KEB Drives are “on board” at the Olympic Games
Boat is converted to all-electric with the help of KEB Automation France
When the Olympic Games take place in Paris in July this year, not only numerous athletes will be at the start, but also the boat “Mistinguett” from the company Joce. The boat, which can carry up to 240 passengers, was recently converted into a fully electric version and will take part in the opening parade of the Olympic Games on the Seine. On board: drive technology from KEB.
Over 90 boats will be travelling along the Seine at this year's Olympic Games, creating a new kind of setting for the entry of the athletes from the various national delegations. The Mistinguett is normally used as a restaurant boat on the river and will be part of the Olympic parade this summer. The special feature: until recently, the ship operated by Joce was powered by two combustion engines and a diesel generator, but the Mistinguett has now been converted into a one hundred per cent electric boat. It is the only fully electric boat over 40 metres long on the Seine. This is a contribution to greater sustainability, which the city of Paris is also focussing on. When designing the opening parade, care was taken to ensure that as many electric boats as possible were used.
The electrification was implemented by the company A.M.O Facili – in addition to partners for the supply of batteries and hardware integration, KEB was chosen to realise the on-board network. Jean-Paul Rebelo, Project Manager at KEB France: “We have implemented a system solution on the ship that supplies a three-phase 400 V network with an output of 100 kW. The batteries are used as the only energy source to operate all the appliances on board, such as the kitchen, air conditioning and heating.” The KEB drive components are also used to power a 50 kW propeller, which acts as a bow thruster to align the front of the boat with the dock when manoeuvring.
Experience in ship electrification
In the realisation of the 3 x 400 V / 100 kW on-board power supply, KEB relied in particular on a combination of drive, sine filter and transformer. The sine filter is designed for output frequencies of up to 100 Hz and helps to reduce harmonics on the transformer side. The COMBIVERT F6 drive platform based on KEBs high-speed solutions allows, in association with filter solutions, operation with high switching frequencies necessary to ensure a perfect on-board network. In the version installed on the ship as a liquid-cooled built-in variant, there are several advantages such as stainless steel pipework, increased service life and coolant management. And even after commissioning, the employees of KEB France are at the customer's side with local service and a technical team that can provide support at short notice if required.
When electrifying the “Olympic boat”, the KEB team was able to build on the experience gained from previous projects. In 2018, KEB France carried out the first ship electrification of this kind, and with the recently implemented project, there are now a dozen boats with KEB system solutions on board. “The collaboration with the partners involved in Joce's Mistinguett project went smoothly. We are now looking forward to the opening of the Olympic Games and to the fact that we at KEB were able to contribute to this exciting, sustainable project,” says Rebelo.
