Shipboard microgrids: comparison of solutions based on LVDC distribution on cruise ships

DC shipboard power distribution offers several advantages over conventional AC-based solutions and nowadays a large amount of research activities is underway to accomplish an extensive and de-risked use of DC on board. In this paper, two solutions, involving low voltage (LV) DC distribution on board, are proposed and compared with the currently used shipboard AC scheme. In particular, two hybrid AC/DC LV architectures are considered, one relying on the centralized ship generation, typical of the integrated power systems (IPSs), and the other relying on a decentralized generation, based on fuel cells (FCs) and batteries. The comparison allowed to evaluate the advantage of the hybrid architectures in terms of electrical plant equipment's weight and volume reduction. A real-world cruise ship has been examined as case study.