SEPTEMBER 2000
U.S. NAVY'S FUTURE IS ELECTRIC
Florida State is planning the energy systems for an all-electric fleet for the U.S. Navy, using a three-year, $10.9-million grant.
The electric ships promise to be cleaner, more efficient, cheaper to run and more combat-ready than today's steam- and fuel-powered ships. The first is scheduled for about 2010, and the entire fleet is expected to be electric in 30 years.
FSU and engineers will design integrated electrical systems at the FSU Center for Advanced Power Systems, housed at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee.
"In submarine warfare, the quieter, faster, more capable
ship tends to win," said Admiral Jay Cohen, director of
the Office of Naval Research. "We are looking at even quieter
drive ... so the United States Navy maintains its qualitative
and acoustic edge."
Cohen said the Navy's switch to electric power is of the same
historic magnitude as the switch from sails to steam.
The Navy's current 330 aircraft carriers, submarines and other
vessels run on nuclear reactors, oil-fueled boilers, diesel engines
or gas turbines.
Those systems use as much as 90 percent of a ship's space and
require as many as 400 sailors per vessel.
The electric drive and integrated power systems researched and designed at FSU will free hull space, reduce ship weight, increase payloads and allow greater design flexibility.
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Cohen said an electric-powered ship will also allow the Navy to take advantage of developing technologies such as high-powered weapons and electro-magnetic aircraft launchers.
"The architecture of our ships will change dramatically, as will the conditions under which our sailors operate and the way we go to sea," said Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig. "Electric drive will change the character and power of our forces in revolutionary ways."
The FSU Center for Advanced Power Systems includes scientists from the Florida A&M University-FSU College of Engineering and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. Their work is expected to be important in aerospace, commerce and electric utilities, as well as in military applications.
"These problems and the solutions to these problems are not unique to the Navy," said Jim Ferner, program director at the center. "Power system problems that you see in a ship are similar to ones you see with electric utilities."