08.07.2016
We want to share not just the great achievements but also obstacles we come across in our efforts to bring sustainable innovation to the market. This week we had a few of those issues... Here’s a recap of what’s happened in the last few days.
(1) This week the hydraulic steering system installation has been completed. This is needed to provide controlled motive force to change the direction of the stern drive unit.
(2) We finished the installation of the low voltage control and power wiring that connects the engine compartment (fuel gauge, engine RPM, engine temperature, throttle, lights, fuse box, switches, auxiliary, starter battery, etc.) with the dashboard.
(3) We prepared the mounting space for the high voltage battery.
(4) We assembled the hybrid module, which includes the electric motor, pulleys, clutch and hybrid housing, and mounted it to the diesel engine. This is when we faced problems with some parts which were not delivered to specification (wrong internal diameter tolerances) so did not fit in the module. Fortunately our contacts at the University of Southampton helped us to mill out some material to fit the pulley onto the clutch. Another issue arose with the clutch plate of the flexible coupling: the mounting hole depths were inconsistent – again not to specification. This was causing obvious imbalances and we decided to modify it to the best of our abilities for now and demand replacement part from our supplier. The replacement part will be fitted after initial tests.
(5) Following this, we lowered the complete hybrid engine into the boat to check its compatibility and to take measurements.
We found that the stringers were not sufficiently high to support the engine in the right position. The engine could not be aligned with the shaft of the stern-drive. Again we thankfully had support from our wide network of partners: Scorpion RIBs production manager offered help resolving this issue.
Our objective for next week is to get the boat ready for initial test runs so that we can launch it the week after. Our intention is to prove the diesel drive system and boat systems first, then fit the hybrid controls and high voltage battery before testing the system as a whole.
We invite you to be the first to experience the technology by booking our test runs here.