Date: Mar 03, 2014 Source: SBIR.gov (
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Monohull ship designs possess high drag coefficients and operate with limited efficiency. Multi-hull ship designs have the potential to offer less drag and greater operating efficiency over conventional displacement hull designs. In addition, captured air plenums can mitigate shock and reduce vibrations. M Ship Co. has developed M-hull technology, which offers a 50 percent reduction in the shock load on military personnel. This serves to reduce the incidence of injuries experienced by boat operators. The company's hull design is based on its proprietary modeling and simulation tool, which allows for optimizing trade-offs between speed, fuel consumption, ride, and various payloads. The design tool enables two models to be measured side by side in different sea states.
Military and Commercial Significance
M Ship Co. was awarded roughly $2 million in Congressional plus-up funding to develop safer vessels for warfighters.
The U.S. Southern Command has expressed interest in M Ship's technology relative to unmanned surface vehicles and unmanned underwater vehicles. In addition, the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command has shown interest in the technology for countermeasure applications.
The company has had private investing of approximately $2 million. In addition, M Ship's modeling technology has been used in two commercial projects. These include work on lobster boats on behalf of a nonprofit in Maine, which resulted in a 30 percent fuel savings, and work for the Cameron Deep Sea Diving Adventure in the Mariana Trench.
The technology is applicable to the commercial and recreation markets as well. It is especially useful to the unmanned maritime vehicle market.
