Gurit supplies ETNZ's hydrogen fuel cell powered Chase Zero
by Gurit 3 Apr 2022 13:37 NZDT
Chase Zero Hydrogen chase boat © Gurit
The hydrogen fuel cell powered chase boat, Chase Zero, has just been launched, designed and built by Emirates Team New Zealand. As a long term official supplier to the America's Cup team, Gurit played a significant role in this project, providing a complete package of advanced composite materials and structural engineering support.
A ground-breaking project, the 10m foil-assisted catamaran includes concept, hand-built Toyota hydrogen fuel cell units, and was built and fitted out within 7 months.
Chase Zero features Gurit Corecell™ M structural foam core, which was developed specifically for marine applications, offering superior dynamic energy absorption, high shear elongation for impact resistance and is suitable for high temperature processing. Gurit's high performance epoxy prepregs, with excellent mechanical performance and a 35 year race yacht history, were used throughout the vessel.
The company's structural engineering team undertook optimisation analysis, particularly in way of the topsides and deck.
"As the design of the primary structures was well under way before final design of the systems, we had to incorporate some versatility," explains Tony Stanton, Engineering Manager, Gurit Asia Pacific. "The deck and topside hatches needed to be large enough to access the systems hardware; and also needed to be structural to keep the vessel's weight down (she has a displacement of just 4800kg). In addition, the aft compartment had to allow sufficient ventilation for the hydrogen tanks that it houses."
Gurit ran finite element analysis to optimise the hatches, creating a lightweight yet stiff platform, with as much open space as possible. The result is a unique lattice design on the deck.
Gurit has been a supplier to Emirates Team New Zealand, providing materials and technical support for the America's Cup yachts, for over 15 years. This collaboration continues with the hydrogen chase boats, the land speed craft and the AC40s currently in build at McConaghys China.
See the video of the Chase Zero launch here...