The winner of the 2018 Chuck Husick Marine Technology Award is the new electrical generating system from Integrel/Triskel Marine in the U.K. The Integrel system (www.integrelmarine.com) is a different approach to using a high-output alternator, allied with computer control in a separate brain box, to make use of the largely untapped “spare” power in a sailboat’s auxiliary engine power curve. According to co-inventor and marine systems expert Nigel Calder, “This is way more than a high-output alternator, and significantly more efficient than most. The controller combines the functions of a traditional voltage regulator with all kinds of other ‘smarts’ and abuse tolerance.”
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The Integrel system being put through its paces at the lab in the U.K. Different versions of the generating device are being tested on Volvo Penta and Yanmar engines. |
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Courtesy Integrel/Triskel Marine |
The result is that the system allows voyagers to replace their gensets with the Integrel system as, according to system stats, it can generate up to 9 kilowatts of electrical power, produce fuel savings of 25 percent compared to using a stand-alone genset, and do it all automatically without any user input. We’ll have a more in-depth look at this 2018 Husick Award winner in an upcoming issue.
Our judges for this year were Ben Ellison, marine electronics expert and owner of Panbo.com; Ellen Massey Leonard, circumnavigator and marine writer; Patrick Childress, live-aboard voyager; Wayne Canning, marine surveyor and writer; Ann Hoffner, marine writer and experienced live-aboard voyager; Steve D’Antonio, marine writer, photographer and marine systems expert; Jeff Merrill, marine writer and trawler expert; Lawrence Husick, marine writer and son of Chuck Husick; Alex Agnew, Ocean Navigator publisher; and Tim Queeney, ON editor.
