Products
We are developing marine shipping propulsion power from clean wind energy using our patented ultra-high lift CoFlow Jet (CFJ) technology, which uses stationary CFJ cylinder wind sails with no rotation to harness propulsive power from ocean wind. Our current application is focused on CFJ wind sails for cargo ships (bulk carriers) with the target of 20%-50% fuel reduction for large cargo ships, and 60%-95% fuel reduction for small and mid-size cargo ships.
CoFlow Jet is an advanced zero-net-mass-flux (ZNMF) active flow control technology with various patents developed to generate ultra-high lift coefficients. The research and development have been funded by various US government agencies including NASA, DARPA, ARFL, NSF, EBPT. It is originated from aeronautical applications with intensive wind tunnel testing and numerical simulation. A CFJ cylinder is stationary with no rotation. If the wind flows from the left toward the CFJ cylinder, a small amount of air mass flow is drawn into the cylinder at the 4 o’clock position, pressurized and energized by a fan pumping system inside the cylinder, and then injected near the 12 o’clock position tangent to the cylinder surface. Such a flow control mechanism generates a very high lift coefficient up to 15 or more pointing in the forward ship moving direction. It requires a very low energy expenditure.
The CFJ wind sails bring the following advantages over the conventional rigid wind sails:
- 20%-50% fuel reduction for large cargo ships
- Ultra-high thrust (>2X) at all speeds, CL ≥ 20
- Full wind power for mid-size cargo ships
- Simple stationary system with no rotating parts
- Compact for all ship sizes
- Very low power required
- Low cost of manufacturing/maintenance
- Can be retrofitting to existing ships of all age
- Ideal for full electric ships
