Tools and Dielectric Requirements for the Design of Marine Cabling Systems

This paper explores various power cable challenges for notional electric ship applications including future technology trends for shipboard power cables. To meet the demands of an “all electric ship,” the cabling requirements of the design are not a trivial issue which can result in significant error in estimating final size, weight, and cost at time of construction along with costly failures and early repairs that impact lifecycle cost. This paper provides information on the development of a design tool known as a “Generic Cable Calculator” to estimate parameters such as impedances, weights, and bending radii for ship power cabling. Analysis of actual experience in designing ship cabling suggests improvements in early design tools needed to capture additional requirements in terms of grounding, shielding, and satisfying current standards for cables used in the variable frequency drive train. Also addressed are results specific to future trends of cable insulation and future standards.