Maritime Superconductivity Perspectives

The present paper reports on the ongoing studies into the perspectives of maritime superconductivity (SC). Maritime applications follow a similar pattern as on-shore applications when it comes to performance if the competition is weak. For large scale applications like propulsion, power supply, and other machinery, the character of an isolated energy system onboard greatly influences the perspectives of maritime SC. The paper compares the energy chains of propulsion configurations and discusses the relations with energy carriers, storage, and conversions. It is shown that perspectives more or less follow the developments on all electric shipping: i.e., as for energy efficiency short range shipping and dynamic behavior favor SC technology; high-temperature superconducting engines may also be an improvement if electric propulsion is selected for other reasons than efficiency. High-temperature superconductor degaussing is promising, but demands adjustments. Maritime SC perspectives often depend on developments in other areas like fuels, conversions, and power electronics.