Ships – Towing or pushing – Submerged object
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-06
2004-03-02
Swinehart, Ed (Department: 3617)
Ships
Towing or pushing
Submerged object
C114S312000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06698373
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to submersible vehicles, or more particularly, to methods and apparatus for hull attachment for submersible vehicles having improved adjustability, maintainability, integrity, reliability, and overall improved mission performance.
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.
Another drawback of prior art submersible vehicles
10
is the manner in which various exterior devices are attached to the body
13
of the hull
12
. For example,
FIG. 9
is an enlarged, partial isometric view of the hull
12
of the submersible vehicle
10
of FIG.
1
. As shown in
FIG. 9
, one of the fins
14
is attached to the body
13
by a plurality of weld points
50
, and the tow point
30
is attached to the body
13
by additional weld points
52
. Also, a mount
54
for attaching various external equipment (e.g. lights, cameras, instrumentation, etc.) to the hull
12
includes a base member
56
that is attached to the body
13
by a plurality of weld points
51
. A threaded aperture
58
is disposed in the base member
56
to enable various external equipment to be mounted to the hull
12
. Of course, in other prior art vehicles, the number of weld points
50
,
51
,
52
may be greater or fewer than that shown in FIG.
9
.
The prior art methods of attaching devices to the body
13
of the hull
12
by welding has several drawbacks. For example, the weld points
50
,
51
,
52
are susceptible to rust, particularly in a seawater environment, and may eventually become weakened. Additionally, the extremely high temperatures involved in the prior art methods of welding the fins
14
and other devices to the body
13
of the hull
12
may result in warpage or other deformities of the local area of the hull
12
proximate to the weld points
50
,
51
,
52
. Such deformities may undesirably degrade the accuracy with which the external equipment is positioned on the hull
12
, or may even degrade the strength and integrity of the hull
12
, particularly for hulls
12
designed to withstand extreme pressures. Yet another disadvantage of the prior art methods of attachment is that once a device (e.g. a fin
14
or a tow point
30
) is welded to the body
13
of the hull
12
, it becomes difficult to remove for repairs or re-configuration of the vehicle
10
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to improved methods and apparatus for hull attachment for submersible apparatus. The inventive attachm
Geriene Krist
Geriene Marc
Black Lowe & Graham PLLC
Swinehart Ed
LandOfFree
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