A long-range underwater vehicle with a retractable wing

Abstract

This invention discloses a long-range underwater vehicle with retractable wings, belonging to the technical field of underwater exploration equipment. It includes a vehicle body with a shell and a propulsion system. The vehicle body is characterized by further including a rotating shaft, retractable wings, and a wing drive motor. The rotating shaft is symmetrically mounted on both sides of the shell, forming a rotating pair with the shell. The axis of the rotating shaft is neither parallel nor intersecting with the axis of the vehicle body. Two retractable wings are respectively mounted on the rotating shaft. The wing drive motor is connected to and drives the rotating shaft to rotate. This vehicle, through the deployment and retraction of the retractable wings, can, from a physical structure perspective, possess both the gliding motion mode of an underwater glider with a sawtooth trajectory and the autonomous high-speed, constant-depth navigation mode of an autonomous underwater vehicle. It combines endurance and maneuverability, and features a simple structure and low failure rate.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the technical field of underwater detection equipment, and particularly relates to a long-range underwater vehicle with retractable wings. Background Technology

[0002] Underwater gliders with long wings have become increasingly popular due to their range exceeding 1,000 kilometers, while propeller-driven autonomous underwater vehicles have become commercially widespread due to their high maneuverability. However, due to the physical limitations of wings, long-range underwater vehicles that can achieve both range and high maneuverability have a broader application prospect.

[0003] Currently, long-range underwater vehicles mainly include the Tethys AUV from the United States, the Autosub LR AUV from the United Kingdom, and the HUGIN Endurance AUV from Norway. Some research institutions at home and abroad have begun to develop long-range underwater vehicles, but most of them achieve a significant increase in range by improving energy carrying capacity, control strategies, and drifting with the current. However, these approaches have drawbacks such as complex control algorithms and large overall tonnage. Designs that fundamentally integrate the navigation characteristics of two types of aircraft from a physical structure perspective to improve endurance are rare. For example, the patent number 201810508824.8, "A Large Heavy-Duty Hybrid-Drive Underwater Glider," disclosed in 2018, describes a large heavy-duty hybrid-drive underwater glider including a glider fuselage, buoyancy adjustment device, attitude adjustment device, folding wing device, and energy module. This technology solves the problem of combining the motion of multiple aircraft, but the folding wing device has many kinematic pairs, a complex transmission structure, and causes significant damage to the shape of the aircraft. It has an extremely high failure rate during long-distance ocean voyages, making it difficult to achieve widespread application, resulting in energy waste and even loss of the aircraft. Summary of the Invention

[0004] To address the problems existing in the prior art, this invention provides a long-range underwater vehicle with retractable wings that solves the current problem of underwater vehicles having both endurance and high maneuverability, and the few devices that do have both capabilities suffer from complex control algorithms, large overall weight, complex transmission structure, and high failure rate.

[0005] This invention is implemented as follows: a long-range underwater vehicle with retractable wings, comprising a vehicle body having a shell and a propulsion unit, characterized in that it further includes a pivot, a folding wing, and a wing drive motor; the pivot is symmetrically mounted on both sides of the shell, the pivot and the shell forming a revolute joint, the axis of the pivot is not parallel to and does not intersect with the axis of the vehicle body; two folding wings are respectively mounted on the pivot; the wing drive motor is connected to the pivot and drives the pivot to rotate; Establish a rectangular coordinate system O-xyz with an origin O on the axis of the aircraft body. The vector from the front vertex to the tail along the axis is Oz. The xoz plane is parallel to the horizontal plane, and the xoy plane is perpendicular to the aircraft axis. The wing trailing edge sweep angle is... When the tilting wing transitions from its horizontal deployed state to its retracted state, the tilting wing rotates by an angle around its axis of rotation. The axis vector k of the rotation shaft x k y k z The expressions for each component in the coordinate system xoy are: .

[0006] In the above technical solution, preferably, wing seats are symmetrically installed on both sides of the housing, the wing seats are provided with shaft holes, the rotating shaft is fitted into the shaft holes, and the rotating shaft and the wing seats form a rotating pair.

[0007] In the above technical solution, preferably, the wing seat has an outer seat portion located on the outside of the shell and an inner seat portion located on the inside of the shell, and a groove for engaging with the shell is formed between the outer seat portion and the inner seat portion, and a sealing ring for sealing the wing seat and the shell is provided in the groove.

[0008] In the above technical solution, preferably, the shaft hole is provided in the outer seat and the inner seat, the shaft hole passes through the inner and outer sides of the housing, the outer circumferential surface of the rotating shaft is provided with an annular sealing groove, and a sealing ring for sealing the rotating shaft and the wing seat is installed in the annular sealing groove.

