• MASUKO Akira, SAKAGUCHI Katsunori, KIDA Takayuki, NAITO Yuji, INOUE Tomohumi

Plans for the energy-saving, environmentally-friendly 13 000 TEU Container Carrier have been developed and its conceptual design is complete. Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and fuel consumption will be reduced by about 30% compared to conventional container carriers of the same size. Propulsive performance will be improved through the newly developed twin-skeg hull form, and energy efficiency will increase due to the waste heat recovery system of the main engine. The carrier will use natural energy from photovoltaic panels and store it in large-capacity storage batteries. This newly developed container carrier is called "eFuture 13000C," and it is the first ship of IHIMU's environmentally-friendly ship series "eFuture."

• TANGO Yoshihiko, ISHIYAMA Morinobu, SUZUKI Hiroyuki

For more than half a century, line heating has been used in shipbuilding as a method of forming curved shell plate. This technique relies completely on the experience, instincts and know-how of the worker involved. In 1997, in order to automate this technique, "IHI-α" was developed, the world's first automatic processing system for bending steel plate. Since then, the IHI-α system has been used for actual ships under construction while being continuously improved. A new version of the system has now been successfully developed that can automatically handle the entire process, including the additional heating used for finishing the plates. This paper details the latest IHIMU-α system.

• YAMADA Hideki, MIYABE Hiroaki, SAEKI Aiichiro

IHI Marine United Inc. (IHIMU) has developed an energy-saving, environmentally-friendly diesel-electric propulsion system with a Contra-Rotating Propeller (CRP) for Japanese coastal vessels. The system is called "IHIMU-CEPS" (the IHIMU-CRP Electric Propulsion System). The energy-saving technology of IHIMU-CEPS has achieved dramatic improvements in the area of vessels' propulsion efficiency due to their highly-advanced, optimally formed hull and the CRP. Starting with "Shin-ei Maru" completed in February 2007, twelve vessels with IHIMU-CEPS, such as chemical tankers, clean product oil tankers and cement carriers, have already been put in service by August 2010. Compared with conventional vessels with direct-drive diesel engine propulsion systems, vessels with IHIMU-CEPS are more fuel efficient and emit less CO2, NOx and SOx. This paper explains the outline of IHIMU-CEPS and the features found by vessels' performance, including advantage of dieselelectric propulsion system and fuel efficiency improvement.

• INUKAI Yasuhiko, KANEKO Tadaaki, NAGAYA Shigeki, OCHI Fumitoshi

IHI Marine United Inc. (IHIMU) has already developed several energy-saving devices, such as their L.V. Fin (Low Viscous Fin), A.T. Fin (Additional Thrusting Fin), CRP (Contra-Rotating Propeller) and the IHIMU Semicircular Duct. The L.V. Fin, A.T. Fin and CRP have been employed in full-scale ships, and the energy savings expected have been confirmed. In order to employ the IHIMU Semicircular Duct in full scale ships, we verified the energy-saving principles of this device and optimized a full-scale shape for it, taking into account flow-field differences between the models and full-scale ships, through the use of CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) techniques. This paper describes the energy-saving principles of this device and an outline of a design for its employment in full scale ships.

• TAGAI Tetsuya, MIMURA Takahisa, GOTO Satoru

To comply with updated emissions regulations, low NOx combustion technology for marine diesel engines has been developed. Instead of the trade-off relationship between NOx emission and fuel consumption, this new technology not only has an effect on NOx emission levels but also simultaneously reduces fuel consumption. Furthermore, it can be adapted for all 4-stroke diesel engines regardless of their rated speed or rated power. At first, a thermodynamic simulation was performed to estimate effects on engine performance, including emission levels, and the efficiency of this technology was also investigated through an engine performance test. Specifically, user benefits regarding fuel economy during ship operation, which was evaluated by measured load patterns with tug boats, are also described in this paper.

• INADA Takaomi, KOIKE Yuji, SUZUKI Hiroshi, TAKAI Norihiro, KAWAI Masafumi

IHI has successfully delivered several unique Automated People Mover (APM) transit systems developed for urban and airport transit applications. The new-generation APM vehicle system named iMAX is designed to meet requirements of the rapidly changing market worldwide. Composite materials are used for the primary structures of the iMAX vehicle to achieve weight reduction and stylish exterior design. Investigations to provide the system with superior ride quality are carried out for improvement of the running surface and the guide rails of test trucks together with rigidity improvement of the prototype vehicle.