ZF Technology for Commercial and Fast Craft

ZF Marine transmissions, rated up to 14,000 kW, are available in many configurations. For all kinds of commercial vessels ZF provides a complete line of heavy-duty transmissions. Gearbox housings are extremely resistant to torsional stresses and are generously sized to safely transmit the thrust loads to the ship's foundation. Numerous ratios are available that perfectly match today's medium-speed diesel engines. For commercial, ocean-going vessels such as freighters and tankers, heavy-duty transmissions with various PTOs and PTIs can be chosen.

Large motor yachts, fast ferries and vessels for naval, customs and coastguard duties - all require compact, high performance transmissions, specially configured to meet designer’s requirements. Furnished with high-tensile aluminum alloy gear housings they can be rigged with optional equipment, monitoring systems etc. to comply with stringent environmental and technical specifications, where safety, availability and reliability are of utmost importance. Highest quality standards, intelligent design concepts and ease of maintenance ensure compliance with specified operating profiles at minimum down-time and life cycle cost.

With a comprehensive scope of thruster types ZF Marine Propulsion Systems provides multiple propulsion solutions for commercial craft, supply vessels, yachts and authority vessels. Apart from azimuth thrusters in numerous versions there is a large variety of tunnel thrusters - equipped with fixed pitch and controllable pitch propellers – and shallow draft thrusters.

Matching with both diesel and electric prime movers, power ratings range from 100 kW up to 2,000 kW. Thruster mounting configurations include well mounted, weld in and retractable arrangements. For tunnel thrusters there is also the option of removable arrangements by means of a elastic tunnel supports, thus isolating the tunnel from the hull and reducing the structure-borne noise significantly.
Each thruster is equipped with a remote control system, providing both steering and propulsion control. The system is capable of interfacing with all kinds of prime movers. ZF Marine’s ThrusterCommand standard control system consists of a Thruster Control Unit (TCU) placed in the immediate vicinity of the thruster unit, and a remote control panel on the bridge.
Interfaces to other systems such as Dynamic Positioning (DP), joystick, auto pilot, Voyage Data Recorder (VDR), alarm and monitoring systems etc. are available on an optional basis.