Thermal Glider AUV
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Friday, 8 of February , 2008 at 8:24 am
This torpedoey looking AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle) is, at first glance, fairly unremarkable… It carries onboard sensors to measure temperature, salinity, conductivity, depth, and biological productivity, with a GPS surface navigation system and an Iridium satellite data connection. It’s 1.5 meters long, and weighs about 60 kg. So what’s the cool part? Well, although it only has a top speed of about half a meter per second, it can keep that up for five years, giving it a range of about 40,000 (!) kilometers, which is just shy of a complete circumnavigation of the Earth at the equator (assuming such a thing were possible for a submarine). This AUV achieves such efficiency thanks to its propulsion system, which uses the temperature differential between the warm surface of the ocean and the cooler water below to create motion. Basically, the glider oscillates between floating up toward the warmer temperature and then sinking back down toward the cooler temperature, and its wings convert that vertical motion into horizontal motion.
This is the XRay, a large thermal glider AUV being developed by the US Navy. It’s designed to patrol large areas of ocean and coastlines for extended periods of time (6 months or so), hunting for submarines. Since it doesn’t have an engine, it’s virtually undetectable, and thanks to its hydrodynamic hull, it should be able to reach speeds of up to 3 knots (almost 4 mph).
Really boring video showing the thermal propulsion system in action, after the jump.
[ Webb Research Thermal Glider ] VIA [ Reuters ]
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Comment by obviator
Made Sunday, 10 of February , 2008 at 12:09 am
Just found this blog through one of your videos on You Tube. This is incredible. Had no ideas such a propulsion idea existed.