Self-Locking Cable Clamp for Low-Drag Sonar Antenna Deployment
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Solution Overview
Problem
The deployment of sonar antennas from airborne platforms faces significant drag issues due to the cable used for submerging and retrieving the antennas, limiting speed and requiring substantial winch capabilities, which increases energy expenditure and cable dimensions.
Innovation Solution
A locking device comprising a clamp with moving jaws and elastic elements that utilize the weight of the antenna to self-lock the cable, reducing energy expenditure and drag by allowing the clamp to close under the antenna's weight, enabling efficient positioning along the cable without a winch.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If a winch is used to lower and raise the antenna, then the antenna can be positioned at different depths, but the cable generates significant drag that limits the speed of deployment and retrieval
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the winch from the airborne platform and relocates it inside the antenna itself. This allows the antenna to be lowered passively by gravity while the winch inside the antenna controls cable payout and retrieval, eliminating the need for a large winch on the helicopter and reducing energy expenditure during deployment.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of the conventional approach where the platform's winch controls the entire deployment process, the invention inverts the control mechanism by placing the winch inside the antenna. The antenna becomes self-controlled, using its own winch to manage cable length while being passively lowered by gravity, thus reversing the traditional control hierarchy.
2Loss of energy
If the winch is positioned inside the antenna, then cable drag is reduced, but the antenna must be locked to the cable which requires energy-consuming brakes
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanism is designed to be self-actuating using the weight of the antenna itself. When the antenna is lowered, gravity automatically engages the locking mechanism to secure the antenna to the cable at desired depths, eliminating the need for energy-consuming active brakes during the locking phase.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention converts the harmful effect of the antenna's weight (which creates drag) into a beneficial force that automatically actuates the locking mechanism. The weight that previously required continuous brake engagement to control is now used to automatically engage and disengage the lock, transforming a disadvantage into an advantage.
3Force
If a substantial winch capability is used to handle large drag, then the antenna can be raised from depth, but the cable must be dimensioned larger increasing drag further
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the force requirement by using the antenna's own winch inside the antenna housing to provide the lifting force, rather than relying on a single large winch on the platform. This allows the cable to be optimized for tension rather than drag, and the lifting force to be generated locally where needed.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution reduces energy consumption and drag by using the antenna's weight to maintain a self-locking clamp, allowing for faster and more efficient operation of sonar antennas, even without a winch, thereby enhancing the deployment and retrieval process.
Implementation Method 1
The sliding allowing the jaws to pass from the open position to the closed position, the clamp further comprising elastic elements configured to move the jaws away from the cable
Implementation Method 2
The inclined surfaces being inclined with respect to the axis of the cable so as to move closer to the axis of the cable toward the top, each of the jaws being configured to slide along one of the inclined surfaces
Data Source
AI summary
A device for locking an object suspended from a cable passing through a clamp and extending along a substantially vertical axis, the clamp includes a fixed part, at least two moving jaws, a first actuator and a second actuator, the two jaws coming into contact with the cable to immobilize the cable by clamping in a closed position and moving away from the cable in an open position, the fixed part having as many inclined surfaces as there are jaws, each of the jaws being configured to slide along one of the inclined surfaces so as to pass from the open position to the closed position, the first actuator being configured to move the jaws upward, make them slide along their respective inclined surface and allow the clamp to close, the second actuator being configured to pull downward on the cable with respect to the fixed part and allow the clamp to open.