WhisperPower is finalizing the construction of a custom 50 kW variable speed diesel generator that will replace the current unit on board of J-class yacht ‘Rainbow’. For the yachts’ new sailing campaign, the new owner wanted to renew vital parts of the technical system.
Experienced New Zealand sailor Neville Crichton is the new owner of the breathtaking 40 metre vintage racing yacht and he will take it to join the J-Class Association races and events in 2024.
At the yachts’ launch in 2011, WhisperPower was the lead design company for the development and supply of then novel parallel – hybrid propulsion system, containing a lithium battery bank, various power electronics, a 50 kW electrical shaft drive with regeneration function and the WhisperPower Hy-Gen 50 kW generator set. The whole system was designed to work in flawless integration, ensuring continuous power supply at minimised fuel consumption and emissions while functioning at very low noise level. After over ten years of proper functioning, the generator is replaced now by the new Hy-Gen 50 kW, that is likewise integrated into the yachts’ power demand.
The system on a racing yacht like ‘Rainbow’ is engineered to allow sail handling with all the hydraulic power that is needed to trim the enormous canvasses of the yacht, operated by the battery bank with the generator switched off. The Hy-Store Li-Ion batteries can deliver all the power needed during races. When sailing in a non-racing mode, the propellers can be used to charge the batteries, so during passages no generator power is needed for sail trim and hotel functions.
Decades of experience at WhisperPower with power electronics, battery systems and power management accumulate in the possibility to design such advanced and complex solutions at yards that work with us. WhisperPower has delivered comparable systems to yards that build large yachts like Royal Huisman, San Lorenzo and more. The company has developed over the past years as a large volume builder of compact diesel generators and battery-based power systems, marketed under the sub-brandname OctoPower.
Recently Royal Huisman placed another order for a new Hy-Gen 65 kW power system for Sailing Yacht Elfje to replace the energy system that was installed in 2012.