A New Marine Transmission Family From ZF

ZF Friedrichshafen said its new marine transmission family for outputs up to 3000 kW in multiple transmission ratios, housing sizes and variants offers manufacturers flexibility for new build projects and retrofits.

The ZF 8000 covers a range of applications, from coast guard vessels and yachts to ferries, supply ships and small tankers. An additional power take-in makes it possible to integrate an electric motor for hybrid functions.  The ZF 8000 marine transmission family also fulfills current requirements of international classification societies – and is ready to face future regulations. Convincing arguments for the advanced transmission include a higher power density, more robust housing and an optimized power-to-weight ratio. A large offering of possible power take-offs covers a wide variety of customer-specific requirements. Thanks to an optional sub-shaft, the ZF 8000 can be coupled with an electric drive, which enables vessels to maneuver with zero fuel and emissions, ZF said.

The modular, compact design of the transmission saves installation space and weight and also allows for flexible installation in the ship’s hull. Both a parallel installation with a vertical offset and a down-angle concept are available. The same goes for U or V configurations.

With its new model family, ZF integrated an electric control unit. In addition, the company said it will be able to deliver the ZF 8000 together with a flexible coupling, electronic pump, control unit and digital status monitoring in the future.

ZF said that thanks to the proven concept of the transmission family platforms, many components can be shared in the different variants. This optimizes warehousing for necessary replacement parts.

Series prototypes are planned for the first quarter of 2019.