Launching Device for Submarine Vehicle with Compensating Form
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Solution Overview
Problem
Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) with inhomogeneous hulls face challenges in being safely launched through standard launch tubes due to varying contact loads, which can damage the vehicle and require complex crane infrastructure, especially when using inflatable boats.
Innovation Solution
A detachable compensating form is used to adapt the UUV to the launch tube, creating a uniform contact load upon ejection, allowing safe deployment in various conditions and eliminating the need for complex crane structures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If UUVs with inhomogeneous hulls are launched through standard launch tubes, then the launch process becomes complex requiring crane infrastructure, but the vehicle hull shape cannot be simply adapted to the launch tube
Solution Approach 1:
A compensating form is introduced as an intermediary element between the UUV and the launch tube. This compensating form has a substantially uniform outer contour that matches the launch tube's inner contour, allowing the inhomogeneous UUV to be launched through the tube without requiring complex crane infrastructure. The compensating form acts as a mediator that translates the UUV's irregular shape into a launch-compatible uniform shape.
Solution Approach 2:
The launch system is segmented into three distinct components: the UUV, the compensating form, and the launch tube. The compensating form is a separate detachable component that can be attached to the UUV for launch and then removed afterward. This segmentation allows the UUV to maintain its original inhomogeneous design while still being compatible with the launch tube through the intermediate compensating form.
2Device complexity
If UUVs are thrown into water by people, then the infrastructure is simplified, but damage to the UUV and injury risk to personnel increases
Solution Approach 1:
The compensating form serves as a protective intermediary during the launch process. By providing a substantially uniform outer contour that interfaces with the launch tube, it ensures controlled ejection forces are distributed evenly across the vehicle, preventing localized damage that would occur with direct throwing. This mediator approach maintains simplicity while dramatically improving safety and reliability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the vehicle hull has an inhomogeneous shape, then the UUV design is optimized for its mission, but uniform contact load with the launch tube inner wall cannot be achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The system separates the UUV's mission-optimized inhomogeneous hull from the launch interface requirements by introducing a distinct compensating form. The UUV retains its specialized shape for operational versatility, while the compensating form provides the uniform geometry needed for stable, uniform contact load distribution with the launch tube inner wall during ejection.
Solution Approach 2:
The compensating form acts as a geometric mediator that decouples the UUV's operational design from launch requirements. It translates the inhomogeneous UUV shape into a uniform interface that ensures stable contact load distribution, allowing the vehicle to maintain its specialized hull design while achieving launch stability.
4Stability of the object's composition
If a detachable compensating form is used to compensate for vehicle hull inhomogeneity, then uniform contact load is achieved, but an additional component is required
Solution Approach 1:
The compensating form is designed as a temporary, detachable component that is attached only during the launch process and then discarded or stored separately. This approach achieves the necessary contact load uniformity during ejection while minimizing long-term complexity, as the compensating form is not permanently attached to the UUV and can be reused for multiple launches.
Data Source
Figure 1a~1b
Figure 2
AI summary
The invention relates to a launching device (101) for an unmanned submarine vehicle, in particular for an autonomous submarine vehicle or for a vehicle that is operated in a remote-controlled manner, having a launching tube (105) which has an inner wall (107) and an outlet (271), and the unmanned submarine vehicle located in the launching tube, wherein the unmanned submarine vehicle has a vehicle shell with vehicle-shell inhomogeneity (133, 135, 137, 143, 145), such that ejection of the unmanned submarine vehicle causes different contact loads between the vehicle shell and the inner wall, wherein the unmanned submarine vehicle has a detachable compensating form (160) which is configured such that the vehicle-shell inhomogeneity is compensated and so a combination (201) of the unmanned submarine vehicle and the detachable compensating form results in a substantially regular contact load between the combination and the inner wall when the combination is ejected.