[0009] In the above technical solution, preferably, the wing drive motor is located inside the housing, and the output shaft of the wing drive motor is connected to the rotating shaft.

[0010] In the above technical solution, preferably, the wing drive motor is mounted on the inner seat.

[0011] In the above technical solution, preferably, the wing drive motor is a dual-output shaft motor, one output shaft of the wing drive motor is connected to the rotating shaft, and the other output shaft of the wing drive motor is connected to an angle sensor, which is installed in the inner seat.

[0012] In the above technical solution, preferably, a wing connector is installed at the outer end of the rotating shaft, and the wing connector is used to fix the wing to the outer end of the rotating shaft.

[0013] In the above technical solution, preferably, the aircraft body includes a bow unit, a front unit, an attitude adjustment unit, a buoyancy adjustment unit and a tail unit arranged sequentially from front to back, and the tilting wing is installed on the front unit.

[0014] In the above technical solution, preferably, the bow unit includes a front fairing and a mission sensor; the attitude adjustment unit includes a guide rail and an attitude adjustment motor; the buoyancy adjustment unit includes a buoyancy motor, an oil pump, an inner oil tank and an outer oil bladder; the tail unit includes a communication unit, a rear fairing, a vertical tail rudder, a horizontal tail rudder, a jettison unit, a mission sensor and the thruster.

[0015] The advantages and effects of this invention patent application are: 1. The long-range underwater vehicle proposed in this application can, through the unfolding and retracting of its flipping wings, enable the underwater vehicle to possess, from a physical structure perspective, both the gliding motion mode of an underwater glider with a sawtooth trajectory and the autonomous high-speed, constant-depth navigation mode of an autonomous underwater vehicle, thus combining endurance and high maneuverability.

[0016] 2. The long-range underwater vehicle proposed in this application has a foldable and tiltable wing that can change the wing span: when the buoyancy-driven state, the tiltable wing is fully deployed, and the vehicle can have a high lift-to-drag ratio, thus achieving long-distance gliding; when the propeller-driven state, the plane of the tiltable wing is tangent to the outline of the vehicle's hull, which greatly reduces the lift-to-drag ratio, reduces the influence of the wing on the vehicle's pitch attitude, and effectively improves navigation accuracy; when the underwater vehicle dives from the water surface to a set depth or rises from a specific depth to the water surface, it can deploy the tiltable wing, thus achieving gliding descent or ascent, greatly increasing the vehicle's range.

[0017] 3. The folding mechanism of each wing in the long-range underwater vehicle proposed in this application consists of only one rotating pair, which is simple in structure, reliable in transmission, has a low failure rate, and causes little damage to the shape of the vehicle.

[0018] 4. The two tilting wings in the long-range underwater vehicle proposed in this application can move independently. One tilting wing can be retracted and the other tilting wing can be deployed to achieve turning motion. At the same time, it can also move in coordination with the vertical tail rudder to further reduce the turning radius of the vehicle and improve the maneuverability of the vehicle. Attached Figure Description

[0019] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall design of the long-range underwater vehicle with retractable wings according to the present invention.

[0020] Figure 2 This is a general schematic diagram of the long-range underwater vehicle with retractable wings of the present invention when the wings are retracted.

[0021] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the retractable and deployable wing unit structure of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 4 This is a cross-sectional view of the retractable and deployable wing unit of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0023] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this invention clearer, the invention will be further described in detail below with reference to embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative and not intended to limit the invention.

[0024] To address the current challenge of simultaneously achieving both endurance and high maneuverability in underwater vehicles, and the fact that the few devices that do possess both suffer from complex control algorithms, large overall weight, complex transmission structures, and high failure rates, this invention provides a long-range underwater vehicle with retractable wings. This vehicle combines endurance and maneuverability, and features a simple structure and low failure rate. To further illustrate the structure of this invention, a detailed description is provided below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings: Please see Figures 1-4 A long-range underwater vehicle with retractable wings includes a vehicle body, which has a hull and a propulsion system. The vehicle body refers to the main body of the equipment with basic underwater navigation and detection functions. In this embodiment, the vehicle body includes a bow unit 1, a front unit 2, an attitude adjustment unit 3, a buoyancy adjustment unit 4, and a tail unit 5 arranged sequentially from front to rear. The outer shells of the bow unit, front unit, attitude adjustment unit, buoyancy adjustment unit, and tail unit form a cylindrical vehicle outer shell with a front fairing.

[0025] In this embodiment, specifically: The bow section includes a front fairing, mission sensors, a front sealing end cap, and a counterweight. The front fairing and mission sensors are conformally designed; the mission sensors can be of various types, such as temperature, salinity, depth, acoustic, visual, and chlorophyll sensors. The counterweight is used to adjust the initial relationship between the overall weight and buoyancy.

