Internship or Graduation: Research on DACS

We offer you an Ocean of Possibilities. Join our family.

About us

Damen Green Solutions is a small team inside the Damen Shipyard Group, with a particular focus on supporting the maritime industry to reduce their environmental footprint. Our intent is to make a contribution to the environment now, by addressing existing vessels and create fuel efficiency. We have our own product to contribute, such as our Air Lubrication System, but also work with third parties. Technologies like Carbon Capture or Wind Assisted Propulsion for special projects. Our expertise lies in the field of seagoing vessels and inland waterway vessels.

The Role

As a student working for the Green Solutions team, you will work on further developing our Damen Air Cavity System (DACS) technology, for the inland shipping market segment.

DACS is an air lubrication system developed in collaboration with TU Delft. It is installed on the flat bottom of a vessel and by creating an air layer, it reduces the resistance of a ship. This ultimately leads to more efficient propulsive power and thereby reduction of fuel use and associated emissions. The largest relative saving can be achieved on the vessels with a large flat bottom area and low draft. One example of such a vessel are inland waterway vessels (IWV). However, for this specific market segment in the maritime sector there are technical and commercial challenges in the application of DACS to IWV compared to seagoing vessels:

• IWV are more critical to the additional draft that DACS brings to the vessel, as the rivers have fluctuating water levels;
• IWV are normally docked on slipways which makes installation and consequential docking more complex;
• IWV operate sometimes coupled with barges in different configurations (in front, parallel, multiple barges);
• In case of barge convoys, barges can move astern depending on the position in the convoy;
• In case of barge convoy, each barge needs to be provided either with electrical power for blowers or compressed air;
• IWV consume on average much less fuel compared to seagoing vessels, which makes the return on investment (ROI) time longer;
• IWV are often owned by smaller companies/private owners that lack the financial power to invest in new technologies for their vessels.

There are about 5000 inland vessels in Western Europe that could benefit in some way or form from an improved operating profile, which could save up to 15% of the energy for propulsion.

What to expect during your research

For high-end vessels, the current design is proven to be sufficient. However, for most inland vessels and the combination with barges, there is a need to develop the lowest cost and modular solution of the DACS system. This will all reduce the barrier to implementation. Given the typically low speeds of the vessels, there are opportunities to simplify. For the barges, a modular application would allow the vessel's owner to flexibly apply the system to any trip.

The proposed study is aiming at doing that. Building on the vast available knowledge, it is asking for a fresh look! You will come up with a design solution that would allow the product to be successfully launched in the inland waterway segment and contribute to making this segment more sustainable.

We would expect the following topics to be addressed:

• Perform a market study for the IVW segment to determine the most suitable ship types for DACS application;
• Define the difficulties that hinder the application of DACS for this market;
• Collect and further work out the technical solutions for the problems ;
• Make a design proposal for a convoy of barges in different configurations (1, 2, 4 and 6 barges);
• Propose standard solutions at low material and installation costs;
• Calculate ROI for different scenarios.

Skills & Experience

• You are a BSc/MSc student in Engineering or Industrial Design
• Affinity with design processes and being able to delve deeper into both supplier and customer perspectives.
• Communication skills in both English and Dutch

What we offer

• An internship/graduation fee and travel allowance will be paid for the duration of the assignment.
• A pleasant and dynamic, international work environment with informal atmosphere
• Mentoring at academic level will be available throughout the internship.