Research & Development

R&D
CJR’s philosophy is to never rest on its laurels and to continually strive to remain at the forefront of propeller design and manufacturing technology. The industry continues to move forward particularly with advances in marine diesel technology and boat construction techniques. To this end we have an ongoing ‘no compromise’ Research and Development programme constantly evaluating and advancing our propeller designs to improve performance, efficiency and smoothness of operation. In addition, and equally as importantly, the R&D programme extends to our manufacturing practices where we continually adopt new techniques and invest in new machinery.

Propeller Design
Using a unique and highly complex software programme developed for CJR at the CTO in Gdansk incorporating Lifting Surface Theory and integrated with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), we are able to test our designs in a virtual world that replicates real world conditions. This enables us to gather valuable data before validating the designs using models in laboratory tests and finally in full size sea trials. The ability to electronically recreate real world conditions, and to predict performance with incredible accuracy, dramatically speeds up the design process. This 'appliance of science' does away with the traditional trial and error approach so typical of the industry.

Manufacturing R&D
We make extensive use of state of the art CNC machinery in the manufacture of our shafts and stern gear. We now have the capability to fully CNC machine our propellers on our recently acquired Mazak Integrex e-VII SERIES 1060V/8 machining centre; the ultimate method for reproducing a perfect finish every time and with absolute accuracy. In order to get the best out of this phenomenal machine, we have developed bespoke integration software using visual recognition technology. And it goes on….2008 will see the introduction of a robotic finishing cell at CJR to further enhance the quality and accuracy of our products and reduce the reliance on manual finishing techniques. Much of the technology we utilise is developed in the aerospace industry where quality and accuracy are the number one considerations and compromise is simply not an option. The benefits of this dedication to research and development are many and varied, but include:-

* Improved performance, responsiveness and manoeuvrability
* Smoother running and quieter operation
* Improved efficiency
* Longer working life for the whole shaft line and drive train
* Increased range
* Reduced emissions
* First trial acceptance
* Faster turnaround from concept to reality