[0026] The forward unit is a structural unit located at the front of the vehicle. The forward unit includes an energy module, an outer shell, and a connecting ring. The connecting ring is a component used to connect the outer shell of the forward unit to the outer shell of adjacent units. Its structure and connection method are conventional and known technologies.

[0027] The attitude adjustment unit is a functional unit for adjusting the navigation attitude of the underwater vehicle. It includes an outer shell, a connecting ring, an energy module, a guide rail, and an attitude adjustment motor. The energy module serves as the power supply for the underwater vehicle and can also move along the guide rail under the drive of the attitude adjustment motor, thereby adjusting the center of gravity and attitude of the entire machine. The axis of the guide rail is parallel to the axis of the underwater vehicle.

[0028] The buoyancy adjustment unit is a functional unit used to control the surfacing and diving of the underwater vehicle. It includes an outer shell, motor, oil pump, internal oil tank and external oil bladder. The volume of the internal oil tank is adjustable. The function of the entire buoyancy adjustment unit is to control the displacement volume of the underwater vehicle.

[0029] The tail section includes a rear end cover, a communication unit, a rear fairing, a horizontal tail rudder 5-1, a vertical tail rudder 5-2, a jettison module, mission sensors, and a thruster 5-3. The jettison module is connected to the rear end cover via an electromagnet, the magnetic force of which disappears when energized. The vertical tail rudder consists of two identical upper and lower control surfaces, driven coaxially by a single drive motor. The horizontal tail rudder consists of two identical left and right control surfaces, driven coaxially by a single drive motor. The jettison unit is located at the lower part of the tail section. In this embodiment, the thruster is a propeller thruster.

[0030] The aforementioned bow unit, front unit, attitude adjustment unit, buoyancy adjustment unit, and tail unit are conventional and known structures. This application does not limit the specific structure of the aforementioned units. Any vehicle component assembly with a propulsion system and underwater autonomous navigation capability can be applied to this technical solution.

[0031] It also includes a pivot 6, a tilting wing 7, and a wing drive motor 8. The pivot, tilting wing, and wing drive motor constitute the retractable wing assembly fitted to the aircraft.

[0032] Specifically, rotating shafts are symmetrically installed on both sides of the shell, forming a rotating pair with the shell. The axis of the rotating shaft is neither parallel nor intersecting with the axis of the aircraft body. In this embodiment, wing mounts 9 are symmetrically installed on both sides of the shell. The wing mount is a seat component for mounting the rotating shaft to the aircraft shell. The wing mount has an outer seat portion 9-2 located on the outside of the shell and an inner seat portion 9-2 located on the inside of the shell. A groove 9-3 is formed between the outer seat portion and the inner seat portion to engage with the shell. The outer seat portion and the inner seat portion are two connected parts of the wing mount. When the wing mount is installed in the shell, the outer seat portion is located on the outside of the shell, and the inner seat portion is located on the inside of the shell. The groove is an annular groove structure for securing the shell plates. The outer seat portion and the inner seat portion are respectively pressed against the outer shell surface and the inner shell surface of the shell. A sealing ring is provided in the groove for sealing the wing mount and the shell.

[0033] The wing mount has a shaft hole, and the rotating shaft is fitted into the shaft hole, forming a revolute pair with the wing mount. With the shaft fitted into the shaft hole, it has the freedom to rotate around its own axis. This structural method of forming a revolute pair between a sleeve component and a shaft is a conventional and known technique in the mechanical field. The rotating shaft uses the wing mount as its mounting base and can rotate around its own axis. The shaft hole is located in the outer and inner seat parts, penetrating the inner and outer sides of the shell. The outer end of the rotating shaft extends beyond the outer side of the aircraft shell, while the inner end is located inside the shell. The outer circumferential surface of the rotating shaft has an annular sealing groove, in which a sealing ring is installed to seal the connection between the rotating shaft and the wing mount.

[0034] Two tilting wings are respectively mounted on the rotating shaft. In this embodiment, the tilting wings are plate-shaped structures, and a wing connector 10 is installed at the outer end of the rotating shaft. The wing connector is used to fix the tilting wings to the outer end of the rotating shaft. Specifically, the wing connector includes a sleeve 10-1 connected to the end of the rotating shaft. This sleeve is interference-fitted with the end of the rotating shaft to ensure that there is no intersecting movement between them. The sleeve has a side clamping plate 10-2 integrally formed with it. This side clamping plate is connected to another detachable side clamping plate by fasteners. The two side clamping plates are located on both sides of the tilting wing connector. The tilting wings are connected to the rotating shaft by clamping the two side clamping plates. Corresponding through holes are machined in the side clamping plates and the tilting wings. The tilting wings are clamped by bolts and nuts passing through the corresponding through holes. The angle design of the plate surfaces of the sleeve and the side clamping plates determines the positional relationship between the tilting wings and the axis of the rotating shaft.

