Marine vehicle with submersible electric thruster

A method of producing a marine vehicle, comprising:

• providing at least a hull of the marine vehicle;
• providing a submersible direct-drive water-cooled brushless electric thruster, including:
• a stator assembly having electrical windings;
• a protective barrier directly contacting the electrical windings such that the protective barrier completely covers the electrical windings;
• a rotor assembly having a plurality of magnets and a rotatable shaft configured to co-rotate together, the rotor assembly forming an internal cavity with the rotatable shaft extending at least partially within the internal cavity along a longitudinal axis, and with the plurality of magnets being arranged radially outwardly of at least a portion of the internal cavity about the rotatable shaft;
• a propeller connected to the rotor assembly such that the propeller is configured to co-rotate with the rotor assembly, wherein the propeller has at least one propeller blade configured to generate thrust and propel the vehicle during operation of the thruster when under water;
• wherein the stator assembly and the rotor assembly are assembled together, such that:
• (i) the electrical windings are disposed within the internal cavity of the rotor assembly, are arranged radially inwardly of the plurality of magnets, and are arranged radially outwardly about the rotatable shaft;
• (ii) a flow passage is provided that is configured to allow the internal cavity to be flooded with water to provide water-cooling when the thruster is submerged, and the protective barrier covering the windings is configured to prevent the flooded water from contacting the windings, and
• (iii) the plurality of magnets are configured to rotate about the electrical windings and protective barrier when driven by electromagnetic forces provided by the electrical windings during operation of the thruster in water thereby rotating the propeller and generating sufficient thrust to propel the marine vehicle through water;
• wherein the stator assembly is coupled to an annular nozzle such that the rotor and stator assemblies are disposed radially inwardly of the annular nozzle, the annular nozzle having an inlet opening and outlet opening configured to allow the water to flow therethrough;
• and
• mounting the submersible direct-drive water-cooled brushless electric thruster to the hull of the marine vehicle such that the thrust generated by the thruster translates to movement of the vehicle when in use in water.