Innovation & New Solutions | R&D
Design & development of LV & MV Low Losses Concept
Wärtsilä in cooperation with, ISOTECH - EDM – Bticino/Legrand

We are sure of the Wärtsilä Low Loss Concept (LLC) development and its further innovations and implementations, it is the best example of our professional capability to really support our customers with new solutions and never interrupt cooperation, to achieve the longest possible success for the products involved. More than 10 years have passed since our first step towards the LV LLC solution, and today we are still working together to achieve more goals and contribute to our mutual success in the market.

AC-based LLC system defeats traditional DC drive-system in research vessel

The Royal Research Ship Discovery delivered from a Spanish shipyard Freire to the UK-based NERC. The modern research vessel containing a LLC system specially designed to be installed in low acoustic noise research vessels.
Traditionally research vessels are equipped with DC drive systems to minimise acoustic noise from the ship to the water. Up to now most research vessels has been equipped with DC drive systems.
During the contract negotiations between the yard and the British NERC institute, Wärtsilä successfully convinced the customer that an AC -based LLC system with very low elec-trical noise (Total Harmonic Distortion) would equal the tra-ditional system.
E&A on Stord performed extensive calculations and simulations in early design phase, to document our solution’s capability with respect to electric noise, low electric losses and system flexibility.
The system design was based on a rigid requirement of 3% Total Harmonic Distortion (THD), which is considerably lower than standard class requirements. The LLC transformer was adjusted to suit the new requirements and implemented in the construction of the vessel. Sea trials and final vessel testing showed that the calculations and system design fulfilled our promised figures to the customer and class authorities (LRS), within one tenth of a percent!
It also proved that the LLC design for very low THD has broken the long lasting hegemony of traditional DC system hegemony and appears as a very strong competitor to the traditional systems in advanced vessels requiring low acoustic noise profiles.

Egil Hystad Wärtsilä‘s General Manager, System Design DiciplineConcept Development and Innovation, wrote.