055 Large Destroyer Thread II

[AndrewS]

Moving from mechanical drive to IEPS will lower the demand of total installed power because there is no need to keep a higher power reserve. If 4*28MW is for 055, its IEPS version may only need 20 to 25 MW. Example is the studied IEPS frigate in which the total installed power is reduced to 80%.

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I don't know the designation of GT used by 076 but it is said to be rated at 21MW (normal operational). This GT was also mentioned by Ma Weiming as being able to serve as a module for large surface ship. So I think 4 of it would be a reasonable choice for 055, or 2*21+1*40MW. It is worth to mention that IEPS demands good power gradiance (number of smaller sized engine) instead of relying on fewer large engines, a lesson learnt hard way by Type 45.

I think the power gradience issue with the Type-45 is really about the diesel generators (4MW total) being undersized, in event of the gas turbines suffering a sudden failure, whether from the intercooler design flaw or from battle damage.

So the intercooler design flaw was fixed and they also increased the diesel generators from 4MW to 9MW for the Type-45.

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Wouldn't you also have to account for the 6*5MW diesel generators from the Type-055?
So you end up with a total of 142MW.

So for an IEPS version, if they can reduce the installed power by 20%, then they only need 114MW.

They could potentially skip 28MW gas turbines and go directly to 40MW gas turbines for electricity generation. So you could end up with:

a) 6*5MW diesel and 2*40MW gas turbines, for a total of 110MW
b) 2*5MW diesel and 3*40MW gas turbines, for a total of 130MW
c) 4*5MW diesel and 3*40MW gas turbines, for a total of 140MW

These power gradients all look better than what exist in the Zumwalts.

And an IEPS Type-055A would have at least 10MW of diesel generators, which is more than the Zumwalt or Type-45, so it should be able to handle a sudden loss of a gas turbine. Most (all?) of the gas turbine electricity would be used for the electric motors driving propulsion, and they should be able to adjust electricity demand almost instantly

 

[qwerty3173]

a) 6*5MW diesel and 2*40MW gas turbines, for a total of 110MW
b) 2*5MW diesel and 3*40MW gas turbines, for a total of 130MW
c) 4*5MW diesel and 3*40MW gas turbines, for a total of 140MW

4*9MW diesel and 2*50MW GT gives 136MW which seems a more reasonable configuration. Too many separate engines is probably unnecessary for an IEPS configuration and also fewer engines means less room needed for smoke stacks.