223results about "Marine torpedoes" patented technology

An hybrid unmanned underwater vehicle comprises a body housing a controller; a vector thruster for propelling the body; deployable wings allowing the unmanned underwater vehicle to traverse by gliding as the unmanned underwater vehicle ascends and descends; a center-of-mass shifter for shifting a center-of-mass of the vehicle to allow the unmanned underwater vehicle to pitch up and pitch down; and one of a multi-stage buoyancy control system within the body and configured to adjust an apparent displacement of the unmanned underwater vehicle and an expandable outer shell configured to adjust an apparent displacement and therefore a buoyancy of the unmanned underwater vehicle.

Devices for navigating in a fluid medium having a solid boundary include a vehicle body and a fin attached to the vehicle body. The fin is configured to oscillate relative to the body such that interaction between the fin and the fluid medium produces propulsive forces that propel the vehicle body in a desired direction in the fluid medium. The fin is also configured to rotate relative to the body along a transverse axis such that engagement between the fin and the solid boundary propels the vehicle body in a desired direction on the solid boundary.

A closed-loop cooling system is provided for a hydrogen/oxygen based combustor. A combustion reaction between hydrogen and oxygen in the combustor produces steam. The steam is used to generate work from a turbine shaft, which is used to drive a propulsion system for the underwater vessel. After the steam passes through the turbine, the steam is cooled back to liquid water by a condenser that uses a seawater cooling loop to cool the steam into cold water. The cold water is then injected into the combustor, and pumped into passages along the walls of the combustor, thus absorbing the heat. The cold water absorbs this heat until it becomes hot water or steam, which is then injected into the combustor with the hydrogen and oxygen to act as a diluent, thus reducing the reaction temperature of the hydrogen/oxygen combustion reaction. The reaction produces more steam, and the cycle repeats.

The present invention relates to a transfer system for providing wireless data transfer, electrical power transfer and navigation between a mobile subsea vehicle and a deployed subsea station that uses acoustic and electromagnetic carrier signals for wireless communication and navigation. An inductive connector is provided for power transfer between mobile subsea vehicle and a deployed subsea station without conductive contact.

An assembly for determining speed of a supercavitating underwater vehicle during underwater travel includes a fin mounted on the vehicle aft of a cavitator portion of the vehicle and adapted to be extended outwardly beyond a hull of the vehicle and through a boundary of a gas-filled cavity around the vehicle to form a disturbance in the cavity boundary, which disturbance propagates along the boundary. An acoustic transmitter is mounted on the vehicle and directs acoustic energy toward the boundary and the disturbance. An acoustic receiver is mounted on the vehicle and receives acoustic energy reflected off the disturbance. An autopilot is mounted on the vehicle and clocks times of projection of the fin and acoustic transmission receptions of reflected acoustic energy to determine the speed of the vehicle through the water.

A supercavitating projectile is disclosed and includes a combustion chamber, a forward-directed jet nozzle and a comparatively larger gas duct/rear-directed jet nozzle. The combustion chamber is filled with a propellant having a hollowed core. The core serves as a pathway to fluidly allow combustion gases to the jet nozzles. In operation, the propellant combusts to form gasses forced forward through the forward-directed nozzle to generate a virtual cavitator in the form of a ventilation gas bubble. Combusted gasses are also forced out the rear-directed nozzle forming a propulsion jet. The projectile therefore uses the rear-directed jet to maintain a cruise velocity approximate to the launch velocity and employs a source of ventilation gas using the forward-directed jet for supercavitating of the projectile.

An undersea vehicle having both low emitted noise and low reflectivity is provided. The undersea vehicle has a hollow cylindrical hull with all components, sensors, electronics, motors, and other internal components with the exception of the propellers, located within the shell of the cylindrical hull. The hollow center of the hull provides a duct and propeller configuration with the shaping of the inlet tube designed to reduce forward noise transmissions, such as reflected active sonar signals and emitted noise. The internal duct gradually constricts to a throat section and thereafter diverges to an output section where dual counter-rotating propellers are located. The result is that most of the internal turbulent flow and the propeller noise is located behind the throat and is thereby reflected in the aft direction. Steering of the vehicle is accomplished by canting the leading edge intake section and the duct exhaust section.

A supercavitating water-entry projectile having empennage on the aft end which provides both aerodynamic and hydrodynamic stability and a supercavitating nose section is provided. A representative projectile is a subcaliber munition adapted for use in a 25 mm weapon using a sabot currently in use with the M919 round. The projectile has circumferential grooves around its center section to match these sabots. A key feature in the invention is the size and shape of the nose section. The projectile has a novel high strength extended blunt nose section followed by a truncated conical section which angles towards the body of the projectile in the range of five degrees. During underwater trajectory, the entire projectile is contained within the cavitation bubble formed by the blunt nose tip. The projectile's aft empennage, which provides both aerodynamic and hydrodynamic stability, fits within the bore of the weapon.

A hydrogen generation apparatus for an underwater vehicle is presented, the apparatus including a hydrolysis reaction compartment, a mass of solid lithium hydride disposed in the compartment, inlet and outlet structure for passing sea water through the compartment to generate steam, lithium hydroxide and hydrogen gas, a condenser for condensing out the steam and retaining the condensate and lithium hydroxide, and a tank for collecting the hydrogen gas, the tank having outlet structure for discharging the hydrogen gas to a vehicle propulsion system.

An unmanned underwater vehicle for use in water and with at least one acoustic signal source includes a vehicle body, a steering mechanism to direct the vehicle body through the water, a propulsion device to force the vehicle body through the water, and an adaptive Doppler guidance and control (ADGC) system. The ADGC system is configured to receive acoustic signals from the at least one acoustic signal source and to control the steering mechanism using changes in at least one frequency component of the received acoustic signals caused by Doppler shifts.

