Can a Parasail Turn Cargo Ships into Sailboats?
Parasails created by startup Airseas hold the power to move colossal cargo ships, weighing up to 165,000 tons, by harnessing wind energy. Engineers at Airseas utilize Simulink® to create the autopilot for deploying and controlling the parasail’s sails while also using Model-Based Design to generate hundreds of thousands of lines of code for the sail control system. Additionally, Airseas uses software tools for system identification, robust control, and rapid prototyping directly on deck of the cargo ships.
Learn more from MathWorks CEO Jack Little as he explains how this engineered system works and how Airseas may transform the cargo shipping industry.
Published: 29 Oct 2024
Can huge cargo ships weighing hundreds of thousands of tons ever be called sailboats? The answer could soon be yes. This is a story about an amazing engineered system, a parasail for cargo ships being developed by a start-up company in France. Cargo shipping produces CO2 equal to 220 million cars, or about 3% of the world's emissions. And it's going up as global trade increases.
Airseas is developing a parasail to help propel cargo ships, thereby reducing fossil fuel consumption. This is new marine. The sea wing is stored on the ship's bow and deployed by an automated system using a cable and crane. Once deployed, it rises to 1,000 feet, where it reaches stronger winds. Autopilot software controls the sail, including making it do figure eights, which multiply the power.
It could slash fuel consumption by 20% on average and up to 40% on some routes. Engineers at Airseas use Simulink to develop the autopilot that deploys and controls the sail. With a model-based design, they automatically generate 250,000 lines of production C code. Airseas uses software tools for system identification, robust control, and rapid prototyping right on deck. The Airseas Seawing, engineers advancing the world.