This image provided by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. shows the shipyard’s vessel equipped with Hi-Rotor.
SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Major South Korean shipyard Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. said Sunday it had acquired design approval for Hi-Rotor, a rotor sail that is a form of wind-assisted propulsion for ships, from the Korean Register of Shipping (KR) for the first time in the domestic shipbuilding industry.
A rotor sail is a cylinder-shaped structure installed on the deck of a ship. It is a kind of mast that reduces fuel consumption and carbon emissions by using wind to create additional propulsion power.
If a rotor sail that rotates using an electric motor meets the wind flowing around the ship, a pressure gap is created around the rotor sail that creates a propulsion force.
When mounted on a ship, a rotor sail can contribute to reducing fuel consumption and carbon emissions by about 6 to 8 percent.
Hyundai Heavy acquired a basic certificate for its in-house developed Hi-Rotor in December 2020 from the KR, a South Korean ship quality assurance and risk management company.
Hi-Rotor uses a reduction gear method for the mechanism that connects the electric motor with the rotor for improved safety compared to the belt-type method of existing commercial products.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
