SALMON: an innovative concept of ship propulsion on rivers

In this paper a concept is studied, where the energy for the propulsion of a ship is extracted from the down flow of the river. In this concept three elements are important; a wire which is connected upstream, paddles on both sides of the ship and a drum which rotates due to the movement of the paddles Due to the rotation of the paddles, the drum winds up the wire and pulls the ship upstream A theoretical framework is developed and verified in flume. The conclusion is that the concept indeed is feasible. For the experimental configuration the velocity of the vessel relative to a fixed observer is about 20%–25% of the flow velocity of the river.