This thesis was conducted in collaboration with Kongsberg Maritime and aimed to develop a conceptual water quality package. The package was to be designed to reduce wear in propeller shaft bearings for marine applications while ensuring favorable ergonomic conditions for maintenance personnel. The project was motivated by the need for environmentally friendly alternatives to oil-lubricated bearings and the importance of maintaining high water quality to minimize bearing wear. 

The project followed the Double Diamond design methodology and explored the problem at hand through literature studies, competitor analyses, interviews and focus groups. In order to define and develop the project, common methods were used such as functional analysis, requirement specifications, weighted decision matrices, prototyping, FMEA and REBA analyses. Particular emphasis was placed on redundancy, maintainability and well-motivated design decisions.

The result was a conceptual water quality package integrated into an open water system featuring coarse filtration, cyclone filtration down to 100 microns, redundant functions and an ergonomic design. The solution was developed to ensure operational reliability while remaining easy to operate and maintain. The concept includes features such as automatic alarms, flow monitoring, service-oriented design adaptations and automatic flow-controll. CAD, sketches and modelling were used to visualize the concept.

The conclusion of the project is that it is possible to develop a water quality package that combines high redundancy with good ergonomic performance. Certain limitations were necessary to achieve the project outcome, and before the concept can be realized further testing, measurements and cost analyses should be conducted to evaluate the feasibility and relevance of the proposed solution.