Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP
Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP

Industrialized construction

EcoCab - Development of sustainable low-energy cabins for the shipbuilding industry

digital twin of a passenger cabin
© Fraunhofer IBP
Empirically validated digital twin of a passenger cabin.

A modern cruise ship consists of more than 3000 passenger cabins in addition to public and technical areas. As a result, cabins account for a large proportion of the materials used to build an entire ship. Therefore, they can also make a major contribution to sustainability in the shipbuilding industry. Furthermore, a significant proportion of a ship’s energy consumption goes towards ensuring the desired comfort and coziness in the cabins. By developing innovative concepts and technical solutions for efficient and sustainable ship cabins, the joint EcoCab project will decisively contribute to the development of a holistic strategy for improving sustainability throughout the shipbuilding industry.

 

Project goals

Within the scope of the "EcoCab" project, Fraunhofer IBP is currently creating a digital development platform - a so-called digital twin - with a focus on thermal comfort as well as on hygrothermal component behavior. The aim is to significantly accelerate the solution-finding process and thus also the quality of solutions in the development process. In the future, the effects of new solution approaches can thus be digitally and realistically assessed with much less effort and integrated into the decision-making process. Fraunhofer IBP's contribution to the project also involves the consideration of life cycle costs (LCC). A life cycle cost (LCC) model ensures a holistic cost model because it takes into account the use and dismantling phases as well as the service life of the respective solution components. In order to develop an energy-efficient and sustainable cabin solution, it is therefore crucial to take an integrated approach. 

Project partners

  • German Aerospace Center
  • Institute for Networked Energy Systems MEYER WERFT GmbH & Co.KG
  • Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP
  • EPEA Internationale Umweltforschung GmbH
  • MAC Hamburg GmbH
  • Leuphana University Lüneburg
 

© Fraunhofer IBP

Digital building twin

The digital twin of a real building enables its dynamic behavior to be analyzed with numerical simulation tools under different boundary conditions, thus generating an accurate basis for informed decisions.

Flyer "Digital Building Twin" (only German)
 

© Shutterstock/Nadezda Murmakova

Life cycle costs

Life cycle cost analysis includes, in particular, the technical and economic aspects of process and product developments, variant comparisons, etc.

Life cycle costs