Re: Aegis SPY-1 "Dual-Beaming"


"Andrew C. Toppan" <actoppan@nospam> wrote in message
news:u28i62511feq3it1l0jk7qqmk9bon8c5rs@xxxxxxxxxx
On Mon, 15 May 2006 20:16:15 -0400, "Paul F Austin"
<pfaustin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

ship's range. Does anyone have any idea if operating SPY-1 affects fuel
consumption enough to matter?

It will surely matter some...since you need not only electrical power
for the radar, but power to run the A/C plants to provide chilled
water to cool the radar, etc. That's going to translate into running
more generators more often that you would if SPY was shut down.
(which, of course, would sorta negate the purpose of having the ship
in the first place)

And since the Navy is all excited about things like stern flaps making
perhaps a 2-3% improvement in propulsion efficiency and thus reduced
fuel use, this is not an insignificant issue.

I'm sure I could do all the calcs tomorrow to answer this, but posting
the answer might break a few rules....


Well, using open source literature (Combat Fleets of the Word 2003), we find
that the AEGIS Cruisers have 3 Gas Turbine Generators, specifically Allison
501K, nominally rated at 2500kw. It would be a reasonable assumption that
no more than 2 would be operated in parallel on the same bus (frequency and
voltage control issues for the governors and voltage regulators interacting
with one another). Standard operating practices allowing for redundancy also
support a two generator line-up --> If two generators are supplying a common
bus and something happens to one generator, automatic load shedding from
various load centers could prevent the remaining "healthy" generator from
being overloaded. This would preserve at least some critical electrical
power). This arrangement also allows for one generator to be shutdown for
maintenance and still have "full" electrical power available.

IIRC, the standard electric plant line-up on that class of ship is to run
two generators in parallel. Operating SPY at high vs low power wouldn't
necessarily require running "more" generators "more" often. It would be the
same two generators, just working harder. I agree that running the specific
calculations here would break a few rules, but I think its reasonable that
there would be no added "overhead" of having to run an additional generator.

DS




:)


--
Andrew Toppan --- actoppan@xxxxxxx --- "I speak only for myself"
"Haze Gray & Underway" - Naval History, DANFS, World Navies Today,
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