Arcuate-winged submersible vehicles

Details Arcuate-winged submersible vehicles Arcuate-winged submersible vehicles

1999-07-19

2001-08-21

Swinehart, Ed (Department: 3617)

Ships

Submersible device

C114S245000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06276294

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to arcuate-winged submersible vehicles for use in, for example, underwater payload delivery and data acquisition, including hydrographic surveys for commercial, ecological, professional, or recreational purposes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Submersible vehicles are presently used for a wide variety of underwater operations, including inspection of telephone lines and pipe lines, exploration for natural resources, performance of bio-mass surveys of marine life, inspection of hulls of surface vessels or other underwater structures, and to search for shipwrecks and sunken relics. Submersible vehicles may be manned or unmanned, and may carry a wide variety of payloads. Furthermore, submersible vehicles may be towed by a surface vessel, or may be equipped with a propulsion unit for autonomous mobility. Overall, submersible vehicles are an important tool in the performance of a wide variety of hydrographic surveys for commercial, ecological, professional, or recreational purposes.
FIG. 1
shows a towed submersible vehicle
10
and related support equipment in accordance with the prior art. In this embodiment, the submersible vehicle
10
includes a hull
12
having a streamlined cylindrical body
13
. Several fins
14
project radially from the hull
12
as fixed control surfaces. The front (or bow) of the body
13
includes an open aperture
16
covered by a transparent window
18
. The body
13
has a substantially enclosed back (or stem)
20
and a tail section
22
which is attached to the back
20
and which has a vertical steering flap
24
and a horizontal steering flap
26
. The vertical and horizontal steering flaps
24
,
26
are actuated by a pair of actuators (not shown) which are disposed within a payload area
21
inside the body
13
. Actuator arms
28
extend through the back
20
of the hull
12
to actuate the vertical and horizontal steering flaps
24
,
26
.
The hull
12
also includes a tow point
30
located on an upper portion of the body
13
for attaching the submersible vehicle
10
to a tether or tow cable of a surface vessel. A pair of runners
32
are attached to the lower fins
14
to protect the vehicle from striking rocks or other objects on the ocean floor.
Support equipment for the submersible vehicle
10
includes a control unit
34
, which is connected to the submersible vehicle
10
by an umbilical
36
. Power is delivered to the submersible vehicle
10
through the umbilical
36
, and control signals from the controller
34
are transmitted through the umbilical
36
to the actuators for independently actuating the vertical steering flap
24
and the horizontal steering flap
26
. In the embodiment shown in
FIG. 1
, a viewing visor
38
may be connected by the umbilical
36
to a camera located within the payload compartment
21
which transmits photographic images of the underwater scene to the viewing visor
38
. A camera control box
40
is electronically coupled to the camera by the umbilical
36
, enabling an operator on the surface vessel to adjust the photographic images as desired.
In operation, the submersible vehicle
10
is towed behind a surface vessel over an area of interest, such as a pipeline, potential fishing area, or potential shipwreck area. Wearing the viewing visor
38
, the operator uses the controller
34
to control the movement of the submersible vehicle by adjusting the deflections of the vertical and horizontal steering flaps
24
,
26
. Lateral movement of the submersible vehicle
10
is controlled by deflecting the vertical steering flap
24
, causing the vehicle to turn to the right or left (i.e. “yaw”). The depth of the submersible vehicle
10
is controlled by deflecting the horizontal steering flap
26
, causing the bow of the vehicle to pitch up or down (i.e. “pitch”). In this way, the operator is able to control the flight of the submersible vehicle
10
over the areas of interest on the ocean floor to perform inspections or acquire desired information.
Although desirable results have been achieved using the prior art system, several characteristics of the submersible vehicle
10
leave room for improvement. For instance, when the vehicle
10
is being towed in a current, especially a current that flows across the direction of travel of the surface vessel, the submersible vehicle
10
may become unstable. Cross-currents tend to cause the submersible vehicle
10
to “roll” about a lengthwise axis so that the runners
32
may no longer remain below the vehicle for protection. The rolling of the submersible vehicle
10
may also interfere with or disable the data acquisition equipment contained within the payload section. Strong currents along the direction of travel of the surface vessel (i.e. along the freestream flow direction) may also hamper the controllability of the vehicle
10
.
Also, undesirable rolling characteristics are experienced when the submersible vehicle
10
is guided by the operator to a position that is laterally displaced to the sides of the surface vessel. That is, when the submersible vehicle
10
is flown out widely to the left or to the right of the surface vessel, the tether which is attached to the tow point
30
pulls on the tow point causing the vehicle to roll undesirably.
Furthermore, under some operating conditions, the shape and orientation of the fins
14
and the vertical and horizontal steering flaps
24
,
26
fail to provide the desired hydrodynamic stability and controllability of the submersible vehicle
10
. In rough seas and high currents, such as those which may be experienced in the fisheries of the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans, and in some areas commonly associated with shipwrecks in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, prior art submersible vehicles sometimes fail to provide adequate or required stability or maneuverability characteristics, including roll, pitch, and yaw control.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to arcuate-winged submersible vehicles with improved stability and maneuverability characteristics. In one embodiment, a vehicle includes a body having a pair of outwardly projecting at least partially arcuate wings, an adjustably positionable wing steering flap hingeably attached to each wing to provide at least partial control of the movement of the vehicle, at least one wing flap actuator coupled to the hull and to the wing steering flaps to controllably adjust the position of the wing flaps, a tail attached to the hull having an adjustably positionable hingeable tail steering flap to provide at least partial control of the movement of the vehicle, and at least one tail flap actuator coupled to the hull and to the tail steering flap to controllably adjust the position of the tail steering flap. The arcuate wings provide improved stability and maneuverability characteristics of the vehicle.
In alternate embodiments, a vehicle may include arcuate wings having a swept leading edge or a swept trailing edge, or both. Alternately, a vehicle may have arcuate wings each having a trailing edge with a substantially planar and a cutout area disposed therein, the wing steering flaps being attached to the arcuate wings and received within the cutout areas. In another embodiment, each arcuate wing has a rearwardly swept leading edge and a forwardly swept trailing edge that joins with the leading edge at a wing tip, and a ratio of a wingspan over a maximum distance from the leading edge to the trailing edge is approximately {fraction (3/2)}. In a further embodiment, each arcuate wing has a wing tip and a wing root attached to the hull, and the curvature of each arcuate wing is such that the wing tip is at approximately the same water line as the wing root.
In yet another embodiment, a vehicle has a tow assembly attached to the hull and coupleable with a tow cable for towing the vehicle behind a surface vessel or for launching and recovery of the vehicle. Alternately, the tow assembly may have an outwardly projecting tow plate hingeably attached to the hull and approximately aligned with a longitu

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