Project “ISO”: innovative solutions for Italian Navy´s onboard full-electric actuators

In 2005, the Italian Navy decided to investigate on potential benefits of using full-electric actuators in substitution of conventional hydraulic motors for equipments on board ship such as rudders, fins, winches, etc. The new actuators had to guarantee the required dynamic performances, i.e. very high torques/forces at very low speeds, besides high affordability and redundancy. For this purpose, in 2006 the Italian Navy committed a research project to the University of Rome-Sapienza, aimed to define innovative solutions and their convenience. This paper shows both scopes and development of the research activity which consisted of a) data collection of existing onboard oil-powered plants, b) study of operating cycles, efficiencies, maintenance burden, and possible improvements, c) design of suitable full-electric alternatives, d) detailed design of a high-thrust permanent-magnet linear actuator for direct-drive of rudder and fin steering gears. The proposed actuator will be verified by tests on a reduced-scale laboratory prototype in the final steps of the research program.