[0035] Establish a Cartesian coordinate system O-xyz with the front vertex of the aircraft body as the origin O. The vector along the aircraft body's axis from the front vertex to the tail is Oz. The xoz plane is parallel to the horizontal plane, and the xoy plane is perpendicular to the aircraft axis. The wing trailing edge sweep angle is... When the tilting wing transitions from its horizontal deployed state to its retracted state, the tilting wing rotates by an angle around its axis of rotation. The axis vector k of the rotation shaft x k y k z The expressions for each component in the coordinate system xoy are: ; Here, s represents the sine function sin.

[0036] The wing drive motor is connected to and drives the rotating shaft to rotate. In this embodiment, the wing drive motor is located inside the housing, and its output shaft is connected to the rotating shaft. The wing drive motor is mounted in the inner seat. The wing drive motor is a dual-output-shaft motor; one output shaft is connected to the rotating shaft, and the other output shaft is connected to an angle sensor, which is mounted in the inner seat.

[0037] The above are merely preferred embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, and improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A long-range underwater vehicle with retractable wings, comprising a vehicle body having a hull and a propulsion system, characterized in that, Also includes: The rotating shafts are symmetrically mounted on both sides of the housing, forming a rotating pair with the housing. The axis of the rotating shafts is neither parallel to nor intersects with the axis of the vehicle body. The two tilting wings are respectively mounted on the rotating shaft; A wing drive motor, which is connected to the rotating shaft and drives the rotating shaft to rotate; Establish a rectangular coordinate system O-xyz with an origin O on the axis of the aircraft body. The vector from the front vertex to the tail along the axis is Oz. The xoz plane is parallel to the horizontal plane, and the xoy plane is perpendicular to the aircraft axis. The wing trailing edge sweep angle is... When the tilting wing transitions from its horizontal deployed state to its retracted state, the tilting wing rotates by an angle around its axis of rotation. The axis vector k of the rotation shaft x k y k z The expressions for each component in the coordinate system xoy are: ； The wing mounts are symmetrically mounted on both sides of the housing. The wing mounts are provided with shaft holes, and the rotating shaft is fitted into the shaft holes. The rotating shaft and the wing mounts form a rotating pair.

2. The long-range underwater vehicle with retractable wings according to claim 1, characterized in that, The wing mount has an outer mount portion located on the outside of the housing and an inner mount portion located on the inside of the housing. A groove is formed between the outer mount portion and the inner mount portion to engage with the housing. A sealing ring for sealing the wing mount with the housing is provided in the groove.

3. A long-range underwater vehicle with retractable wings according to claim 2, characterized in that, The shaft hole is provided in the outer seat and the inner seat, and the shaft hole passes through the inner and outer sides of the housing. The outer circumferential surface of the rotating shaft is provided with an annular sealing groove, and a sealing ring for sealing the rotating shaft and the wing seat is installed in the annular sealing groove.

4. A long-range underwater vehicle with retractable wings according to claim 3, characterized in that, The wing drive motor is located inside the housing, and the output shaft of the wing drive motor is connected to the rotating shaft.

5. A long-range underwater vehicle with retractable wings according to claim 4, characterized in that, The wing drive motor is mounted on the inner seat.

6. A long-range underwater vehicle with retractable wings according to claim 5, characterized in that, The wing drive motor is a dual-output shaft motor. One output shaft of the wing drive motor is connected to the rotating shaft, and the other output shaft of the wing drive motor is connected to an angle sensor, which is installed in the inner seat.

7. A long-range underwater vehicle with retractable wings according to claim 6, characterized in that, The outer end of the rotating shaft is equipped with a wing connector, which is used to fix the wing to the outer end of the rotating shaft.

8. A long-range underwater vehicle with retractable wings according to claim 1 or 7, characterized in that, The aircraft body includes a bow unit, a front unit, an attitude adjustment unit, a buoyancy adjustment unit, and a tail unit arranged sequentially from front to back, with the tilting wing mounted on the front unit.

9. A long-range underwater vehicle with retractable wings according to claim 8, characterized in that, The bow unit includes a forward fairing and a mission sensor; the attitude adjustment unit includes a guide rail and an attitude adjustment motor; the buoyancy adjustment unit includes a buoyancy motor, an oil pump, an internal oil tank, and an external oil bladder; the stern unit includes a communication unit, a rear fairing, a vertical tail rudder, a horizontal tail rudder, a jettison unit, a mission sensor, and the propulsion unit.

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