Cargo underwater vehicle

Abstract

FIELD: marine facilities.SUBSTANCE: self-propelled underwater vehicles designed to deliver cargo to a designated location. A cargo underwater vehicle designed for the covert delivery of a cargo compartment with technical equipment to a remote sea area has an onboard control system with a power source, located in the instrument compartment and ensuring the operation of the underwater vehicle's control devices, its orientation in space and movement along a specified route to the cargo delivery point, a power plant and a propeller, ensuring the movement of the underwater vehicle in the water, drives for horizontal and vertical rudders with their rotation mechanisms. The on-board control system of the underwater vehicle includes a device for contactless reception of data from the carrier's control system; there is a unit for attaching the cargo compartment to the underwater vehicle with electromechanical locks with the ability to separate it upon command from the on-board control system. The underwater vehicle has the ability to control its buoyancy and trim using a compressed gas cylinder, a gas supply valve with a drive, and ballast tanks in the bow and stern sections, which have an exhaust valve and an inlet valve with a drive. There is a device for extending the supporting wing with a drive and a mechanism for its rotation and the ability to move longitudinally along the body of the underwater vehicle in accordance with a change in the location of its center of mass. When stored on the carrier, the wing is designed to fold without extending beyond the dimensions of the underwater vehicle, and when launched and moving in the water, it has the ability to extend from the body and create the necessary lifting force.EFFECT: covert delivery of technical equipment is enabled, including both stationary facilities and mobile multi-purpose underwater vehicles and marine robotic systems, to a remote maritime area, their unloading at a designated point and subsequent return to the base or transfer to a designated area for further use.1 cl, 5 dwg

Description

[0001] The invention relates to the field of marine technology, including self-propelled underwater vehicles designed to deliver cargo to a designated location.

[0002] The first self-propelled underwater vehicle was a torpedo, invented in 1865 by the Russian mechanic I.F. Aleksandrovsky, who presented a design for a "self-propelled torpedo" to the Minister of the Navy, Admiral N.K. Krabbe. The design was rejected by him and deemed irrelevant and premature [1]. Another torpedo design by the English industrialist R. Whitehead, based on the same principles, appeared a year later. Thanks to his enterprise, he organized industrial production of torpedoes at his mechanical plant in the Austrian city of Fiume, and by 1873 he began supplying torpedoes to leading maritime powers, including Russia [1].

[0003] A modern torpedo is a self-propelled, self- or remotely controlled underwater projectile carrying a warhead and designed to destroy ships and vessels, as well as hydraulic structures located near the water's edge. Structurally, its warhead contains an explosive charge, detonators (contact and non-contact), and an onboard control system (OCS). Torpedoes are classified by their power plant as thermal or electric [2, p. 431].

[0004] Today, there are a large number of self-propelled underwater vehicles used not only in the military, but also in science, industry, navigation, geological exploration, oceanography and other fields. These are search, attack, jamming and rescue autonomous unmanned underwater vehicles (AUVs), as well as marine robotic systems (MRTS) [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9],

[10] ,

[11] ,

[12] . For their movement, they have a power plant and a propulsion unit. Self-propelled underwater vehicles differ in the type of power plant, range and purpose. Some underwater vehicles are used to deliver technical equipment to remote areas. For example, the self-transporting mine Mark 67 SLMM (Submarine Launched Mobile Mine), which has been in service with the US Navy since 1982. and equipped with a propulsion system, it delivers a bottom mine to a distance of up to 15 km. Another self-transporting mine is the Mk-76 (1987).) The US Navy delivers a bottom mine at a speed of 40-50 knots to a range of up to 50 km

[13] .

[0005] These self-propelled mines are based on the Mk-37 and Mk-48 torpedoes and share their inherent shortcomings. Under current conditions, the mines' existing delivery range is insufficient and does not ensure their stealth, as modern submarine detection systems are capable of detecting them at such a distance. The noise of the mines' propulsion system and propeller at speeds of 40-50 knots also reveals their use. The mine's integral undercarriage at the deployment point facilitates its detection using magnetometric and acoustic detectors. A significant increase in the mines' delivery range, a reduction in their noise characteristics, and changes to their design elements, as well as their hydrodynamic properties and performance, are required.

[0006] Thus, the development of a special cargo underwater vehicle equipped with a multi-mode propulsion system and a detachable cargo compartment, capable of delivering the required technical equipment, including mines, search, jamming, strike and rescue AUVs and MRTKs, to a remote sea area, unloading them at a designated point, and the underwater vehicle itself returning to the base or to a designated location, is a pressing task.

[0007] The prototype of the proposed invention is a self-transporting mine

[13] , which is a self-propelled underwater vehicle having an instrument compartment with control devices, electrical or mechanical devices for inputting data into control devices that form a route of movement, a compartment with an energy source, a compartment with a power plant - an engine that converts the energy of the source into the thrust of a propeller (propeller), as well as horizontal and vertical rudders with mechanisms for turning them.

