Modern cruise liners are frequently described as floating hotels and as such they require all the facilities and services of a major hotel. However, their HVAC requirements exceed those of a land based hotel as the environmental conditions change rapidly day to day and day to night as they cruise the oceans. In addition, the passengers are paying handsomely for, and demand a high level of comfort.
For this reason, Novenco AS, Bergen, selected Danfoss VLT drives for the air handling systems for ‘The World’, a 40,000 tonne cruise liner of the highest luxury that is also the only permanent residential community at sea, combining all the desirable features of a private yacht, seaside villa and exclusive country club. With suites from $2m to over $6m the residents expect the ultimate in comfort at all times.
The air handing units and chiller pumps are equipped with a total of over 80 Danfoss VLT HVAC drives of ratings 10 – 30 kW, maintaining a stable environment through the 12 decks over the 200m length of the ship, regardless of whether the vessel is cruising in the tropics or the arctic. The control system was engineered and designed by Novenco HI-Press in Denmark, and all air outlets were specially designed to be as unobtrusive as possible and completely silent. Critical to securing the contract were the DnV marine approvals, which were fulfilled only by Danfoss. This, in addition to technical support and a developed relationship with the customer, put Danfoss ahead of the competition.
Since this contract was won in 2000, Danfoss has secured a substantial number of marine contracts throughout the Scandinavian shipbuilding industry. In addition to HVAC applications, and as a consequence of their being able to meet numerous marine standards and to supply 690v drives, systems have been supplied for engine room fans, pump applications such as sea water pumps and product and cargo pumps; for vessels such as offshore supply and anchor handling, ferries, live fish carriers, fishing vessels and oil tankers.