Home > Industries > Marine > Ship Power > Shaft Generator System
A shaft generator (SG) is a device that produces electricity using a drive shaft powered by a ship's main propulsion engine (main engine). It leverages the excess power of the main engine to generate electricity during normal navigation, thereby reducing or even eliminating the need for traditional auxiliary diesel generators (diesel generator sets).
Core Values and Advantages: Significantly lowered fuel use, decreased maintenance costs, reduced lubricant consumption, fewer emissions, optimized engine room space and weight, and less noise and vibration.
System Components of an ABB Shaft Generator System:
Shaft Generator: Mounted on the shaft between the main engine and the propeller, usually a synchronous generator.
Frequency Converter (Inverter): This is the core technology of the ABB system. Because the main engine speed varies with the ship's speed, the voltage and frequency output of the shaft generator are unstable. ABB uses its high-performance ACS 6000 / ACS 6080 medium-voltage or low-voltage inverters to address this issue.
Power Take-Off (PTO) / Power Take-In (PTI) Clutches: PTO mode is used to draw power from the main shaft to generate electricity; PTI mode allows the shaft-driven motor to be used as a shaft-driven electric motor, drawing power from the power station to help drive the propeller and provide extra thrust when needed, such as during maneuvering.
Control Systems: ABB's Power Plant Management System (PMS) and Energy Management System (EMS) intelligently coordinate the parallel operation, load sharing, and switching logic between the shaft-driven generator and the auxiliary diesel generator.