[0008] The purpose of the invention is to develop a cargo underwater vehicle with a multi-mode propulsion system and a detachable cargo compartment, capable of covertly delivering technical equipment to a remote sea area, unloading it and returning to the base or to a designated location.

[0009] The stated goal is achieved by proposing a cargo underwater vehicle designed for the covert delivery of a cargo compartment with technical equipment to a remote sea area, having:

[0010] - an onboard control system with a power source, located in the instrument compartment and ensuring the operation of the underwater vehicle’s control devices, its orientation in space and movement along a given route to the cargo delivery point,

[0011] - a power plant and a propulsion unit that ensure the movement of the underwater vehicle in the water,

[0012] - horizontal and vertical rudder drives with their rotation mechanisms,

[0013] characterized by the fact that

[0014] - the on-board control system of the underwater vehicle includes a device for contactless reception of data from the carrier control system,

[0015] - there is a unit for attaching the cargo compartment to the underwater vehicle with electromechanical locks that separate it upon command from the on-board control system,

[0016] - the underwater vehicle has the ability to control its buoyancy and trim using a compressed gas cylinder, a gas supply valve with a drive and ballast tanks in the bow and stern sections, which have an outlet valve and an inlet valve with a drive,

[0017] - there is a device for extending the supporting wing with a drive and a mechanism for its rotation and the ability to move longitudinally along the body of the underwater vehicle in accordance with the change in the location of its center of mass; when stored on the carrier, the wing folds and does not extend beyond the dimensions of the underwater vehicle; when launched and moving in water, it extends from the body and creates the necessary lifting force.

[0018] It is known that to increase the cruising range of an underwater vehicle and reduce noise, it should operate at low speed. The cruising range of an underwater vehicle is calculated using an indicator that determines the vehicle's performance characteristics

[18] ,

[19] :

[0019] XK=DV 2 , (1)

[0020] where ХК is the running quality, D is the cruising range, V is the speed of movement.

[0021] However, as the underwater vehicle's speed decreases, having negative buoyancy, it begins to dive. The onboard control system shifts the rudders to the ascent position, increases its trim by the stern and the angle of attack to the oncoming water flow, increases the area of ​​the cross-section streamlined by the water, and decreases the horizontal component of the propulsion thrust. This results in additional energy losses, leading to a reduction in the underwater vehicle's range compared to calculations. Thus, the US Navy's Mk48 multi-mode torpedo has a range of 38 km at a speed of 55 knots, and only 50 km at a speed of 40 knots instead of the 72 km calculated using formula (1)

[18] . Therefore, formula (1) is transformed to the form:

[0022]

[0023] where k is the correction factor for a specific underwater vehicle. In the specified speed range, the correction factor for the Mk48 torpedo is 0.69. This also includes the efficiency losses of the power plant and auxiliary mechanisms [19, p. 222].

[0024] The technical implementation of the proposed invention is shown in the figures:

[0025] Fig. 1. General structure of the cargo underwater vehicle, side view;

[0026] Fig. 2. General structure of the cargo underwater vehicle, top view;

[0027] Fig. 3. Cargo underwater vehicle on the route of movement to the cargo delivery point at low speed;

[0028] Fig. 4. Cargo underwater vehicle after unloading on the route of movement to the base at low speed;

[0029] Fig. 5. Cargo underwater vehicle after unloading on the route of movement to the designated point at average speed.

[0030] Fig. 1 and 2 show the general structure of the cargo underwater vehicle, Fig. 1 is a side view, Fig. 2 is a top view. The numbers indicate: 1 - cargo compartment, 2 - cargo underwater vehicle hull, 3 - bow ballast tank, 4 - electromechanical lock, 5 - compressed gas cylinder, 6 - inlet and outlet valves, 7 - device for inputting (receiving) data into the on-board control system, 8 - on-board control system, 9 - wing rotation and movement mechanism, 10 - wing, 11 - power compartment, 12 - niche, 13 - stern ballast tank, 14 - engine, 15 - steering machines, 16 - vertical rudders (rudders), 17 - depth rudders, 18 - propeller.

[0031] Fig. 3 shows a top view of the cargo underwater vehicle during its movement to the cargo delivery area, Fig. 4 shows the cargo underwater vehicle during its movement upon returning to the base at low speed, Fig. 5 shows the cargo underwater vehicle during its movement to the base or to the designated point at medium speed over a shorter distance, which is ensured by a smaller angle of extension of the wing, which creates a lifting force corresponding to the speed of movement and buoyancy of the underwater vehicle.

