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New Wärtsilä thrusters can produce 20% more thrust

New Wärtsilä thrusters can produce 20% more thrust
Vessels utilising dynamic positioning (DP) will have an advanced solution enabling excellent auxiliary manoeuvring in station keeping or DP operations.

The technology group launched the Wärtsilä WST-24R, the industry’s first tilted steerable thruster with combined electric retraction and steering, at Marintec China this week. 

A key feature of the new model is the gearbox, which has an 8-degrees tilted propeller shaft configuration. This significantly reduces thruster/ hull interactional losses, thereby producing up to 20% more effective thrust than conventional non-tilted thrusters and enabling lower fuel consumption, and boosting the advanced DP capability of a vessel.

The Wärtsilä WST-24R provides first class reliability, as well as easy installation, integration and maintenance, with fewer components. All systems are easily accessible for maintenance, while the combined steering-retraction seals, designed to have no oil to water interface to reduce environmental risk, can be replaced from inboard. 

The steering is electric, rather than hydraulic, further enhancing the capabilities of the system, and the new retraction system is lightweight and safe with self-locking electric actuation. 

The Wärtsilä WST-24R is particularly suited to applications in shuttle tankers and offshore support and construction vessels, providing them with safe and efficient operations. 

“This latest addition to our thruster offering increases operational efficiency for owners and operators, while the pre-aligned plug and play installation eases shipyard time and costs. There are other retractable thrusters of this size on the market, but the Wärtsilä WST-24R is the only one with the tilted configuration advantage,” said Michel van Veluw, director Thrusters & Propulsion Controls, Wärtsilä Marine Solutions.