A surface ship, deck-launched anti-torpedo projectile is disclosed. The projectile has a blunt-end nose to create a cavitating running mode. The nose has a gradual, stepped, right-circular cylindrical or conic geometry. In some embodiments, the projectile includes a plurality of tail fins that are dimensioned and arranged to be within the generalized elliptical cavity that shrouds the projectile in the cavitating running mode.

The invention provides a resistance reduction-propulsion integrated structure of a manually-ventilated supercavitating torpedo. A traditional torpedo structure is changed, a cavitation bubble generator on the head portion of the traditional structure is omitted, and the head portion of the torpedo is made to be a plane; an engine jet pipe located on the tail portion of the torpedo is omitted, and four small engine jet pipes are arranged at the front end of the torpedo and evenly distributed in the upper direction, the lower direction, the left direction and the right direction; the included angle between the central axis of each jet pipe and the central axis of the torpedo is 10-15 degrees; by the adoption of the structure, the situation that the movement form is instable due to the fact that the front portion and the rear portion of the torpedo bear thrust at the same time is avoided, and meanwhile uniform thrust can be provided. The resistance reduction-propulsion integrated structure of the manually-ventilated supercavitating torpedo can be applied to low-speed movement and can also achieve high-speed movement; during low-speed movement, natural cavitation bubbles cannot be formed on the plane of the front portion of the torpedo, the engine jet pipes inject air so that a ventilation cavitation bubble can be formed nearby, the resistance of the portion covered with the cavitation bubble is reduced, the resistance reduction effect is achieved, and a propulsion system and a resistance reduction system of the torpedo are combined.

A marine vessel comprising a command module, first and second buoyant tubular foils, and first and second struts for connecting the first and second buoyant tubular foils to the command module, respectively, wherein the first and second buoyant tubular foils provide substantially all buoyancy required for the marine vessel, and wherein the marine vessel further comprises first and second engines enclosed within the first and second buoyant tubular foils, respectively, and first and second propulsion units connected to the first and second engines, respectively, for moving the marine vessel through water, and means for reducing drag on the vessel as the vessel moves through water.

A submersible vessel comprising:

• • an elongated hull;
  • at least one propeller mounted on a forward end of said hull and adapted to move said hull through water;
  • said at least one propeller being of a size and configuration such that when it is rotated at an appropriate speed, it generates supercavitated water flowing from said at least one propeller and thence along an outer surface of said hull so as to diminish friction on the outer surface of said hull and facilitate high underwater speeds.

Systems and methods for underwater descent rate reduction are provided. In one embodiment, a method for underwater descent rate reduction for an underwater delivery vehicle is provided. The method comprises: opening a first valve based on a first hydrostatic pressure to permit water to flow into a first chamber of a hydrostatic pressure driven piston assembly; developing a pressure differential across a piston head separating the first chamber from a second chamber of the hydrostatic pressure driven piston assembly; pushing the piston head into the second chamber to extend a piston rod from the hydrostatic pressure driven piston assembly; and pivoting a deflecting flap downward into a direction of vehicle descent as the piston rod extends.

A projectile having a cavity-running mode is provided with a mechanism for changing the diameter of its nose. Based on changed conditions, the diameter of the nose can be actively reduced or increased, as required, to maintain a desired value for the nose-to-body ratio of the projectile.

The invention belongs to the technical field of high-speed water inlet of moving objects, in particular to a reverse air jetting air bubble assisting high-speed water inlet reducing impact load mechanism. The load mechanism comprises a high-pressure gas cylinder, a gas channel, a fairing, an engine, a spray pipe, a tail wing, air holes, a high-speed gas jet hole, a moving body, an air cavity, an electronic pressure regulating valve, an electronic flowmeter, a computer control device and a threaded connection device; the fairing is connected to the head of the moving body through threads, a plurality of air holes are uniformly distributed in the head of the moving body in the circumferential direction, the air holes are in communication with the annular air cavity in the shell, the engine is used for supplying air to the air cavity through the air channel, the air cavity is connected with the high-speed gas jet hole, the high-pressure gas cylinder is connected with the high-speed gas jet hole through an air channel arranged with the electronic pressure regulating valve and the electronic flowmeter, and the spray pipe is located at the tail part of the device. The high-energy gas jetis used for tearing a notch in front of the moving body to make contact with the water, the moving body does not need to be decelerated, most of the load resistance of the front surface is avoided, and the problem of contradiction between speed and water inlet resistance is solved.

A mine neutralizing device that includes a buoy. The buoy includes a mine neutralizing device capable of swimming to an undersea mine to neutralize it. A method for neutralizing undersea mines includes locating an undersea mine, placing a buoy containing a mine neutralizer near the mine, and swimming the mine neutralizer to the undersea mine.

The invention provides a damping type buffering device for underwater entry of a navigation body. The damping type buffering device comprises a fairing, a buffering device body and an electromagnet device, wherein the head of the fairing is sealed, and the tail of the fairing is detachably connected with the outer wall of the head of a main elastic body; the buffering device body is arranged in the fairing, located between the head of the fairing and the head of the main elastic body and used for buffering the acting force between the main elastic body and the fairing after the main elastic body enters water; and the electromagnet device is installed in the head of the main elastic body and used for attracting the buffering device body. The damping type buffering device is used for head load reduction in the air-drop or medium-high-speed launching underwater entry process of the navigation body and can be suitable for the buffering load reduction purpose of vertical or large-angle inclined underwater entry of the navigation body at the speed of 20m/s to 100m/s. The damping type buffering device is simple in structure and convenient to implement and install, and different hydraulicdampers can be adjusted or replaced according to actual working conditions and requirements to achieve the load reduction purpose of different degrees.