[0032] The technical result of the proposed invention is a device for a cargo underwater vehicle used for the covert delivery of technical equipment to a remote marine area, including both stationary objects and mobile multi-purpose underwater vehicles and marine robotic systems, their unloading at a given point and subsequent return to the base or transfer to a designated area for the purpose of further use.

[0033] Sources of information used to identify the invention and compile its description:

[0034] 1. Yu. L. Korshunov, G. V. Uspensky. Torpedoes of the Russian fleet. St. Petersburg: Gangut Publishing House, 1993.

[0035] 2. Torpedo. Naval Dictionary / Ed.-in-chief V.N. Chernavin. Moscow: Voenizdat, 1989. 511 p. P. 431.

[0036] 3. Autonomous underwater robots: systems and technologies / M.D. Ageev, L.V. Kiselev, Yu.V. Matvienko et al.; edited by M.D. Ageev. Moscow: Nauka, 2002. 398 p. ISBN 5-02-033526-6.

[0037] 4. I. Belousov. Modern and prospective unmanned underwater vehicles of the US Navy / / Foreign Military Review No. 5, 2013. P. 79-88.

[0038] 5. Autonomous underwater vehicles. Materials from the website of the Institute of Marine Technology Problems, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2002.

[0039] 6. Patent for invention RU 2681609. Method of delivering a rescue vehicle. Moscow: FIPS, 2019. Bulletin No. 8. 7 p.

[0040] 7. Patent for invention RU 2736659. Self-propelled underwater vehicle. Moscow: FIPS, 2020. Bulletin No. 32. 5 p.

[0041] 8. Patent for invention RU 2709058. Mobile hydroacoustic buoy-beacon and method for navigation equipment of a sea area. Moscow: FIPS, 2019. Bulletin No. 35. 13 p.

[0042] 9. Patent for invention RU 2724218. Underwater vehicle with a net trawl. Moscow: FIPS, 2020. Bulletin No. 18. 12 p.

[0043] 10. Patent for invention RU 2753658. Autonomous underwater vehicle for clearing marine areas of floating underwater objects. Moscow: FIPS, 2021. Bulletin No. 23. 17 p.

[0044] 11. Patent for invention RU 2755751. Mobile acoustic reflector. Moscow: FIPS, 2021. Bulletin No. 27. 12 p.

[0045] 12. Patent for invention RU 2766365. Controlled mobile hydroacoustic buoy-beacon. Moscow: FIPS, 2022. Bulletin No. 8. 14 p.

[0046] 13. Internet resource: https: / / voennaya.academic.ru / 1913 / Submarine_self-transporting_mine_MDS-1.

[0047] 14. Internet resource: https: / / oceanos.ru / Oceanos_media

[0048] 15. Self-transporting glider mine and its installation method. Patent for invention RU 2668021. Moscow: FIPS, 2017. Bulletin No. 27

[0049] 16. Autonomous underwater vehicles. Materials from the website of the Institute of Marine Technology Problems, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2002.

[0050] 17. K.S. Sariev. Universal heavy torpedo Mk 48 / / Proceedings of the All-Russian scientific and practical conference "Sea underwater weapons. Development prospects". St. Petersburg: FSUE "Krylov State Research Center", 2015, 125 p: ill. Pp.

[0051] 18. V.A. Barkov, V.V. Klimov. Development of US torpedo weapons (information review). St. Petersburg: JSC "Concern "Sea Underwater Weapons - Gidropribor", 2009. 44 p. P. 4-6.

[0052] 19. Yu.I. Stekolnikov. Torpedo Power Plants. Study Guide. St. Petersburg: Naval Academy, 2002. 240 p.

Claims

A cargo underwater vehicle designed for the covert delivery of a cargo compartment with technical equipment to a remote sea area, having an on-board control system with a power source located in the instrument compartment and ensuring the operation of the underwater vehicle's control devices, its orientation in space and movement along a specified route to the cargo delivery point, a power plant and a propeller ensuring the movement of the underwater vehicle in the water, drives for horizontal and vertical rudders with mechanisms for their rotation, characterized in that the on-board control system of the underwater vehicle includes a device for contactless reception of data from the carrier's control system, there is a unit for attaching the cargo compartment to the underwater vehicle with electromechanical locks with the ability to separate it on command from the on-board control system, the underwater vehicle has the ability to control its buoyancy and trim using a cylinder with compressed gas,a gas supply valve with a drive and ballast tanks in the bow and stern sections, having an outlet valve and an inlet valve with a drive, there is a device for extending the supporting wing with a drive and a mechanism for its rotation and the ability to move longitudinally along the body of the underwater vehicle in accordance with a change in the location of its center of mass, when stored on the carrier, the wing is made with the ability to fold without going beyond the dimensions of the underwater vehicle, and when launched and moving in water, it has the ability to extend from the body and create the necessary lifting force.

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