BUESING, RACHEL ERICA G.

BS NAME 5 FEB 22, 2017

TYPES OF MARINE PROPELLER

Controllable pitch propeller
This type of propeller is used in spite of its low efficiency due to the smooth and easy
maneuverability it provides, especially when the ship has to often move in the confined
waters. This propeller is also used when the ship has to continuously operate at one speed or
for fuel efficiency reasons where the ship has to move of different speeds and displacement.
This propeller is often used in war ships where the cruising speed is half the full speed. A
controllable pitch propeller prevents the over-torquing of the cruise propeller that might be
caused by fixed pitch propeller.
An alternative to two pitch propeller will be a two speed gear box.

Fixed Pitch Propeller

The propeller is designed in a way such that, if you cut the propeller radially at any random
radius from its centre, then the cut section of the propeller blades will have a certain pitch
(magnitude depends upon how twisted it is along the length of the hub). Now if you rotate
this cut section in water, the axial distance travelled in one rotation is the pitch of this section.
If you vary the radius at which you cut a section, the twist of the blade also varies from the
root to the tip. This makes it evident that each section of the propeller has a particular pitch.
Highly skewed propeller
A highly skewed propeller can be a fixed pitch propeller or a controllable propeller. Skewing
contributes negligibly to increase the efficiency of the propeller but plays an important role
in reducing the propeller forces on the hull. This type of propeller is mainly fitted on cruise
ships or passenger ships where the avoidance of vibration is of utmost importance.

Self Pitching propellers

These types of propellers are generally used for low power vessels. They are highly found in
yachts or smaller vessels, as there are higher chances of facing mechanical errors when they
are used in heavy and high powered vessels. An interesting point is that the open water
efficiency obtained at astern is same as that at ahead.
Other propeller types
There has been a massive advancement in the innovation and development of the propellers
for increasing efficiency. Some of the newly developed propellers are tip vortex free(TVF) and
balanced thrust loading(BTL) propellers. They are not so extensively used as they do not
provide the kind of efficiency that they promise.
One more type of propeller is contra-rotating propeller which reduces the rotational losses
and thus increases the efficiency. This type of propeller is generally used in a direct electric
drive propeller where the usage of gear box can be avoided. They are generally fitted on
smaller ships. This type of propellers if used in bigger ships gets confronted with problems
such as high mechanical complexity, high cost of gear box and shafting and propeller limits.
Thus they are used in smaller ships with less power and higher steering performance
requirement.