A new form of naval locomotion

They have designed a new way to propel ships, imagine a ship silently sailing through the waters powered not by noisy propellers or polluting turbines, but by a system that emits the elegant movement of a whale's tail.

That technology already exists, it was tested and reached levels of efficiency that are leaving the naval industry quite excited, its name is ABB Dynafin and it is not just a great idea on paper, it was already tested in open waters and demonstrated an efficiency of up to 81%, yes, nature once again sets the best example and is teaching us.

Developed by the Swiss company ABB, the ABB Dynafin uses a concept that seems to come out of a documentary about Cetaos, a rotating horizontal disc with mobile vertical blades, each individually controlled to simulate the movement of a whale's tail, these blades hit the water with biomechanical precision, generating thrust continuously and extremely efficiently, very different from traditional systems that push water abruptly.

At the heart of the Dynafin is a central electric motor that turns the wheel, while each blade is commanded by its own intelligent control motor, allowing fine adjustments, during navigation this guarantees not only energy efficiency but also a surprising level of maneuverability, essential for modern vessels in congested environments such as ports, canals or coastal areas and the tests were not only in the laboratory, the system was taken to open waters and tested by the renowned Maritime Research Institute of the Netherlands Marin, resulting in full validation of efficiency. modeled.

ABB did not stop there, the Dynafin integrates cutting-edge robotic technology derived from ABB's know-how in industrial automation, this means that the system has dynamic and responsive motion control, adapting to real-time conditions, such as currents, winds and rapid maneuvers.

This type of onboard intelligence is the first step for autonomous vessels that will navigate more efficiently, safely, learning from the ocean at every mile. Dynafin was designed for small and medium-sized vessels such as transporters, yachts, offshore support ships and light freighters, but the impact goes much further. A passenger ship using Dinaf can save up to 22% in propulsion energy consumption, according to an independent study by OSK Shiptech.

And while the world tries to achieve zero carbon goals by 2050, technologies like these are more than innovations, they are key pieces for the future of navigation, engineering copied nature and won, with 81% validated efficiency the Dynafini not only challenges the limits of naval design, but also makes us imagine a future where ships move like creatures of the sea, silent, clean and intelligent.