Integrated power systems in cruise ships and naval vessels

The integration of power systems has been successfully implemented onboard cruise ships built by Fincantieri in the last twenty years. The experience gained is now conveyed also in the application of this principle in the next naval vessels and in the ‘mega yachts’ projects. In this paper two philosophies of integrated power system designed by the company are presented. The next steps for innovative solutions that are actually studied by the shipbuilder further to new regulations requirements, energy saving aspects and utilization of PWM converters are evidenced. In this scenario an important role is played by the cooperation with the University of Trieste, whose research group is developing a software simulator of the integrated power system and propulsion drives. This paper focuses on two particular tasks of this study: modelling/simulation of propulsion drives and stability analysis and control systems involved into the regulation of electro-mechanic quantities of the integrated power system.