PMD Rim Drive Propulsion Technology Manufacturing in the Marine Market

Marine propulsion is a multi-billion pound industry undergoing a rapid change from direct drive diesel and petrol to electric. To support this change there is an urgent need for innovative electric propulsion systems like those being developed by RAD. The technology that RAD has developed is safer (no external rotating blades), more robust to becoming entangled with debris and has minimal moving parts. Reducing product and manufacturing complexity and costs are critical if such a product is to fill this current gap in the marine UK PEMD market.

This is a collaborative project between RAD Propulsion Ltd, iNetic Ltd and the National Composite Centre. The team will undertake industrial research targeted at significantly reducing Bill Of Material (BOM) costs, improving manufacturability and enabling early life product monitoring of the PEMD element of the marine rim-drive hubless propulsion system that RAD has developed.

This project is focused on the manufacturing element of our products PEMD technology and so directly underpins the UKs move towards electrification and is a key step in Driving the Electric Revolution

Electric rim drives and hub-less propellers are not new technologies but the merging of the two together into a single product to achieve the levels of performance needed in the target market means its introduction will be transformative to the marine market in the sub 50kW power range.

The operating environment, the required manufacturing tolerances and the performance demands placed on the product in this market introduces specific technological /manufacturing process challenges that this project will address, namely:

* the hydrodynamic drag effects from the motor housing are critical if the required boat speed is to be achieved.
* the rim drive and the materials its manufactured from must withstand submergence in salt water for prolonged periods

Our product not only opens the way to a huge new market sector but is a stepping stone towards the introduction of green technologies into a sector that is traditionally dominated by fossil fuel engines. There is clear commercial opportunity and conservative analysis indicates that the current global electric propulsion market in this size range is ~£150-200m/year with strong indications of growing to £1.5Bn+/year over the next decade.

We have assembled a strong and experienced project team consisting of RAD Propulsion Ltd (Lead Partner), iNetic Ltd (motor supplier) and are supported by the National Composite Centre (NCC) who will provide specialist materials and manufacturing expertise in the use of composite materials.