HYBRID PROPULSION SYSTEM FOR WATERCRAFT AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING SAID SYSTEM

摘要

A hybrid propulsion system (10) for watercraft is provided with a main engine (17), a main generator (18), and a motor generator (19), said system (10) being further provided with a storage unit (15) and a control unit (14). The storage unit (15) stores permitted-transition-operation-mode combinations, which are combinations of post-transition operation modes and pre-transition operation modes for which automatic transition is permitted. The control unit (14) is configured so that, when the current thrust demand and power demand for each operation mode are within the range of suppliable thrust and power as determined according to the variation characteristics for suppliable power with respect to variations in suppliable thrust as specified for each of the operation modes, the fuel consumption in such circumstances is calculated, and operation modes having better fuel consumption than the current operation mode are acquired. When a combination of the current operation mode and a fuel-efficient operation mode corresponds to a transition-permitted operation mode combination, a transition is made automatically to a fuel-efficient operation mode among the operation modes that correspond to the post-transition operation modes.