Team

Uni-Systems Corporation founder Cyril Silberman is a Minnesota-born experienced design engineer whose team built and maintains many of the world’s retractable sports stadium roof assemblies. Another Silberman company built launch facilities at the Kennedy Space Center. Silberman himself is an active pilot with thousands of hours of flight time in high-performance airplanes and helicopters. For the Boeing Company his companies have built landing gear elevators, maintenance docking, and production-line assembly tooling. Silberman has also been building boats since he was 17 years old.

A telling aspect of Silberman’s strategy regarding stadium retractable roof assemblies is that the company does not necessarily sign away responsibility for its operation and maintenance to the stadium owners. Instead, Uni-Systems feels that to assure the best operation of the roof machinery and controls, it both maintains them and monitors them in real time before and during sporting events, in fact virtually all the time. Uni-Systems retractable-roof moving parts and drive systems are embedded with sensors that send data in real time to both internal computers as well as remote operators.  This data collection and monitoring activity is the backbone of how Silberman and his team intend to operate the newly minted vessel of the future.

The Silberman Uni-Systems team is putting the same technique to work for lifestyle on the water. Every piece of equipment – even the hull at scores of locations – is monitored, and every bit of data is collected, recorded, analyzed, and sent via satellite to an onshore operations center. The benefits are tremendous. Having been monitored continuously, the propulsion system, HVAC, hotel utilities and more are ready to go whenever a vessel owner chooses to enjoy the vessel and its amenities. All an owner must do is alert the onshore operations center when an activity is to start and the operations center sends a report on systems conditions, fuel and fluid levels, etc. The owner can have the onshore operations center calculate the navigation as well as report weather, sea depths, and port regulations, plus organize supplies and so on. Once the vessel is at sea or at anchor in a secluded cove, the onshore operations center continues to monitor propulsion performance, batteries charge, route, weather, anchor position, etc. A perennial worry of 20th-century craft owners was abrupt engine or electronics breakdown. But the multiple sensors of Uni-Systems’ design can “see trouble coming” and alert an owner to maintenance, parts replacement, or work-around long before a trip is to begin.

Leisurely life on the water has been radically improved.

Propulsion

The propulsion system of the prototype Sobe Sunset is hybrid electric/diesel. When cruising at up to eight knots, the propulsion -- including forward and reverse operation -- is all electric; when up to 11 knots, one of two diesel engines comes online; and when up to 14 knots both diesels are employed. Any time a diesel is running it is also charging the lithium batteries through two generators, which are part of the onboard electric motors attached to the diesels. The lithium batteries are also charged through optional solar collectors and, at anchor, by means of tidal currents.

The vessel’s lithium batteries are safer than those found in cars such as a Tesla. Automobile lithium batteries are necessarily lightweight and have been known to catch fire. Sobe Sunset uses lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries. Although LFP batteries are 10% heavier than those used in automobiles – weight is naturally less a concern on a boat – they also use different chemistry and are far less likely to catch fire – or in the rare chance they do, they can be quenched with water.  

Controls

Sobe Sunset’s control system takes advantage of the best 21st-century digital and internet technology, including satellite relays and positioning. Upon choice by the captain, the vessel maintains a pre-set course using satellite positioning, plus live information on weather, wind, and currents, as well as data collection from the engines, propulsion shafts, battery charge, and more.

All this data is shown on the bridge in an easily read dashboard display as well as in the onshore operations center. The captain can intervene as he/she wishes, such alterations being fed back to monitoring equipment at the shore base, which sends data and commands back to the vessel. Displays showing exactly what is seen on the bridge are also mounted in various locations around the vessel.

Maneuvering

Sobe Sunset has no rudders. Nor does it have a traditional wheel or helm. It has made extraordinary improvements over both these aged maneuver mechanicals.

The main problem with rudders is that they are a principal source of drag. They add to drag even when aligned with the keel. In a turn, to some extent they add drag so that the bow is brought to a new heading.

Sobe Sunset has eliminated rudders and induces banking more in line with aircraft than seacraft. Sobe Sunset turns are affected by engine thrust differential. For a turn, one engine thrusts more than the other. Simultaneously, roll stabilizers move like the ailerons (wing flaps) of an airplane. Together the engine propulsion differential and stabilizers bank the ship through turns rather than use drag to slip around a turn.

In addition, the helm is replaced by a sidestick controller. Underway, the sidestick operates the dual engine propulsion -- in either forward or reverse -- and initiates turns by movement right or left. Sidestick movements activate a computer program that adjust the port and starboard engine propulsion as well as the position of the roll stabilizers. In harbor, the sidestick also activates high-voltage electrically powered 50hp bow and stern thrusters for tight maneuvering.

Vessel Stability

The vessel’s roll stabilizers are not just for turns; when the vessel is under way the roll stabilizers steady the ship’s profile to the sea. An electrically actuated pitch wing stabilizer mounted adjacent to the bow bulb works to suppress pitch oscillations, which are the major cause of passenger discomfort and sea sickness.

How It All Works

In order to make the most of the state-of-the systems aboard, an extremely sophisticated network of thirty-six embedded computers continuously monitors and controls the operation of all the on-board machinery.  The local computers operate autonomously most of the time, but they receive their marching orders from two redundant “vessel computers” that handle the high-level operating strategy.  Thanks to the constant stream of data from all the local computers, the vessel computers can adjust how all of the machinery is operating based on the big-picture and the priorities of the crew.  For example, if the captain knows that Sobe Sunset will be moored for a few days with a skeleton crew aboard, later to receive guests and make a transit, the vessel computers will dial back the HVAC system in the unused areas to conserve energy and optimize solar battery charging; then they will cool down the boat just in time for the guests’ arrival.  

The wealth of data from the many on-board sensors allows for coordinated control of engines, batteries, stabilizers, HVAC, and the myriad other machines aboard to optimize performance.  In addition to helping to ensure efficient operation and passenger comfort, these data are stored and analyzed to head off future maintenance problems.  Sophisticated software, including machine learning (ML) algorithms, can spot trends that indicate poor performance or incipient failure, and alert the crew and shoreside specialists to take pre-emptive action.

All these sophisticated systems have one thing in common – they need electrical power to operate.  Sobe Sunset’s hybrid electric propulsion system is the ideal way to efficiently provide for the energy demands of the whole vessel, not just the propellers.  Because the main engines can be directly connected to powerful generators, the large batteries can be recharged quickly, and since all of Sobe Sunset’s electrical power is supplied by the batteries, there is no need for gensets.  This dramatically reduces the cost, size, and complexity of the machinery space; and it eliminates the noise and smell of an auxiliary generator running all the time.

The electrical system itself is unique.  Instead of using conventional AC power, Sobe Sunset distributes DC power to most of the equipment at a relatively high voltage of 750 volts.  This allows for smaller wires, less weight, and more efficient energy use.  With this approach, the large lithium-ion battery bank can provide power for the propulsion motors and all the other on-board systems.  An inverter system makes 120/240 volts directly from the 750 volts for the few hotel systems that require it.  With the solar arrays and high battery charge rate available through using the main engines, ample power is always available.  Dockside, if the sun is not quick enough for a full charge and running the main engines is not desired, shore power can be used to supplement the solar power.  To achieve this, shore power is converted to 750 volts DC for distribution around the boat and to the battery chargers.  This approach has the added benefit of automatically adapting to either 50Hz or 60Hz shore power; it doesn’t matter which is available.    

Life on the water as you’ve never experienced it before!