Yamato 1
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Yamato 1, is a boat built in the early 1990s by Japanese conglomerate "The Mitsubishi Group" through their subsidiary company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd at Wadasaki-cho Hyogo-ku, Kobe. It uses a magnetohydrodynamic drive, driven by a liquid helium-cooled superconductor, and can travel at 15 km/h (8 knots).
The Yamato 1 was the first working prototype of its kind. It was completed in Japan in 1991, by the Ship & Ocean Foundation (later known as the Ocean Policy Research Foundation). The ship was first successfully propelled in Kobe harbour in June 1992. Yamato 1 is propelled by two MHD thrusters that run without any moving parts.
MHD works by applying a magnetic field to an electrically conducting fluid. The electrically conducting fluid used in the MHD thruster of the Yamato 1 is seawater.[1]
In the 1990s, Mitsubishi built several prototypes of ships propelled by an MHD system. These ships were only able to reach speeds of 15 km/h, despite higher projections.
[edit] References
- ^ "Silent Running" - Penn State Science newsletter
- Operation of the Thruster for Superconducting Electromagnetohydrodynamic propulsion Ship "YAMATO 1"
- Development of a Super-Conducting Propulsion Ship (1985-1998)
[edit] External links
