To protect the pristine environment during tours, the Krka National Park commissioned two hybrid e-vessels designed for a capacity of 50 passengers each. The vessels are equipped with both solar PV panels and battery storage. When the sun shines, solar cells supply power to the propulsion. When the sun disappears, the propulsion runs on battery power. In this way the e-vessels run reliably emission-free, no matter what the weather.
The fully-electric vessels operate a cycle of 8 hours on battery power and 12 hours on solar panels. Service speed is 5 knots, and maximum speed is 9 knots.
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The technical challenge for this e-vessel was to achieve proper functioning between the solar PV panels and battery in the driveline system. Danfoss was able to design and deliver the ideal solution thanks to its understanding of the needs of the e-vessel, and capability in handling advanced technology.
Danfoss cooperated with the system integrator Inmel, by providing all the necessary hardware and software for the green hybrid solution.
For the first time ever, the MPPT software upgrade was uploaded to DC/DC software on site at the system integrator workshop, and successfully tested. Danfoss provided a maximum power point tracker (MPPT) which was implemented in the DC/DC software. This enabled higher voltage on the solar panel using only the highest voltage point, resulting in more energy on the common DC bus.
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