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www.sname.org/sname/mt January 2013 NEW DESIGN FOR MARINE POWER AND PROPULSION SYSTEMS THE ONBOARD DC GRIDThink of a Mac from Apple, a Le Corbusier chair, or a Frank Lloyd Wright house. All are designs that are clean, elegant, and streamlined. ey also are designs that took an exist¬ing ele- ment and created something innovative. At ABB, these were our goals when we developed our onboard DC grid for electric power distribution, creating a exible marine power and propulsion system. It merges the various direct curr ent (DC) links throughout the vessel and distrib- utes power through a single 1,000-volt DC circuit, thereby eliminating the need for main alternating current (AC) switchboards, distributed rectiers, and converter transformers. e onboard DC grid combines the best of AC and DC components and systems, is fully compliant with rules and regula- tions for se¬lectivity and equipment protection, can be used for any electrical marine applica¬tion up to 20 MW, and operates at a nominal voltage of 1,000 volts DC. ABBs grid also increases a vessels energy eciency by up to 20% and reduces the electrical equipment footprint and weight by up to 30%. BY JAN FREDRIK HANSEN, JOHN OLAV LINDTJØRN, TOR ARNE MYKLEBUST, AND KLAUS VANSKA